Ride the Lightning

Calling All Whistleblowers! Report What You Know, Anonymously

May 8, 2017

More and more news organizations are using SecureDrop (originally called Strongbox when it debuted in 2013 at The New Yorker) to help people anonymously and securely report things that newspapers might want to know. To see the full list, you can go here on Wikipedia. As you can see, this movement has gathered momentum over time.

Here is what most of these news organizations promise you:

To help protect your anonymity, SecureDrop is only accessible using the Tor network (https://torproject.org). When using the SecureDrop, the newspaper will not record your IP address or information about your browser, computer, or operating system, and will not embed third-party content or deliver persistent cookies to your browser.

They also have this caveat: No method of communication, however, is completely secure (emphasis added).

While that is certainly true, this is a great advance over e-mail, which provides no security. Even encrypted e-mail is dangerous because it can leave a trail back to you unless you take measures to avoid that trail – which most people don't understand how to do.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation took over the development of SecureDrop, and has since assisted with its installation at several news organizations. Huzzah to that organization. You can find more information about communicating securely with the press at its website.

I don't think I've ever requested my readers to share a post via social media, but this sure is a great candidate for sharing. There are a lot of people today who have knowledge they are afraid to share. Let's light the way for them!

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