Richard Irvine-Brown

Shayan Sardarizadeh @shayan86.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 22:10 UTC

Some AI-generated images are being shared in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Here are a few I've seen so far: 1- Home bombed in front of a child 2- Temporary tents for Israeli citizens 3- Palestinian flag held by Atletico Madrid fans 4- A child under the rubble in Gaza

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 22:16 UTC

And here's the spot, with the Google Earth view below: 31.34802441,34.30283785

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 22:13 UTC

Keep it simple, think in shapes and lines. Roads stand out first in maps. We were looking for a T-junction with three/four buildings at a corner, one of which would be without a right-angle corner nearest the junction. Beside those buildings would be trees and an irregular-shape.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 22:08 UTC

So, simple rules: Buildings are tall and close together, so focus on the built-up area of whatever city you're looking at, normally the centre. And the quickest way to scan a city you have never been to is to move in a spiral.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 22:06 UTC

1/x A quicker thread on some simple guidelines when trying to geolocate within a city. The IAF put out a video on 15 Oct showing a strike on the buildings below and claiming they had killed an Al-Qassam commander in Khan Yunis, Gaza.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:44 UTC

Six frames from the first video were reverse-searched, with no results by 9:06 (UK time, 15 Oct). Meaning it was so freshly online, Google wasn't yet able to find a copy. Weather - partial sunny and cloud - was not contradicted by the past 2.5hrs of radar records.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:39 UTC

Ben also pointed out Google Maps doesn't show the recent construction along the road, but Bing Maps does. (Emphasising the need to always compare satellite images.) Screenshot from Bing shows the red roof east along the road which we saw in the second video.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:32 UTC

Ben caught the hill in the distance, beyond the construction site, when the camera pointed north.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:28 UTC

So, we placed the incident as happening at 33.087464, 35.314704, the northern-most road in Shtula. It would account for the tree line to the north of the road, the evergreens, and the east-to-west slope. Here's the Google Earth view, looking west along the road at those distant hills.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:23 UTC

From the light on the clouds, the sun is behind the camera and to the right, so the road is running from ENE to WSW. The road also appears to be downhill to the left (west), and uphill to the right (east).

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:23 UTC

We saw this early in the morning (in the UK). First tweets reporting the incident were around 7:59 UTC (9:59 local).

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:17 UTC

A second video appeared, we saw it first on Telegram. We see the same construction site, and the same white boots of the person filming. We also get a good view uphill, to the right, where we can see a red-roof house.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:13 UTC

There's also this view in the video, two seconds before, with the camera swung to the left. This is the view before we cross the road into the construction site. Here we see evergreen trees to one side of the road, more construction sites on the other side, and two distinct hills in the distance.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:09 UTC

If you recognise the frame above, you'll know this is from Shtula, near Israel's northern border with Lebanon. I won't link to the video as it shows dead bodies, but the initial copy we saw was on Twitter. In this frame you can see a construction site, beyond which is a fence and thick tree line.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 21:06 UTC

1/X

Going to try another one of those brief threads explaining how we at BBC Verify go about authenticating a video.

This is a very real example from the Israel-Gaza conflict, which I worked on with @benedictgarman.bsky.social.

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Richard Irvine-Brown @richib.bsky.social [ View ] Oct 24, 2023 at 20:36 UTC

Please take your time to read a Twitter thread by @olgar.bsky.social on the latest left turn in the Putin-body-doubles tangle, namely the conspiracy around whether he's had a heart attack or not, and the major part General SVR on Telegram has to play in this: twitter.com/O_Rob1nson/s...

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