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James Dolan, Co-Creator of SecureDrop, Dead At 36 (gizmodo.com)

The Freedom of the Press Foundation is reporting that James Dolan, former Marine and co-creator of the whistleblower submission system SecureDrop alongside Aaron Swartz and Wired editor Kevin Poulsen, has died at age 36. He reportedly took his own life. Gizmodo reports: First deployed as StrongBox with The New Yorker, organizations such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press, and Gizmodo Media Group have all come to rely on SecureDrop -- which allows highly secure communication between journalists and sources in possession of sensitive information or documents. As an industry tool, it has become invaluable for reporters. Dolan joined the Freedom of the Press Foundation to maintain SecureDrop after co-creator Aaron Swartz took his life in 2013 at age 26, as pressure mounted in a federal investigation against him that many felt was overzealous. Memorial services have not yet been announced, and presently the circumstances of Dolan's death are not known.

8 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. How convenient by Stormwatch · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People who annoy governments tend to kill themselves, isn't that strange?

    1. Re:How convenient by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      People who work for SecureDrop tend to kill themselves, also a bit strange.

    2. Re:How convenient by Hal_Porter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think it's pretty gross to be joking about the death the actor who played Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on Star Trek. RIP Scotty ;-(

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    3. Re:How convenient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I also heard some people actually believe the NSA is spying on everyone and the US is covering up a network of torture sites.

      The tinfoil hat crowd is so gullible.

    4. Re:How convenient by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Informative

      Today a whistleblower died and we all need to fill that role.

      The reporter who led the charge on the Panama papers was assassinated by a car bomb a few weeks back, most people don't even know that happened. One of Wikileaks offices was raid in a professional style sweep looking for crypto keys and other information. Most people don't know that one happened either.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    5. Re:How convenient by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually most people who read the news likely knew about it. That story was covered all over the place when it happened.

      Just a sampling:

      https://www.theguardian.com/wo...
      https://nypost.com/2017/10/16/...
      http://abcnews.go.com/Internat...
      http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...
      https://www.washingtonpost.com...
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com....

      One would have to be fairly ignorant to not have run across it on some news website after it happened.

  2. Both founders commit suicide? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't always wear a tinfoil hat, but when I do...

  3. Quickly and Painlessly by 31415926535897 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He did himself in the quickest and most painless way possible with three gunshot wounds to the back.

    I don't know what happened in real life, but these things always look suspicious.