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Submit Anonymous Tips
Giving tips to journalists can be a very risky and tricky undertaking. It may violate legal agreements you have or may have had with your organization, such as a Confidential non-disclosure agreement or employment/services contract agreement. However, sometimes it can also be an effective and courageous way to call attention to people who abuse their power and authority, break the law or violate a person’s constitutional right(s).
If you believe someone is being harmed, exploited, or misled as a result of corruption, crime or abuse, our investigative reporters and journalists want to hear from you. If the information you provide is credible, we will initiate a thorough investigation and collect the facts so we can hold the wrongdoers, accountable.
A Good Tip
A credible news tip will have several components. Being able to provide documentation or evidence is absolutely essential. A good news tip MUST articulate a clear and comprehensive issue or problem with real world consequences. Be specific. In short, your news tip should be newsworthy. Examples of a good news tip are; Here is evidence that this government official is breaking the law. Here is proof this company is conducting itself unethically. I have video footage of a police officer violating the civil rights of a motorist during an arrest. As journalist, we are encouraged and committed to investigating all credible tips. It is our job. Nothing is more important to us than getting the right information so our investigative team can thoroughly investigate your facts, prepare and create an in depth news story or series of articles, and bring it all to life. You can be assured, ndexNEWS will take the time to review every credible tip received, and act on each, accordingly.
Your Anonymity
ndexNEWS will never require you to provide your name or other personal information. You may, however, provide this information if you so choose. If additional information is ever requested of you to corroborate what we uncover during the course of our investigation, you will be contacted through a secure channel that will allow you to communicate with us electronically and anonymously. We use several different sources as listed below for your convenience and safety. Please use the source you are most comfortable with using. Be advised, if for any reason you are uncomfortable providing us with any additional information, you may end your communication with us at any time. However, if we believe our investigators have uncovered enough evidence to corroborate the information you have provided, we may decide to write the story and post it at our discretion. Regardless of what you decide, you will remain anonymous.
Maximize Your Data Security
ndexNEWS offers several ways to securely send information and documents to our investigative reporters and journalists. To be sure, no system is 100% secure. However, the platforms we have provided below will help you create a more secure environment than that provided by normal communication channels when reaching out to us. Please visit these web sites and review the services they provide so you can select the right platform that’s right for you based on your communication needs and comfort zone.
In addition to using these platforms, we highly recommend you:
- Use a secure computer to communicate with us—one that does not maintain enterprise software or malware that might be used to record your activities;
- Use an operating system that helps preserve your privacy and anonymity, such as Tails;
- Delete trails of communication that you store on your computer, such as copies of messages or your secure codename assigned when using the service;
- Run any files you send to us through a metadata-scrubbing tool to minimize the risk of unintentionally sending us information embedded in the documents, such as an author’s name
ENCRYPTION PLATFORMS
Signal
Signal is a free, end-to-end encrypted messaging app, which allows you to communicate directly with ndexNEWS. You can send text messages, images and video. It also allows you to talk securely with a reporter by calling them via the Signal app. No metadata is retained by Signal. It can be downloaded from the app store. Signal can be configured to delete messages automatically at a designated time interval.
WhatsApp is a free messaging app owned by Facebook that allows full end-to-end encryption for its service. Only the sender and recipient can read messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, and calls. Though you can limit some account information shared to Facebook, WhatsApp still keeps some records, including the phone numbers involved in the exchange and users’ metadata, including timestamps on messages.
DropSecure
DropScure protects your privacy and safeguards the information you want to send to us. Whether your information is in the form of a document, video, or images, DropSecure uses a military-grade algorithm to safeguard the information you're sending. DropSecure is a very secure, zero knowledge platform that empowers people to take full control of the data they send. Their end-to-end encryption protects sensitive data in the cloud. No one, not even DropSecure, can access the data you send without you providing them with the key.
US Postal Service
You can drop a letter or package in the mail to reporters at ndexNEWS. Mail delivered through the United States Postal Service (USPS) is another secure means of communication. To maintain your anonymity, we strongly recommend that you use a public mailbox not near your place of residence or business, and not go into a post office or mail drop facility that collects mail, as these facilities could have a video footprint of your presence. Always try and be as discreet as possible. For an address in your region, please email us at support@ndexnews.com, Attn: Investigations
The Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) offers more detailed guides aimed at maintaining privacy and anonymity.