Gizmorati.com reports that a Japanese university professor is building Japan’s first anonymous web platform for whistleblowers. But the professor isn't sure journalists will even pay attention to it.
The reason:
Even if Professor Hatta’s service manages to attract individuals bold enough to blow the whistle, there’s the question of whether or not Japan’s lapdog press will follow through with reporting their leaks. Japanese news outlets are notoriously reluctant to cover controversial news. In 2011, for example, Michael Woodford, the first first non-Japanese CEO at Olympus, was fired after uncovering attempts to hide US$ 1.5 billion in losses. What was front-page news across much of the western world was barely mentioned in Japan.
When it comes on line Whistleblowing.jp will provide an "untraceable" way for journalists to receive leaked information without fear of compromising a source – of paramount importance since the passage of Japan’s so-called State Secrets Law in December 2013. The law has stiff penalties for "government leakers" as well as the journalists that encourage those leaks.
Whistleblowing is only only accessible via TOR. Then information is delivered to the journalists the leaker selects via GlobalLeaks.org adding another layer of indirection. Professor Hatta says he does not fully trust TOR. No actual leaks will be published on the Whistleblowing.jp site itself. It merely serves as a conduit. And all information transits the system fully encrypted with the key of the journalist who is the intended receiver.
The professor does expect spam, but figures there might be a few important leaks hidden in the spam. No mention is made of any method of detecting entrapment attempts by authorities. Journalists may have to take hint from US police agencies and practice parallel construction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26 2015, @02:55PM
n/t
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26 2015, @04:22PM
Nice try, but it's not GlobalLeaks either.
GlobaLeaks
Easily discoverable by a) reading the url, or b) visiting the url.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday February 26 2015, @08:26PM
Nice try, but it's not GlobalLeaks either.
GlobaLeaks
Easily discoverable by a) reading the url, or b) visiting the url.
Doh, my bad. Misspelled it, but luckily I still have a shred of competence at pasting URLs.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Friday February 27 2015, @09:10AM
The Guardian has launched a secure platform for whistleblowers to securely submit confidential documents to the newspaper’s reporters. The launch comes a year to the day since the Guardian posted the first of a series of NSA documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, sparking a worldwide debate on surveillance, privacy, and civil liberties.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/05/guardian-launches-securedrop-whistleblowers-documents [theguardian.com]
https://securedrop.theguardian.com [theguardian.com]
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Thursday February 26 2015, @04:28PM
"... will provide an "untraceable" way for journalists to receive leaked information without fear of compromising a source"
Sounds like an awesome platform for planting news and disinformation. The journalists won't even know where the information comes from and it can't be backtracked. If they want they can even send in their own tips and use the system as an alibi for whatever they want to print, post or whatever method used to publish their news. But I'm sure this is just going to be used for "good".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tibman on Thursday February 26 2015, @05:34PM
Is a fact truly a fact if it cannot be verified?
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday February 26 2015, @08:24PM
Well it seems to work for police. They call it Parallel Construction [wikipedia.org].
If a journalist is any good at their job, (all too often they aren't), they can take a unsubstantiated claim and find other sources for it. Just knowing what you are looking for is well over half the battle. Journalists can communicate back to the reporting party via encrypted email through TOR.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by stormreaver on Thursday February 26 2015, @05:50PM
Sounds like an awesome platform for planting news and disinformation.
Any decent journalist knows to use leaked information as a starting point of an investigation, not as the end result. Leaks just help the journalist know what to look for.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday February 26 2015, @08:26PM
Any decent journalist knows to use leaked information as a starting point of an investigation, not as the end result. Leaks just help the journalist know what to look for.
That's true if the media has decent journalists. I have no idea what the situation in Japan is like, but in much of the English speaking world the starting point becomes the end point if it fits the agenda of the "journalist".
(Score: 1) by stormreaver on Friday February 27 2015, @02:05AM
That's true if the media has decent journalists.
Very true. All too many reporters now seem more interested in fame and reputation than truth.