How about a newsgroup devoted to `whistleblowing' where anonymity is encouraged? It could even be `anonymously moderated' where all the postings are guaranteed to go through an anonymous server before posting. (Whoever wanted to be *really* sure could anonymize the message before posting.) I haven't seen *any* newsgroups dedicated to looking at government abuses from the "inside" (this would be for employees esp.) I can imagine all kinds of neat little secrets about our government's illustrious practices leaking out.. The potential for `good' is good,
Excellent idea. I am a government official who has blown the whistle on several major abuses, and have trusted friends in the media. I can see to it that if alt.whistleblowers becomes real, it will be read. Submissions should be to a mailbox that renders the articles anonymous before they go public. There might be an alt.whistleblowers.d for discussion where members of the press could (here's where crypto-tech comes in) post requests for further information. PGP (or whatever) sigs could serve as press "credentials" and interested reporters could post their public keys to a trusted repository. This has a lot of merit. Since we know that the press is the only effective means by which a tale of government abuse can be told, this could change the way government does business, knowing that honest people have nothing to fear by pointing out the crooks. I've seen it happen ... makes you feel good. -- +==== Internet: babani@cs.buffalo.edu ===+======== Amateur-Radio: N2LYC ======+ ! Bitnet: V078LNGT@ubvms.BITNET | UUCP: rutgers!ub!babani ! ! Alternate: an173@cleveland.freenet.edu | Plsure dpnds on the othrs prmison. ! +== PGP key available. (If you don't know what a PGP key is... find out!) ==+