A Caeleste Institute Initiative

Digital justice for those
who need it most.

The Open Forensics Project builds open-source mobile forensics tools for under-resourced investigators, first responders, and human rights defenders worldwide.

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The Access Gap

$30K

Upfront licensing cost for leading forensic tools

Cost to access OFP's open-source platform

Global South

Primary focus: resource-constrained jurisdictions

Open

Court-ready, transparent, and independently auditable

Technology should serve justice — not privilege.

The Problem

The high cost of
digital justice.

Digital justice is currently priced out of reach for much of the world — creating a two-tiered system where access to critical digital evidence depends entirely on a jurisdiction's budget.

Prohibitive Costs

The digital forensics landscape is dominated by a monopolistic model — prohibitive upfront hardware fees plus steep recurring annual software licences.

Structural Exclusion

A two-tiered justice system has emerged where access to critical digital evidence is determined entirely by budget.

Algorithmic Black Boxes

Proprietary tools frequently operate as algorithmic black boxes, restricting the transparency necessary for defence teams to properly verify evidence.

Marginalised Communities Left Behind

The burden falls hardest on already-marginalised communities, where evidence often goes unexamined and justice is delayed or denied.

The result: a two-tiered system of digital justice

As cybercrimes and digital human rights violations surge globally, the gap between those who can access forensic tools and those who cannot continues to widen.

Our Solution

Built for the real world.
Designed for court.

We are building OFP as a lightweight, open-source mobile forensics platform engineered explicitly for the realities of Emerging and Less Developed economies. Rather than competing in the expensive "device cracking" arms race, OFP focuses on rapid triage for the vast majority of cases where device passwords are already known.

The platform integrates Large Language Model (LLM) AI to help investigators recognise complex patterns, query evidence in natural language, and automate reporting — keeping humans in the loop at every stage.

OFP's open-source architecture is designed to guarantee complete algorithmic transparency, verifiable error rates, and a tamper-proof chain of custody — meeting strict international evidentiary standards and ensuring evidence holds up in court.

Cross-platform Support

Works across Android, iOS, and Windows — broad coverage for investigators operating in diverse device environments.

Lightweight Deployment

Designed to run in low-resource settings without expensive infrastructure. Ideal for first responders under challenging conditions.

Rapid Triage

Focused on cases where device access is available — extracting and analysing evidence quickly, reducing delays in investigation.

Multilingual & Localisation-Ready

Built to adapt to local contexts — language, jurisdiction, and operational norms — for genuine global usability.

Privacy-Conscious by Design

Security and privacy protections are embedded throughout — not added on. Evidence handling is secure from extraction to reporting.

Legal Admissibility

Court-ready from the
ground up.

Accessibility alone is not enough. For digital evidence to matter, it must stand up in court. OFP is built with legal admissibility at its core.

Transparency

Open-Source Architecture

Every component is open to independent examination, testing, and validation. No black boxes. No hidden processes.

Daubert Principles

Evidentiary Standards

Aligned with internationally recognised evidentiary frameworks — testability, reliability, and known error rates are built-in, not afterthoughts.

ISO/IEC 27037

Chain of Custody

Built-in audit logging and chain-of-custody mechanisms map directly to internationally recognised forensic standards for evidence handling.

Reproducibility

Explainable Processes

Every stage — from extraction to reporting — is designed to be explainable, reproducible, and defensible under cross-examination.

Modular

Standard Forensic Formats

A plugin-based, modular system using standard forensic formats ensures compatibility and long-term sustainability across jurisdictions.

Open Governance

Accountable Development

Open governance and licensing ensures that the platform evolves in the open, with community oversight and clear accountability.

Responsible AI

AI that supports
investigators.
Not replaces them.

OFP integrates carefully scoped AI capabilities — including Large Language Model support — to help investigators work faster and smarter. All AI components are transparent, auditable, and built to keep humans in the loop. AI is used to support decision-making, not to make decisions itself.

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Natural Language Querying

Ask questions about evidence in plain language

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Pattern Recognition

Identify patterns across large datasets quickly

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Automated Reporting

Structured, court-ready reports generated automatically

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Human-in-the-Loop

Every AI output is reviewable, auditable, and traceable

Social Impact

Closing the global justice gap.

OFP's impact extends beyond individual investigations. It is infrastructure for a more equitable, transparent global justice system.

Expanded Access

Removes cost barriers for underfunded law enforcement, civil society organizations, and first responders who need these tools most.

Stronger Due Process

Transparent, open-source processes mean defence teams can interrogate and challenge evidence — strengthening, not weakening, legal integrity.

Faster Investigations

Rapid triage capabilities mean more cases get investigated, evidence is processed faster, and victims see better outcomes sooner.

Community Trust

Open, accountable forensics builds public trust in justice systems — particularly in communities that have historically been underserved.

Why Open Source

Open code.
Open justice.

Transparency builds trust

Governments, NGOs, and communities can verify exactly how evidence is generated and processed — no proprietary opacity.

Sustainability through community

Community-driven development means OFP can evolve, improve, and be maintained without dependence on a single commercial vendor.

Equity by design

Removing cost barriers is not a side benefit — it is the point. Open source is the only model that genuinely democratises access.

Accountable AI

Open code ensures that every AI component can be audited for bias, accuracy, and ethical use — a standard proprietary tools cannot meet.

Open code = open justice.

When the tools that produce evidence are open to scrutiny, everyone in the justice process — investigators, defence teams, courts, and communities — can have greater confidence in the outcome.

Roadmap

From funding to global ecosystem.

A phased approach to securing support, building, deploying, and growing the OFP platform across the world's most under-resourced jurisdictions.

Phase 1 — Funding & Partnerships

Current stage. Securing early-stage support and establishing core stakeholder relationships.

Phase 2 — MVP Development

Building the mobile triage tool for Android with core extraction and evidence handling capabilities.

Phase 3 — Expansion

Adding iOS support and automated reporting workflows for broader frontline coverage.

Phase 4 — AI Integration

Implementing controlled, LLM-driven features for natural language queries and pattern detection.

Phase 5 — Global Ecosystem

Building a global contributor and trainer community to sustain OFP long-term.

The Opportunity

A unique moment to invest
in digital justice infrastructure.

OFP is being built at the intersection of digital justice, human rights, and responsible AI — attracting partners who share a commitment to equitable systems.

Users & Beneficiaries

Law enforcement agencies, NGOs, first responders, journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organisations in under-resourced jurisdictions.

Partners

International organisations, universities, NGOs, and civil society organisations. Community-driven development and knowledge-sharing at every stage.

Funding Sources

Human rights and digital justice grants, partnerships with NGOs and academic institutions, and support from governments and multilateral organisations.

Get Involved

Join us in building the future of
accessible forensics.

We are currently seeking early-stage funding and strategic partnerships to transition OFP from a strong concept to credible, field-tested infrastructure.

We welcome individual and philanthropic contributions, as well as support from human rights and digital justice grants, NGOs, universities, and multilateral organisations.

We are looking to work with partners who want to strengthen justice systems, advance responsible AI, and support scalable, open infrastructure.

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Digital justice for thosewho need it most.

The high cost ofdigital justice.