Starling Lab
Starling Lab leverages blockchain and Web3 technologies to store and preserve sensitive digital records.
Website: https://www.starlinglab.org/
HQ: California, United States
Active Markets: Global
Problem Addressed
The trustworthiness and verifiability of digital content are increasingly challenged by misinformation. Technological advancements such as AI have made manipulating digital content easier than ever. These challenges can be particularly critical for journalists, governments, and international bodies seeking to preserve documentation of potential human rights abuses in sensitive environments and advance accountability.
Project Description
The Starling Lab focuses on creating ethical and trustworthy records of digital data and information within the contexts of news media, historical preservation, and legal accountability to advance human rights initiatives. Starling leverages open-source tools, cryptography, and decentralized web protocols, like blockchain-secured digital storage and smart contract authentication technologies, to establish trust in sensitive digital records. Currently, Starling Lab is working to build informational integrity for journalists with future plans to offer similar tools for historians and legal professionals. Starling Lab focuses on a 3-part framework: Capture Starling prototypes mobile apps and camera firmware to authenticate digital content and metadata at the point of capture. Store Starling researches how advanced cryptography and decentralized networks can securely distribute and govern content over time. Verify Starling experiments with immutable ledgers to register digital content, enabling experts to audit, or verify, the provenance and authenticity of that content.
Business Data
Status: Active
Constituency Served: General public, journalists
Networks: Filecoin, Hedera, Hyperledger Fabric
Known Investors: Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW), Protocol Labs
Additional References: N/a
Progress to date
Starling Lab partnerships include Reuters and The South China Morning Post news organizations. In the 2020 to 2021 partnership with Reuters, Starling Lab documented and authenticated images for 78 days throughout the presidential transition of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. In April 2024, Starling announced a fellowship with Mapping Black California – a project by Black Voice News tracking public records, statements, and promises made by elected officials in response to the murder of George Floyd.
Business Model
Revenue model not disclosed.
Traction
Starling has leveraged blockchain technology to upload, store, and verify 55,000 audio-visual testimonies, consisting of 5 petabytes and 115,000 hours of video, from survivors and witnesses of 14 genocides and episodes of mass violence.