As history looks back on our generation in search of things to define it, two things immediately will spring to mind: the proliferation of camera phones and Internet video, and graphic displays of human cruelty.

Recently, these two things have been working hand in hand.

Take, for instance, the widely circulated and disgustingly popular snuff video of Saddam Hussein's hanging. When the video reached the Internet, there was a frenzy of interest. It was plastered on sites such as YouTube.com and even CNN decided to host portions of it on its Web site, CNN.com.

There was nothing particularly newsworthy about the footage itself; his sentence had been passed and his hanging was inevitable. It was shown because a) people wanted to get some sick thrills, apparently, by watching someone hang to death and b) the existence of the footage, taken by a spectator, was news in and of itself.

This technology, however, can now be used for something other than sick thrills and satisfying morbid curiosities.

The case of Emad el-Kabir is a perfect example.

In January 2006, el-Kabir, a 21-year-old minibus driver from Cairo, said he broke up a fight between Cairo police and his cousin, led to his subsequent arrest and release on bail. Police later came to his home, took him to a local police station and proceeded to beat him before they sodomized him with a wooden pole.

The whole grizzly affair was caught on video by the police themselves, who sent the footage to the cell phones of the victim's friends in a bid to humiliate him. Months later, the footage was posted by an Egyptian blogger and made its way to YouTube.com, gaining international attention.

The video, among other less publicized videos, has caused the Egyptian government to come under fire for human rights violations and receive mounting international pressure to install democratic freedoms.

Granted, this was not a video shot by a bystander to document police abuse. The fact the video was leaked to the Internet, and subsequently caused pressure for Egypt to crack down on cases of abuse, is an example of the power camera phones and Internet videos grant the average person.

So, rather than just filming videos of your friends "ghost riding the whip" or demonstrating the explosive properties of Mentos and a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke, remain vigilant and if you see a case of police brutality or excessive force, film it and post it.

Who knows? You might just make a difference the next time local police fire tear gas canisters directly into a crowd of students.