Spycraft: Or how to keep your sources safe online
The opening of the NICAR 2010 (Computer Assisted Reporting Conference ) ‘Spycraft’ session was a little like a standup routine.
As the crowd settled in to listen to ASU professor Steve Doig and Rich Roberston, an investigator with R3 Investigations, talk about ways to keep your information, cell communication, e-mails private, Doig started the introduction:
Doig: “We’re going to talk about what I call Spycraft… learning some of the tricks and tools … and some of these tricks and tools are also used by criminals..”
Robertson: “We call them clients.”
Ba-bump. And, that may be, but Doig was addressing journalists who may want to avoid having their communications with confidential sources subpoenaed.
From there they threw out suggestions rapid-fire, sharing software and tips that may help keep reporters communications private. Here are a few:
Robertson pointed out that, of course, there are ethical issues with reporters misrepresenting themselves. And Doig stressed that he was not recommending any of these sites, but wanted to point out that they are out there.
