30
Sep
2019

USB Flash Drives For Freedom

USB Flash Drives For Freedom

What Can You Do With Your Old USB Flash Drives?

Over the 15 years we’ve been in operation we’ve supplied hundreds of thousands of USB Flash Drives to a lot of happy customers. Being an environmentally conscious company, the vast majority of these USB Flash Drives have, where possible, had their casings made from recycled materials. So, if your USB Flash Drive has served its initial purpose, how can you reuse it?

The obvious first choice is to reuse it for storage. If your USB Flash Drive data isn’t locked and it’s still working then why not reuse it to store other data? From EXCEL files to photos, simply remove the original data and insert your new files.

If you don’t have another use for spare USB Flash Drives then you could use it to help the organisation Flash Drives For Freedom. This organisation was founded by a former North Korean citizen, who experienced first hand how outside influences can help North Koreans become disillusioned with nations brutal regime.

Seeing Is Believing

A few North Korean citizens are permitted to travel to China for work purposes. When there they experience a country very different to that of their own and are exposed to media ranging from the latest Hollywood blockbusters to South Korean Soap Operas. Seeing this alternative way of life resulted in North Korean Jung Gwang-il becoming disillusioned with his country’s regime.

After returning to North Korea he was wrongly accused of being a spy and imprisoned for four years. During this time he experienced awful treatment and came very close to dying. After being released four years later he knew he had to escape and at the first opportunity, he fled by swimming to neighbouring China. Once there, he took the perilous path taken by many defectors, taking them through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand. From here, they can safely claim asylum and be transported to South Korea.

Broadening Horizons Using USB Flash Drives

In South Korea, Gwang-il worked with other human rights activists to inform others of the horrors of the regime. He also worked to expose North Korean citizens to external influences by smuggling across the border USB Flash Drives preloaded with movies, tv shows and literature from the outside world. He wanted to show them what life is like beyond their country’s borders. Getting anything across one of the worlds most notorious borders is no easy feat and so everything from drones to balloons are used to transport the USB Flash Drives over the border. Those that make it across the border are watched on Chinese made USB-compatible mobile phones or other portable media devices commonly found in a society with little access to the internet.

Over in the U.S, the New York Human Rights foundation heard about the work Gwang-il was doing they decided to partner up by launching Flash Drives For Freedom. This initiative enables those with unwanted USB Flash Drives to donate them to Flash Drives For Freedom. These donated USB Flash Drives are then wiped clean and preloaded with Western media and then sent over to South Korea where they’re then smuggled over the border.

 

 

To date over 125,000 USB Flash Drives have been donated containing a total of 2.1 million hours of footage. These USB Flash Drives have been shared between 1.3 million North Korean citizens and have helped others become disillusioned with the North Korean regime. Unsurprisingly, The Hunger Games, a movie franchise that shows the struggle for self-preservation in a dystopian future, is one of the most popular movies smuggled.

Want To Get Involved?

As of yet, there is no U.K donation point for old USB Flash Drives but there is a European centre in the Netherlands accepting donations. To find out more about the cause and help them visit their site Flash Drives For Freedom.

 

 

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