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20170516

Whistleblowing to Wikipedia (satire, thought experiment)

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any financial or physical losses due to misuse of the information provided in this article when applied to real life without adequate resources, time and training.

Note to my readers: I wrote this article as a thought experiment after reading about the DNC leak and purported whistle-blower.

Since the leak itself has little to do with the whistle-blower, I will state that the bearers of false news are making a mockery of journalism.

Overall, the DNC leak looks more like the work of an unnamed group who are disenfranchised with the DNC.  I do not know who did it, but the named whistle-blower is not the culprit.

Any MSM outlet who claims otherwise is proliferating agitation propaganda in an effort to divide the people, specifically anyone who believes the fallacy derived by initially reading the reports. 

Lastly, a certain well-known bearer of false news is involved in manufacturing the rumor after the fact.



My main assumptions regarding this thought experiment are that you are least suspected of leaking confidential information as whistle-blower and have enough resources and time to acquire the tools such as a spare phone and prepaid SIM, laptop or PC.

It helps​ to if you are tech savvy.


Resources needed:


  • Old smartphone (Android 5 or better or IPhone 5 and above)




  • Prepaid SIM card, activated.




  • 4GB USB flash drive, or optionally a CD.




  • Laptop with CD drive that burns CD-ROMs minimally, or able to boot from USB flash drive, preferably running a secure OS (Windows 7 or greater or better yet, a UNIX-like OS such as Linux Mint, Fedora Workstation, PCBSD or TrueOS).




  • 16GB USB flash drive or DVD to burn UNIX-like OS as bootable.



  • Before even proceeding with whistle-blowing via Wikileaks, find the email address of one of the journalists who covered Wikileaks.

    Next prepare your resources, which consist of a smartphone, a laptop, and optionally, practice installing Linux and BSD - both of which are UNIX-like OS - on that computer to gain the skill-set that qualifies as a soft resource.

    Other skills include the ability to use Google Search to find the information about the journalists associated with WIkiLeaks, and learn about Tails OS, how to use it and install the ISO.

    I recommend Tails OS since you can install it on a USB flash drive or optionally, a CD-ROM i.e. you can burn the ISO as data.  Check the Tails website for details.


    Next download, install and use Tails OS until you are thorough familiar with all the tools on it

    Next, only one smartphone should be used throughout these leaks.  Prepaid is preferred over a monthly account since the latter gives you a financially visible  footprint.

    Finally, when you are ready to leak to WikiLeaks, don't use your real name, and choose Tails OS to secure your communications on your laptop.  The incognito mode on Chrome or the Private Browsing mode in Firefox is inadequate even when your laptop is not using Windows but a Unix-like OS such as freeBSD or Linux.

    For calls, texting and video conferencing, use a secure app like WhatsApp for phone calls and texting or Telegram which is more secure to establish first contact via a WikiLeaks-approved journalist.

    One week after you've leaked the documents and pictures, and the receipt of the leak is confirmed via email, text, or video as need be, remove, destroy and throw away the SIM card. Then reset the smartphone to remove all evidence. 

    Also, secure the laptop by reformatting it using a secure formatting software - which is found in both BSD and Linux flavors mentioned previously.

    Then optionally install Windows on the laptop.

    Finally, pawn the phone and donate the laptop to a worthy cause such as Salvation Army.


    Reference:

    2016 Democratic National Committee email leak:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Committee_email_leak

    The DNC Leak and the Purported Whistle-Blower:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/family-of-slain-seth-rich-says-reports-he-fed-wikileaks-dnc-info-are-untrue/2017/05/16/9b32ef9c-3a46-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.d0d3a9e0e73a

    Tails OS:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tails_(operating_system)

    Use mobile phones as securely as possible:
    https://securityinabox.org/en/guide/mobile-phones/#use-mobile-phones-as-securely-as-possible

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