Freedom of the Press Foundation

Last updated
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Freedom of the Press Foundation logo.svg
AbbreviationFPF
FormationDecember 17, 2012;9 years ago (2012-12-17)
Type Non-governmental organization
Purpose Freedom of the press and Freedom of speech funding
Region served
Global
Key people
Affiliations Electronic Frontier Foundation [1]
Revenue (2015)
$2,535,636 [2]
Expenses (2015)$1,211,073 [2]
Website freedom.press

Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 to fund and support free speech and freedom of the press. The organization originally managed crowd-funding campaigns for independent journalistic organizations, but now pursues technical projects to support journalists' digital security and conducts legal advocacy for journalists.

Contents

The foundation's SecureDrop platform aims to allow confidential and secure communication between journalists and their sources, and has been adopted by more than 65 news organizations globally. [3] It also manages the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a database of press freedom violations in the United States. [4]

The organization's board of directors has included prominent journalists and whistleblowers such as Daniel Ellsberg, Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Xeni Jardin, as well as activists, celebrities, and filmmakers. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden joined FPF's board of directors in 2014 [5] and began serving as its president in early 2016. [6] Jardin left the board in 2016. [7]

Crowdfunding

The organization's founding was inspired by the WikiLeaks financial blockade. [8] In late 2012, FPF's launch re-enabled donations to WikiLeaks via Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal, after the payment processors cut off WikiLeaks in late 2010. [9] In December 2017, after five years of processing donations on behalf of WikiLeaks, FPF's board unanimously found that the blockade was no longer in effect, and severed ties with WikiLeaks as of January 8, 2018. [10] [11]

FPF has also crowd-funded support for a variety of other transparency journalism organizations, as well as encryption tools used by journalists, including: WikiLeaks, MuckRock, the National Security Archive, The UpTake, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the Center for Public Integrity, Truthout, the LEAP Encryption Access Project, Open Whisper Systems, Tails, and the Tor Project. [12] [13]

In May 2013, FPF raised over $100,000 in online donations to hire a professional court stenographer to take transcripts during the trial of whistleblower Chelsea Manning after the government refused to make its transcripts available to the public. [14] They posted the transcripts online at the end of each day of the trial for members of the media to use in their reports. Secrecy expert Steven Aftergood later called the crowd-funding effort "unprecedented", saying "it eloquently demonstrated public expectations of openness...the court and the prosecutors may have been shamed into reconsidering their habitual secrecy." [15]

In October 2014, FPF raised over $28,000 for New Zealand independent journalist Nicky Hager to fund his legal challenge against the government of New Zealand after his house was raided by police. The raid reportedly was an attempt to uncover one or more of Hager's anonymous sources used in his book Dirty Politics . [16] A court later ruled the raid of Hager's house was illegal. [17]

In 2015, FPF raised more than $125,000 in online donations for Chelsea Manning's legal defense stemming from her conviction under the Espionage Act for leaking information to WikiLeaks. [18] Notwithstanding the January 2017 commutation of her sentence and May 2017 release from prison, Manning's military appeal is ongoing. [19]

As of June 2018, FPF accepts donations with crypto-currencies. [20] On April 16, 2021, Edward Snowden raised 2,224 ETH (around $5.4 million) to benefit Freedom of the Press Foundation through the sale of an NFT on foundation.app. This signed work, titled "Stay Free", combines the entirety of a landmark court decision ruling the National Security Agency's mass surveillance violated the law, with the portrait of the whistleblower by Platon. [21] This is the largest donation in the history of the organization.

Technical projects

In October 2013, FPF took over the development of SecureDrop, a free software whistleblower submission system developed in part by the late programmer and transparency activist Aaron Swartz. [22] Swartz developed SecureDrop with Kevin Poulsen and James Dolan. Dolan moved it to FPF upon the death of Swartz. [23] The SecureDrop system facilitates anonymous communication between two parties using the Tor Network, and allows whistleblowers to contact journalists without ever exchanging one another's identities or contact information.

