{"id":4384,"date":"2018-03-08T11:32:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T11:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arielsheen.com\/?p=4384"},"modified":"2018-03-08T17:45:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T17:45:00","slug":"guide-to-whistleblowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/08\/guide-to-whistleblowing\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide to Whistleblowing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
If you know something, say something.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whistleblowing is vital to holding powerful institutions accountable; whether you are in the government or the private sector, if you become aware of behavior that you believe is unethical, illegal, or damaging to the public interest, it\u2019s important to consider sharing your information securely so as to minimize your risk of exposure.<\/p>\n

Below are guidelines for whistleblowers seeking to communicate with me. What method you should use depends on your personal circumstances, the type of information you are sharing and the level of risk it entails.<\/p>\n

SIGNAL<\/h4>\n

Another good option for sharing information is to contact us on Signal, a secure voice and messaging app. You can\u00a0download Signal<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Android<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0iPhone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using Signal to reach us is pretty easy. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n

Open the Signal app and tap the pen icon (in the top-right on an iPhone, in the bottom-right on Android) to start a new message. Type my phone number in the search box, 561-779-3985. From there, you can send us an encrypted Signal message.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0this guide<\/a>\u00a0to help lock down your phone and make sure what happens in your Signal app is more private.<\/p>\n

If you use your phone to send me a message or call me on Signal, I will learn your phone number. It is always better for our reporting process to know a source’s identity, but we can agree to keep it confidential. The Signal service will also know that you contacted us, but they promise to never log this metadata.<\/p>\n

EMAIL<\/h2>\n

If you have no reason to be concerned about anyone knowing that you are a source, you can reach our journalists by email, either by contacting a reporter individually or submitting tips at a.sheen@arielsheen.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you want to, you can send your email using PGP encryption<\/a>\u00a0but keep in mind that there will still be metadata created by your communication with us, because your email server will record the exchange.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What Not<\/em> To Do If You Want to Remain Anonymous<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t contact me from work.<\/p>\n

Most corporate and government networks log traffic. Even if you\u2019re using Tor, being the only Tor user at work could make you stand out.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t email me, call me, or contact me on social media.<\/p>\n

From the standpoint of someone investigating a leak, who you communicate with, and when, is all it takes to make you a prime suspect.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t tell anyone that you\u2019re a source.<\/p>\n

Other Things To Think About<\/h2>\n

Before deciding to share your story with me, you might want to consider consulting an attorney to better understand your options and risks. If you do decide to contact an attorney, try to discuss everything face to face and be careful not to write any details in emails.<\/p>\n

If you are thinking about providing me with particularly sensitive documents, consider these additional tips:<\/p>\n

If you have had access to secret information that has been published, your activities on the external internet are likely to come under scrutiny, including what websites you have visited or shared to social media.<\/p>\n

Make sure you consider that investigators may also examine logs of your activity on internal networks at your workplace.Be aware of this before sending information to me, and adjust your habits as needed well before you decide to become a source. Tools like Tor can help protect the anonymity of your surfing.<\/p>\n

Keep your whistleblowing activity as separate as possible from the rest of what you do. Do not tell anyone and compartmentalize as much as possible. Don\u2019t use accounts that are already connected to you. Instead, make new accounts for this purpose, and don\u2019t log in to them from networks you normally connect to.<\/p>\n

Make sure to clean up after yourself as best as you can. Avoid leaving traces related to whistleblowing lying around your personal or work computer (in your Documents folder, in your web browser history, etc.). If you realize you did a Google search related to whistleblowing while logged into your Google account,\u00a0delete your search history<\/a>. Consider keeping all related files on an encrypted USB stick rather than on your computer, and only plug it in when you need to work with them.<\/p>\n

Consider using a completely separate computer or operating system for all of your whistleblowing activity so that a forensics search of your normal computer won\u2019t reveal anything. Even if you\u2019re using the Tor browser, for instance, if someone has hacked into your computer, they\u2019ll be able to spy on everything you do.\u00a0Tails<\/a>\u00a0is a separate operating system that you can install on a USB stick and boot your computer to. Tails is engineered to leave no traces behind. It\u2019s not intuitive to use, but if you\u2019re risking a lot, it\u2019s probably worth the effort. You can find\u00a0instructions for downloading and installing Tails here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is important to understand that no communication method is guaranteed to be completely secure. Becoming a whistleblower carries risks, but they can be minimized if you\u2019re careful, and sometimes it\u2019s the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whistleblowing is vital to holding powerful institutions accountable; whether you are in the government or the private sector, if you become aware of behavior that you believe is unethical, illegal, or damaging to the public interest, it\u2019s important to consider sharing your information securely so as to minimize your risk of exposure. Below are guidelines … Continue reading “Guide to Whistleblowing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-telesur-english"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8e7kf-18I","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4386,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions\/4386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}