14 DAY TRIAL // Whistleblowers are all the rage these days, mostly thanks to Edward Snowden’s leaked NSA documents. Most importantly, however, he along with Chelsea Manning and many others before them have managed to stress the importance of exposing the government’s deeds.
When it comes to such matter, everyone feels like anonymity is sometimes the best way to go and for this, there’s now a whistleblower submission system that’s been open to the public.
SecureDrop can be used by sources to safely send documents and messages to reporters. It was originally created by Aaron Swartz and Wired investigative editor Kevin Poulsen, but it has been taken over the by Freedom of the Press Foundation.
The organization provides on-site installation and tech support to media organizations that wish to run this system.
When it comes to the system’s security, however, the Freedom of the Press Foundation is being realistic.
“We should make one thing clear off the top: any organization or product that promises 100% security is not telling the truth. SecureDrop attempts to create a significantly more secure environment for sources to get information than exists through current digital channels, but there are still legal and technical risks any time a source wishes to submit documents to journalists—no matter the service,” they wrote.
This being said, keeping the system secure and hardening it as time goes by is a continuous job for which the Foundation has already hired a security expert.
It’s become obvious over the past several months that whistleblowers need more protection from governments that are breaking all the rules.
For instance, the Obama administration has said numerous times, before the NSA leaks, that whistleblowers should be protected. Obviously, the president and his team simply referred to whistleblowers that only report to higher-ups and do not speak to the media.