The system is now in use at more than 65 news organizations, [3] including The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Guardian , ProPublica, HuffPost , NBC News, and The Intercept . [24] According to a study done by the Columbia Journalism School, it has since successfully led to the publication of many stories at the news organizations that use it. [25]

FPF also teaches journalists how to use other encryption methods and digital security tools to better protect their sources.

In collaboration with The Guardian Project, FPF released a free and open-source mobile app named Haven in 2017. Haven turns an Android device into a security sensor and, optionally, alerts the device owner to activity occurring in its vicinity. [26]

Freedom of the Press Foundation has been involved in several Freedom of Information Act cases surrounding journalists' rights and government transparency.

In January 2016, FPF's lawsuit against the Justice Department revealed that the US government has secret rules for targeting journalists with National Security Letters (NSLs) and FISA court orders. [27]

In March 2016, another FPF lawsuit showed that the Obama administration secretly lobbied against bipartisan Freedom of Information Act reform in Congress, despite the bill being based word-for-word on the Obama administration's supposed transparency guidelines. [28]

Awards

FPF co-founders Daniel Ellsberg, John Perry Barlow, Trevor Timm, and Rainey Reitman won the 2013 Hugh Hefner First Amendment award for their role in founding FPF. [29] The organization was the recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists' James Madison award in 2016. [30]

See also

Related Research Articles

Cryptome is a 501(c)(3) private foundation created in 1996 by John Young and Deborah Natsios and sponsored by Natsios-Young Architects. The site collects information about freedom of expression, privacy, cryptography, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and government secrecy.

Kevin Poulsen American computer hacker

Kevin Lee Poulsen is an American former black-hat hacker and a contributing editor at The Daily Beast.

WikiLeaks News leak publishing organisation

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation that publishes news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Its website, initiated in 2006 in Iceland by the organisation Sunshine Press, stated in 2015 that it had released online 10 million documents in its first 10 years. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director. Since September 2018, Kristinn Hrafnsson has served as its editor-in-chief.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is a British independent charity providing training to journalists, researchers, producers and students in the practice and methodology of investigative journalism. It was incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee in June 2005 and registered as a Charity in March 2007. Using grants from the Lorana Sullivan Foundation, the CIJ organises annual three-day summer conference and courses in data journalism and investigative techniques. It has provided training to thousands of journalists, researchers and students from over 35 countries. The CIJ is based at the School of Journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London, which has held the CIJ summer conference each year since 2014.

Laura Poitras American director and producer of documentary films

Laura Poitras is an American director and producer of documentary films.

The WikiLeaks whistleblowing website founded by Julian Assange has received praise as well as criticism. The organisation has won a number of awards, including The Economist's New Media Award in 2008 at the Index on Censorship Awards and Amnesty International's UK Media Award in 2009. In 2010, the New York Daily News listed WikiLeaks first among websites "that could totally change the news", and Julian Assange received the Sam Adams Award and was named the Readers' Choice for TIME's Person of the Year in 2010. The UK Information Commissioner has stated that "WikiLeaks is part of the phenomenon of the online, empowered citizen". In its first days, an Internet petition calling for the cessation of extrajudicial intimidation of WikiLeaks attracted over six hundred thousand signatures. Supporters of WikiLeaks in the media and academia have commended it for exposing state and corporate secrets, increasing transparency, supporting freedom of the press, and enhancing democratic discourse while challenging powerful institutions.

Tails (operating system) Linux distribution for anonymity and privacy

Tails, or The Amnesic Incognito Live System, is a security-focused Debian-based Linux distribution aimed at preserving privacy and anonymity. It connects to the Internet exclusively through the anonymity network Tor. The system is designed to be booted as a live DVD or live USB, and leaves no digital footprint on the machine unless explicitly told to do so. It can also be run as a virtual machine, with some additional security risks. The Tor Project provided financial support for its development in the beginnings of the project, and continues to do so alongside numerous corporate and anonymous sponsors.

