美国国家公共电台 NPR How The Media Are Using Encryption Tools To Collect Anonymous Tips

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So in these early days of the Trump¹ administration, there have been a lot of leaks. For example, this weekend, the news site Politico ran a story featuring leaked accounts of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer lecturing his staff on the need to prevent leaks. As NPR's Sam Sanders reports, thanks to technology, we really are living in the golden age of the leak.

SAM SANDERS, BYLINE²: Back in the day, if you wanted to leak a big scoop³ to a newspaper, you had to rely on things like the U.S. Postal⁴ Service or pay phones or an underground parking garage. Now there's an app for that.

MOXIE MARLINSPIKE: Signal is a messaging and calling app, and it works just like any other messaging and calling app except it uses end-to-end encryption.

SANDERS: That's Moxie Marlinspike. That name is a pseudonym⁵. Marlinspike is one of the founders⁶ of Signal, the premier⁷ app for leakers. I will let him explain just what end-to-end encryption means.

MARLINSPIKE: You can ensure that when you send a message to someone or you call someone that the thing that you write or say is only visible to yourself and the intended recipient⁸.

SANDERS: Basically, end-the-end encryption means your messages travel to their recipient with a lock on them, and only the intended recipient has the key. The investigative news organization ProPublica actually has a webpage with a list of all the different methods you can leak with. It's called, quote, "How To Leak To ProPublica." Jeff Larson is a reporter there. He went down the list.

There's a file-sharing system called SecureDrop.

JEFF LARSON: Which is an open-source system that allows us not to even know who the person is who leaked to us.

SANDERS: There's also a special encrypted email called GPG. Larson says there are so many high-tech⁹ ways to leak now.

LARSON: We're living in a golden age for leaks.

TREVOR TIMM: We're living in a golden age of leaks, but we're also living in a golden age of surveillance.

SANDERS: That's Trevor Timm. He's the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. That's the group that made SecureDrop. Timm says part of the reason all these new ways to leak exist is because it's harder now, more than ever, to really ensure that you're having a private conversation with a journalist.

TIMM: So it is very easy for the government, for example, to subpoena¹⁰ a Google or a Verizon or an AT&T to get a journalist's phone records or email records that tells them who they talked to, when they talked to them and for how long.

SANDERS: And Timm says the government is prosecuting¹¹ leakers more. Increasingly, encrypted apps aren't just being used to leak to the press. They're being used within organizations, like the White House. A recent Washington Post article said that White House staffers have begun to use an app called Confide¹² just to talk to each other because they're so afraid of leaks.

JON BROD: Sam?

SANDERS: OK.

BROD: How are you doing?

SANDERS: I'm good. I'm sure you've had...

I had Jon Brod show me how Confide works. He's the co-founder and president of the company. Brod says Confide does more than just encrypt messages. Little bricks cover the words in the message so you can never see the entire message all at once.

BROD: And the way I read the message is by wanding my fingers over the bricks, which unveils a sliver¹³ of the message at a time.

SANDERS: And once you've read it, the message disappears. I tried it. It was pretty cool.

(SOUNDBITE OF CELLPHONE CHIME)

SANDERS: Oh - I see it.

BROD: (Laughter).

SANDERS: And now it's gone.

BROD: Now it's gone.

SANDERS: (Laughter) That was so cool. It's like an invisible marker or something.

In spite of Confide's cool factor, some say the app should be more secure. One BuzzFeed reporter says she found White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's phone number through the app, and other experts say Confide's encryption needs further review.

Confide app CEO Jon Brod told NPR the app does not show phone numbers or email addresses. And he said Confide's encryption matches a standard many people use for their emails. Whatever the case, Moxie Marlinspike from Signal - he says, overall, leaking going digital is good because it's democratizing leaks, making it easier for who he calls the low-level government employee.

MARLINSPIKE: If you're the director of the CIA, like, you don't need Signal.

SANDERS: Or maybe you do.

Sam Sanders, NPR News.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

4 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

5 pseudonym   

n.假名，笔名

参考例句：

• Eric Blair wrote under the pseudonym of George Orwell.埃里克·布莱尔用乔治·奧威尔这个笔名写作。
• Both plays were published under the pseudonym of Philip Dayre.两个剧本都是以菲利普·戴尔的笔名出版的。

6 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

7 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

8 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

9 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

10 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

11 prosecuting   

检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师

参考例句：

• The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
• Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。

12 confide   

v.向某人吐露秘密

参考例句：

• I would never readily confide in anybody.我从不轻易向人吐露秘密。
• He is going to confide the secrets of his heart to us.他将向我们吐露他心里的秘密。

13 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。