WSJ and Al-Jazeera Lure Whistleblowers With False Promises of Anonymity
\nLegal Analysis by Hanni Fakhoury – EFF
\nJune 7th, 2011<\/p>\n
The success of Wikileaks in obtaining and releasing information has inspired mainstream media outlets to develop proprietary copycat sites. Al-Jazeera got into the act first, launching the Al-Jazeera Transparency Unit (AJTU), an initiative meant to “allow Al-Jazeera’s supporters to shine light on notable and noteworthy government and corporate activities which might otherwise go unreported.” AJTU assures users that “files will be uploaded and stored on our secure servers” and that materials “are encrypted while they are transmitted to us, and they remain encrypted on our servers.”<\/p>\n
On May 5, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co., Inc., launched its own site, SafeHouse. That same day, the Atlantic published a story describing SafeHouse as a \u201csecure uploading system\u201d with \u201cseparate servers,\u201d two layers of encryption, and a policy of discarding information about uploaders \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d You can \u201ckeep yourself anonymous or confidential, as needed,\u201d the SafeHouse site promises, as you \u201csecurely share documents with the Wall Street Journal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immediately after its launch, however, online security experts ripped SafeHouse apart. The Atlantic published its story online at noon on May 5 and by 5 p.m., the page was updated with a link directing readers to the Twitter feed of Jacob Appelbaum, a security researcher and Wikileaks volunteer, who had already exposed an embarrassing number of security problems with SafeHouse.<\/p>\n
EFF\u2019s review of the legal side of these websites doesn’t fare any better. While some of the more egregious technical problems with SafeHouse have been fixed since its launch, its terms of use haven’t changed. We read through the Terms of Service for both SafeHouse and AJTU (pdf). Don’t fall for the false promises of anonymity offered by these sites. Here’s what you should know.<\/p>\n
They Reserve the Right to Sell You Out<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite promising anonymity, security and confidentiality, AJTU can \u201cshare personally identifiable information in response to a law enforcement agency\u2019s request, or where we believe it is necessary.\u201d SafeHouse\u2019s terms of service reserve the right \u201cto disclose any information about you to law enforcement authorities\u201d without notice, then goes even further, reserving the right to disclose information to any “requesting third party,\u201d not only to comply with the law but also to \u201cprotect the property or rights of Dow Jones or any affiliated companies\u201d or to “safeguard the interests of others.\u201d As one commentator put it bluntly, this is \u201cinsanely broad.\u201d Neither SafeHouse or AJTU bother telling users how they determine when they’ll disclose information, or who’s in charge of the decision. …more<\/a><\/p>\n