GlobaLeaks is an open-source, free software intended to enable secure and anonymous whistleblowing initiatives.

SecureDrop Free software platform

SecureDrop is a free software platform for secure communication between journalists and sources (whistleblowers). It was originally designed and developed by Aaron Swartz and Kevin Poulsen under the name DeadDrop. James Dolan also co-created the software.

Edward Snowden American whistleblower and former National Security Agency contractor

Edward Joseph Snowden is an American former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and subcontractor. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments, and prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.

Sarah Harrison (journalist)

Sarah Harrison is a former WikiLeaks section editor. She worked with the WikiLeaks' legal defence and has been described as Julian Assange's closest adviser. Harrison accompanied National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden on a high-profile flight from Hong Kong to Moscow while he was sought by the United States government.

Global surveillance and journalism

Global surveillance and journalism is a subject covering journalism or reporting of governmental espionage, which gained worldwide attention after the Global surveillance disclosures of 2013 that resulted from Edward Snowden's leaks. Since 2013, many leaks have emerged from different government departments in the US, which confirm that the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on US citizens and foreign enemies alike. Journalists were attacked for publishing the leaks and were regarded in the same light as the whistleblowers who gave them the information. Subsequently, the US government made arrests, raising concerns about the freedom of the press.

<i>Anything to Say?</i>

Anything to Say? is an itinerant bronze sculpture and art installation by Italian artist Davide Dormino which was placed in Berlin's Alexanderplatz on May Day 2015. It features the whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning standing on three chairs; the entire installation, which includes a fourth, empty chair meant as a platform for public speaking, is to go on a global tour. The fourth empty chair invites individuals "to stand up instead of sitting like the others". The installation was unveiled by "ANYTHINGTOSAY," a private art project supported with an international crowdfunding. In 2016 Davide Dormino was awarded the Prix Éthique 2016 by Anticor for Anything to Say?

The Courage Foundation is a trust for fundraising the legal defence of individuals such as whistleblowers and journalists.

Truth & Transparency Foundation Whistleblowing organization

Truth & Transparency Foundation is a whistleblowing organization inspired by WikiLeaks, which focuses on exposing documents from the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It began in October 2016 as a leaked series of videos on the YouTube channel Mormon Leaks. In total, 15 videos were initially leaked via the Mormon Leaks channel from meetings of high-ranking LDS leaders including the Quorum of the Twelve. They discussed topics including the "homosexual agenda", the subprime mortgage crisis, and a debate over the sexual orientation of Chelsea Manning. Politicians featured in the videos included former Utah governor Mike Leavitt and former U.S. Senator from Oregon Gordon H. Smith.

James Ball (journalist) British journalist and author

James Ball is a British journalist and author. He has worked for The Grocer, The Guardian, WikiLeaks, BuzzFeed, The New European and The Washington Post and is the author of several books. He is the recipient of several awards for journalism and was a member of The Guardian team that won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism.

Ben Wizner is an American lawyer, writer, and civil liberties advocate with the American Civil Liberties Union. Since July 2013, he has been the lead attorney of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

James S. Dolan was an American computer security expert who, with Aaron Swartz and Kevin Poulsen, co-developed SecureDrop, a widely used secure digital platform for sources to anonymously submit materials to journalists.

Indictment and arrest of Julian Assange Arrest of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange on 11 April 2019

Julian Assange was investigated by the Eastern District of Virginia grand jury for US computer-related crimes committed in 2012. His request for political asylum was granted by Ecuador and he remained in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 until 2019. In 2019, a US indictment from 2018 was made public following the termination of his asylum status and his subsequent arrest by the UK Metropolitan Police in London. The US indictment accused Assange of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion by helping US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning gain access to privileged information, which Assange intended to publish on WikiLeaks. The charge was less serious than those levelled against Manning, and carries a maximum sentence of five years with a possibility of parole.

