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Swartz-Designed Whistleblower Tool "SecureDrop" Launched

Posted by samzenpus on from the protect-ya-neck dept.

An anonymous reader writes in with word of a new tool for whistleblowers: "The 'strongest-ever' whistleblowing tool for sources to speak anonymously with journalists, partly developed by the late Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, has been launched by the Freedom of The Press Foundation. Before his suicide in January 2013, Swartz had been working on a tool for sources to anonymously submit documents to journalists online, without using traceable email and in a way that could be easily catalogued by news organisations. Called SecureDrop, the tool can be installed on any news organisation's website as a 'Contact Us' form page. But where these pages usually require a name and email address, the encrypted SecureDrop system is completely anonymous, assigning the whistleblower two unique identifiers - one seen by the journalist, and one seen by the whistleblower. These identities stay the same, so a conversation can be had without names being shared or known."

5 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Traditional Mail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    They can still narrow it down to the nearest post office or mailbox or courier depot where you drop off the package. Last time I talked to the courier, they are keeping records of 2 years. There is also the usual fingerprints etc they can collect from the letter assuming if they find the actual package.

  2. Re:Why is his death considered a suicide? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think you're thinking of Michael Hastings, not Aaron Swartz.

  3. Re:Why is his death considered a suicide? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 3, Informative

    Aaron's car never blew up. He hung (hanged?) himself. You're likely thinking of Michael Hastings, who died recently under circumstances that are closer to what you're describing.

  4. Re:How does it work? by watice · · Score: 3, Informative

    Looks like with PGP & Tor, & USB Keys. It's detailed here. https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/blob/master/docs/user_manual.md

  5. Re:This is only one layer. by complete+loony · · Score: 3, Informative

    Source code seems to be available online here. A quick look at the User Manual indicates that all communication is routed via tor which raises the bar for tracing connections significantly.

    --
    09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.