We have updated the recommended guidance that we ask newsrooms to provide on their SecureDrop landing page or general tips pages, to help make potential sources and whistleblowers aware of some of the actions they can take to remain anonymous.
Our updated recommendations now explicitly include warnings for sources against using AI chatbots, either for research purposes or to help prepare the material they plan to share with newsrooms, and to also avoid using other services (like search engines) in ways that are potentially linked to their identity.
The updated guidance now includes the following advice:
Your activity on other websites or apps may also be used to identify you. Avoid using any service linked to your identity, such as AI chatbots or search engines when logged in, while preparing to contact us or while whistleblowing, as your prompt and search histories may be used against you. Take great care to think about what your online behavior might reveal. If possible, use Tor Browser for all whistleblowing-related activity to protect your anonymity.
We’ve added similar recommendations directly addressed to sources, both in the SecureDrop for sources section of our documentation, and in the source how-to guide, which is available from within Tor Browser by visiting howto.securedrop.tor.onion.
We strongly recommend that newsrooms using SecureDrop update their landing pages with these new warnings.
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact us:
- Via Signal, either in your dedicated SecureDrop Support group, or by contacting the support account listed at securedrop.org/help/.
- Via securedrop@freedom.press (PGP encrypted).
Thank you for using SecureDrop!