Law’s capture of human rights focused open-source investigation

Abstract With new protocols emerging to regulate the field of open-source investigation, this article critiques their widespread deference to the requirements of legal processes that exclude alternative horizons of justice and accountability. We argue that OSI may still compile evidence to support advocacy against systemic and structural violence, but in professionalising OSI, legally centred frameworks give little allowance to speculative or creative forms of advocacy which seek to address forms of violence not yet accepted in law. We therefore propose tactics to counter such epistemic injustice aimed at fostering pluralistic, decentralised, and solidarity-based OSI practices beyond legal constraints.