Snowden anniversary a reminder of the need to protect whistleblowers and journalists
AP Photo/George Brich
Whistleblowers are essential to a free and unfettered press.
Whistleblowers play a critical role in informing the public and holding the government to account.
Sources who act out of conscience to leak information to the press further our democracy. Whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden, have exposed some of our government’s gravest abuses.
Unfortunately, whistleblowers are often prosecuted and jailed. That’s wrong. Whistleblowers and the journalists they work with should be celebrated, not punished.
Featured Items
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This Week in Transparency: AP counts the ways Obama admin blocks info
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. The most transparent administration in history, an ongoing series At a three-day convention of the American Society of News Editors, the Associated Press Media Editors and the Associated …
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More Than a Dozen Pulitzer Winners Call on the Justice Dept to End its Pursuit of James Risen
UPDATE: The list has increased to twenty Pulitzer winners after adding statements from David Rohde, Michael LaForgia and Will Hobson, David Cay Johnston, Eric Lichtblau, and Dan Fagin. -- Today, fourteen Pulitzer Prize winners have issued statements in support of journalist James Risen and in protest of the Justice Department's …
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This Week in Transparency: Runaway Classification and Bill Nye the Science Guy
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Runaway classification: Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) introduced a bill to reign in classification, the Washington Post reports: "The measure would request …
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Don't Cheer Obama's 'Ban' on Torture
I have a question for all the well-meaning people who praise President Obama for “banning” torture: Would you also find it helpful for the president to ban kidnapping? Child abuse? Mail fraud? Maybe you would. After all, no one likes kidnapping, child abuse, or mail fraud. Maybe it would be …
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Help Keep Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist James Risen Out of Jail
One of the biggest battles over U.S. press freedom in decades is now about to come to a head, and we need your help. Sign this petition to help keep journalist James Risen out of jail. James Risen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times who exposed the …
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How the Tor Traffic Confirmation Attack Affects SecureDrop Users
On Wednesday morning, the Tor Project published a security advisory detailing an attack against the Tor network that appears to have been trying to deanonymize users. SecureDrop, our open-source whistleblower submission system, is heavily reliant on Tor and uses the anonymity network to facilitate communication between whistleblowers, journalists, and …
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News Organizations Routinely Expose Journalists Through Hostnames and IP Addresses
Journalists doing investigations online are often unknowingly giving away their identity to the very people they’re investigating. And the issue illustrates why journalists should regularly be using the Tor Browser or a Virtual Private Network (VPN) when working on any story—whether it's about national security or not. Every internet connection …
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Lethal Injection Secrecy, Private Prison Project, and More
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Lethal Injection Secrecy: Over at Pacific Standard, the always-readable Ted Scheinman discusses the veil of secrecy surrounding the drug cocktails being used in lethal injections. As I've …
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How the Recent Tails Operating System Vulnerability Affects Journalists and SecureDrop
On Wednesday afternoon, vulnerability and exploit research firm Exodus Intelligence disclosed a security vulnerability that would allow an attacker to deanonymize a user of Tails, the operating system that many journalists rely on to communicate securely with sources and that we have written about before. Tails is also integral …
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Cass Sunstein and the Status Quo
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Cass Sunstein: Three cheers for the status quo Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein has an op-ed in Bloomberg View arguing against the FOIA reform bill introduced recently by …
