5 ms·

I'm not quite sure you realize how risky to sources the methods of contact you suggest are. I understand your point of view as a former reporter, clearly you kn

I'm not quite sure you realize how risky to sources the methods of contact you suggest are. I understand your point of view as a former reporter, clearly you know what works best for the receiving end. But burners without a voice modulator of some sort are very likely a huge deterrent for most potential sources because they don't know whether they can trust the cell network (localisation, voice identification). Face to face meetings sounds preposterous for someone who would risk prosecution under the espionage act for instance. I know that's a rare scenario, but in more common cases there are still clear inherent risks in meeting face to face with a journalist. And that's not even considering the potential time and costs involved in reaching a journalist with national/international reach. Regarding nut jobs, that clearly sounds difficult to parse. But at the risk of sounding like I'm hounding on you, there seems to be a misunderstanding on the part of journalists of the kinds of risks sources are putting themselves into. Worse yet, an underestimation of how much journalists – through their expectations and treatment of source data — passively and routinely put their own sources at risk by being illiterate in maters of operational security (encryption, surveillance-self-defense, network security, etc). Just read the account of how difficult it was for Edward Snowden to reach out to Glenn Greenwald for a perfect demonstration of these issues: https://theintercept.com/2014/10/28/smuggling-snowden-secrets/ https://theintercept.com/2014/10/28/smuggling-snowden-secret... He had to enlist outside help to get a journalist to stop fucking around with operational security. This in turn is perhaps why Snowden is still free and alive to this day.

dcposch 10y ago
> Face to face meetings sounds preposterous for someone who would risk prosecution under the espionage act for instance Snowden met face to face with Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. Things are improving. Lots of journalists have Signal now.
vonnik 10y ago
I'm not sure you know what you're talking about. I'm talking about what has worked for the confidential sources I had, and the means they chose to communicate with me, which in fact prevented me or my org from knowing who they were. (They were not up against the intelligence agencies of the US, but nonetheless they did not want to be known, and succeeded.) Investigations usually happen in retrospect, after leaks have been made public. And the data that is most searchable surfaces leads most quickly. Files and emails are the most searchable thing of all. Easy to copy. Stored many times as they travel. That is less true of voice. And even less true of face to face meetings, done right. So sure, use a voice modulator. That's a good idea. Even better: send a paper envelope full of documents printed on someone else's machine; wear latex glove and dab the stamp with tap water rather than saliva. Journalists have a filtering problem that you don't seem to understand. They are inundated with wackos hawking "news" that's really just a figment of the imagination. Partisan sources pretending to be neutral spin them everyday. A good source, with good information, has to realize that and break through to the reporter by demonstrating authenticity, because the reporter is overwhelmed. If you don't care about breaking through, then don't do it. It's not a misunderstanding on the journalists' part; its the nature of their job. They don't have time to wade through all the crazy claims. Everything's hackable. People should assume that reporters and their organizations will have a lapse in security, that they cannot withstand the collective efforts of intelligence agencies. Just like any other company in the world and the DNC... And those sources should arrange to protect themselves if their communications are found by someone who's not the reporter.
- dredmorbius 10y ago
  Self-adhesive stamps have greatly enhance tradecraft.
- amorphid 10y ago
  Tl;dr -- you're gonna have to stick your neck out, so don't work with someone who will get your head chopped off.
  - argonaut 10y ago
    No, that's not the tl;dr.

dcposch 10y ago

> Face to face meetings sounds preposterous for someone who would risk prosecution under the espionage act for instance Snowden met face to face with Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. Things are improving. Lots of journalists have Signal now.

vonnik 10y ago

I'm not sure you know what you're talking about. I'm talking about what has worked for the confidential sources I had, and the means they chose to communicate with me, which in fact prevented me or my org from knowing who they were. (They were not up against the intelligence agencies of the US, but nonetheless they did not want to be known, and succeeded.) Investigations usually happen in retrospect, after leaks have been made public. And the data that is most searchable surfaces leads most quickly. Files and emails are the most searchable thing of all. Easy to copy. Stored many times as they travel. That is less true of voice. And even less true of face to face meetings, done right. So sure, use a voice modulator. That's a good idea. Even better: send a paper envelope full of documents printed on someone else's machine; wear latex glove and dab the stamp with tap water rather than saliva. Journalists have a filtering problem that you don't seem to understand. They are inundated with wackos hawking "news" that's really just a figment of the imagination. Partisan sources pretending to be neutral spin them everyday. A good source, with good information, has to realize that and break through to the reporter by demonstrating authenticity, because the reporter is overwhelmed. If you don't care about breaking through, then don't do it. It's not a misunderstanding on the journalists' part; its the nature of their job. They don't have time to wade through all the crazy claims. Everything's hackable. People should assume that reporters and their organizations will have a lapse in security, that they cannot withstand the collective efforts of intelligence agencies. Just like any other company in the world and the DNC... And those sources should arrange to protect themselves if their communications are found by someone who's not the reporter.

dredmorbius 10y ago
Self-adhesive stamps have greatly enhance tradecraft.
amorphid 10y ago
Tl;dr -- you're gonna have to stick your neck out, so don't work with someone who will get your head chopped off.
- argonaut 10y ago
  No, that's not the tl;dr.