References

  1. ↑ Cohn, Cindy (December 17, 2012). "EFF Helps Freedom of the Press Foundation". Electronic Frontier Foundation . Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Freedom of the Press Foundation" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Henrichson, Jennifer R. (April 30, 2020). "The Rise of the Security Champion: Beta-testing Newsroom Security Cultures". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  4. ↑ Feinberg, Ashley (August 2, 2017). "The US Press Freedom Tracker Follows Abuses of Journalists To Help Stop Them". Wired . Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Board of Directors". Freedom of the Press Foundation. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (February 2017). "Edward Snowden's New Job: Protecting Reporters From Spies". Wired .
  7. ↑ Poulsen, Kevin; Ackerman, Spencer (November 16, 2017). "Free Press Group Ready to Cut Off WikiLeaks". The Daily Beast .
  8. ↑ Greenwald, Glenn (December 17, 2012). "New press freedom group is launched to block US government attacks". Guardian Media Group . Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  9. ↑ Gillmor, Dan (December 17, 2012). "Why we all have a stake in the Freedom of the Press Foundation | Dan Gillmor". the Guardian. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  10. ↑ Blake, Andrew (December 20, 2017). "Free press group votes unanimously to stop funding WikiLeaks, citing end of banking blockade". The Washington Times . Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Beyond the blockade". Freedom of the Press Foundation. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  12. ↑ Calderone, Michael (December 16, 2012). "Freedom Of The Press Foundation Launches To Support WikiLeaks, Increase Transparency". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  13. ↑ Cusack, John (February 6, 2013). "Freedom of the Press Foundation - Updates From Our Front". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  14. ↑ Armitage, Susan (June 13, 2013). "Notetakers denied Manning trial access". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  15. ↑ Klasfield, Adam (July 17, 2013). "Military Signals Partial Wiki-Secrecy Retreat". Courthouse News Service.
  16. ↑ "Help Fund Independent Reporter Nicky Hager's Legal Defense". Freedom of the Press Foundation. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014.
  17. ↑ Geiringer, Felix (December 17, 2015). "High Court finds police raid on Nicky Hager was illegal". Scoop Independent News.
  18. ↑ Hart, P. Andrew (July 17, 2015). "Chelsea Manning Defense Fund Flooded With Donations". Huffington Post.
  19. ↑ "Chelsea Manning, Legal Team on Manning's Upcoming Release from Military Prison". Luminairity. May 9, 2017. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  20. ↑ "The Freedom of the Press Foundation now accepts bitcoin cash, ether, and other cryptocurrencies". June 18, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Edward Snowden NFT sells for more than $5.4 million". April 16, 2021.
  22. ↑ Timm, Trevor (October 15, 2013). "Freedom of the Press Foundation Launches SecureDrop, an Open-Source Submission Platform for Whistleblowers". Boing Boing.
  23. ↑ Timm, Trevor (January 9, 2018). "A tribute to James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, who has tragically passed away at age 36". Freedom of the Press Foundation.
  24. ↑ "The Official SecureDrop Directory". SecureDrop.
  25. ↑ Berret, Charles. "Guide to SecureDrop".
  26. ↑ Greenberg, Andy. "Snowden-Backed App 'Haven' Turns Your Phone into a Home Security System". Wired.
  27. ↑ Timm, Trevor (January 11, 2016). "When can the FBI use National Security Letters to spy on journalists? That's classified". Columbia Journalism Review.
  28. ↑ Leopold, Jason (March 9, 2016). "It Took a FOIA Lawsuit to Uncover How the Obama Administration Killed FOIA Reform". VICE News.
  29. ↑ "Winners Announced for 2013 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards". Business Wire. May 15, 2013.
  30. ↑ LaHood, Lila (January 29, 2016). "Winners Announced for 2016 James Madison Freedom of Information Awards". SPJ NorCal.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.