CORRUPTION

International Affairs Forum Fall 2016
newspaper, I routinely got documents from
disturbed, non-rational people. Do not make it
difficult for the reporter to separate your story
from the large amount of noise out there.
• Digital metadata is your enemy. Do not leave
electronic breadcrumbs. Depending on how
sensitive the wrongdoing being disclosed
is, you may want to have zero electronic
contact with the journalist or other avenues of
disclosure, such as a Member of Parliament.
• Conferences are a great way to get to people
face to face; tracking their movements on
social media (being careful not to explicitly
follow them) can provide ways to create
opportunities for face to face discussions.
Leave your cell phone at home for that.
Importantly, do not assume that original
documents—especially digital ones—are free
from electronic breadcrumbs. Metadata is
everywhere. Photos taken from your phone,
for example, contain all sorts of identifying
information you may not want to divulge.
Finally, do not tip your hand too early. Plan,
plan and plan again. Because if you are
whistleblowing about wrongdoing by the powerful
and well resourced, it is likely to be a long,
difficult battle. The good news is that increasingly
the public will be on your side.
[For more detail, see Blueprint for Free Speech’s
Blueprint Principles for Whistleblower Protection.]
Dr. Suelette Dreyfus is a Lecturer in the Department of Computingand
Information Systems at The University of Melbourne. She is a frequent
public commentator in the media on IT-related topics. Her main research
areas are in: Cyber Security and Hacking, Digital Privacy and Anonymity
and the impact of technology on integrity systems (whistleblowing). Prior
to entering academia she worked as a staff reporter on Australia’s largest
daily newspapers. She wrote the first mainstream book about computer
hacking in Australia with Julian Assange in 1997 which was subsequently
made into two films and translated into seven other languages.
For her research work on the impact of digital technologies on
whistleblowing, she has been invited to appear before several parliamentary
committees at a state and federal level in Australia. She has co-authored a
number of international reports and papers in this area. She works with
civil society not-for-profit NGOs internationally which seek to improve the
whistleblower protection structures in society, both in law and via use of
technology.
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