FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: North America: B.K. DeLong Media Liaison The Hacker Foundation telephone: +1.617.797.2472 Christian Wright Media Liaison Packetstorm Security telephone: +1.312.399.5064 Europe: Emerson Tan Director Packetstorm Security telephone: +44.781.456.8265 e-mail: press@private THE HACKER FOUNDATION RELEASES SURVIVOR LOCATION ASSISTANCE PROJECT Organization distributes software as open-source and centralizes tracking of disaster victims. http://www.survivorlocationassistance.org -- 6 January 2005 -- The Hacker Foundation (THF) is pleased to announce the creation of the Survivor Location Assistance (SLA) project, a globally accessible web-based database system designed to help survivors, relatives, internally displaced people, and aid agencies connect with one another and to facilitate & coordinate the need to track all victims of disasters around the world. SLA's first application is now live and awaiting new entries - South Asian Tsunami - Survivor Location Assistance (SAT-SLA). The system is running on hardware donated by Packetstorm Security and on network connectivity provided by Asylum Networks Inc. The SLA project encourages the myriad of web sites and organizations currently maintaining lists of survivors, Internally Displaced People & the missing to contribute their dataset to the SAT-SLA database. Hospitals, aid agencies, & NGOs are also encouraged to share their registration information to ensure relatives of survivors are notified in a fast & timely manner that their loved ones are safe & alive. "The SLA project is why The Hacker Foundation was created," said THF President and Co-founder Jesse Krembs. "to bring useful technological resources to people in need. Our staff of volunteers has done an amazing job putting together a tool in such a short amount of time that can not only be used in this crisis, but hopefully for any humanitarian need." On the SLA Web site, users can add a new entry with identifying information about a person, or search the database to see if their relative has been located. By the end of 1Q 2005, THF and the SLA project hope to publicly release the source code for the system and begin fostering a development community around the open source solution. Those interested in making use of software more immediately can email the project at support@private . The SLA web site is located at http://www.survivorlocationassistance.org. "THF is releasing the SLA backend to anyone who requests it & opening our survivor data to the public," said Emerson Tan, Director of Packetstorm Security. "As more of the world gets connected via the Internet, we believe the SLA project has global potential to be used in tracking IDPs, thwarting the child slave-trading of orphans from such disasters, and assisting aid agencies & NGOs responding to humanitarian efforts similar to those in the Darfur region of Sudan." The SLA project is also seeking translation assistance for its web site, database and other resources to ensure global access and usability. "The world has many different languages," said THF's Krembs. "and disasters do not discriminate. We hope, with volunteer help, to be able to offer our information in Thai, Sinhala and other native tongues of those effected by the tsunami." About The Hacker Foundation The Hacker Foundation (THF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing and maintaining a research & service organization to promote & explore the creative use of technological resources. Visit the Hacker Foundation web site at http://www.hackerfoundation.org. About Packetstorm Security Packetstorm Security is the world's largest free repository of Internet security information. It is staffed entirely by volunteers throughout the world and mirrored in many locations. Web site at http://www.packetstormsecurity.org. About Asylum Networks Asylum Networks provides Internet colocation services to customers with extremely demanding security requirements. The company operates in five countries (Switzerland, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Denmark, and the United States) each chosen to address either financial privacy concerns or provide excellent connectivity. Asylum Networks' portfolio includes international banks, financial institutions, and security-conscious corporations. Please visit them at http://www.asylum-networks.net. _________________________________________ Open Source Vulnerability Database (OSVDB) Everything is Vulnerable - http://www.osvdb.org/
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