The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Hanni Fakhoury has analysis of the legal language in the Wikileaks-like services for whistleblowers launched by The Wall Street Journal and Al-Jazeera. The technical demerits of the WSJ's offer have been well documented, but EFF's analysis of the legal jeopardy that both publishers represent to whistleblowers is sobering too:
Despite promising anonymity, security and confidentiality, AJTU can "share personally identifiable information in response to a law enforcement agency's request, or where we believe it is necessary." SafeHouse's terms of service reserve the right "to disclose any information about you to law enforcement authorities" without notice, then goes even further, reserving the right to disclose information to any "requesting third party," not only to comply with the law but also to "protect the property or rights of Dow Jones or any affiliated companies" or to "safeguard the interests of others." As one commentator put it bluntly, this is "insanely broad." Neither SafeHouse or AJTU bother telling users how they determine when they'll disclose information, or who's in charge of the decision.
Whistleblowing by definition threatens "the interests of others." Every time someone uploads a scoop to SafeHouse, they jeopardize someone's interest in order to inform the public of what's actually going on. That's the whole point. In the United States, submitting documents to journalists is protected speech under the First Amendment. But people in totalitarian countries cannot expose the secrets of their governments without breaking those governments' laws. And neither news outlet acknowledges that governments might abuse their police power to find out who leaked damaging information -- even here in the good old U.S. of A.
WSJ and Al-Jazeera Lure Whistleblowers With False Promises of Anonymity
report this ad
A USA Today investigation has discovered a network of paid informants working for Amtrak and nearly every US airline who illegally delve into passengers’ travel records to find people who might be traveling with a lot of cash: these tip-offs are used by the DEA to effect civil forfeiture — seizing money without laying any […]
As the highly controversial deaths of black people at the hands of American law enforcement officers has crept into our public discourse this decade, so too has the revelation that no federal agency maintains statistics on killings by police officers, prompting The Guardian — a UK-based newspaper — to launch The Counted, a project to […]
The “International Consortium of Investigators for Fairness in Trial Data Sharing” — a group that appears to have just been formed, backed by 282 researcher in 33 countries — has objected to a plan to limit exclusivity over clinical trial data derived from medical volunteers, insisting instead that the fair thing to do is to […]
You won’t want to hit another music festival without these essentials. Read on to find out what we’re packing for the final festivals of the year.This Smart Charger Always Knows Where The Car Is ParkedIn addition to charging your phone, the Zus Smart Car Charger and Locator ($29.99) helps you locate your car no matter […]
When the mood strikes you and you’re looking to light up, you shouldn’t have to hunt around for all the things you need: your pipe, your grinder, your favorite munchies, and so on. And with the Happy Kit, you won’t have to.This compact black case houses everything you need, including a grinder, a glass pipe, […]
Everybody knows that if you want to earn the big bucks these days, you need to learn how to code. Luckily, you don’t even need to spend thousands on grad school to make coding your career. The Entry-Level Python & JavaScript Programming Bundle is the easiest way to get started in programming in two of […]
report this ad
Al-Jazeera is a great source for anything that is not happening in Qatar, which owns them.
Wall Street Journal is a great source for leaks that might have an impact on your stock investments.
BBC/Labour
Huh?
Gah! you tricked me into looking at Mordoch
Wow. If they’re going to set up a honeypot for whistleblowers, they’re going to have to do better than that.
If I had something juicy on ANYBODY with more power than me, you can bet any publicly owned corporation whose ultimate concern is always limiting their liabilities would be my LAST consideration for handing it off. And that includes corporations that claim to be involved in journalism.
There is *always* a Directive 4.
At least you can see this one in advance.
is that a photo of Assange in the future?!
Seems like pretty good terms of service , basically it can be summarized as
“don’t trust us, we don’t know if our security works, we don’t trust each other, and don’t count on our boss going to jail to protect you”
I went to a Wikileaks like site once, it focused primarily on business as I recall. When I looked up businesses in the community where I was living, I found more astroturf than I have ever seen in my life. There was absolutely NO way I could have posted a leak as the deck was so obviously stacked against me.
I can’t remember the name of the site . . . I wonder if they are still around? (duh)