How free is our freedom of the press?
-
0:00 - 0:03So this is James Risen.
-
0:03 - 0:06You may know him as the
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter -
0:06 - 0:08for The New York Times.
-
0:08 - 0:10Long before anybody knew
Edward Snowden's name, -
0:10 - 0:13Risen wrote a book in which
he famously exposed -
0:13 - 0:17that the NSA was illegally wiretapping
the phone calls of Americans. -
0:18 - 0:20But it's another chapter in that book
-
0:20 - 0:22that may have an even more lasting impact.
-
0:22 - 0:27In it, he describes a catastrophic
US intelligence operation -
0:27 - 0:30in which the CIA quite literally
handed over blueprints -
0:30 - 0:32of a nuclear bomb to Iran.
-
0:33 - 0:34If that sounds crazy, go read it.
-
0:34 - 0:36It's an incredible story.
-
0:36 - 0:39But you know who didn't like that chapter?
-
0:39 - 0:40The US government.
-
0:41 - 0:43For nearly a decade afterwards,
-
0:43 - 0:46Risen was the subject
of a US government investigation -
0:46 - 0:48in which prosecutors demanded
that he testify -
0:48 - 0:50against one of his alleged sources.
-
0:51 - 0:55And along the way, he became the face
for the US government's recent pattern -
0:55 - 0:58of prosecuting whistleblowers
and spying on journalists. -
0:59 - 1:00You see, under the First Amendment,
-
1:00 - 1:04the press has the right to publish
secret information in the public interest. -
1:04 - 1:09But it's impossible to exercise that right
if the media can't also gather that news -
1:09 - 1:12and protect the identities
of the brave men and women -
1:12 - 1:14who get it to them.
-
1:14 - 1:16So when the government came knocking,
-
1:16 - 1:19Risen did what many brave reporters
have done before him: -
1:19 - 1:20he refused
-
1:20 - 1:22and said he'd rather go to jail.
-
1:23 - 1:26So from 2007 to 2015,
-
1:26 - 1:28Risen lived under the specter
of going to federal prison. -
1:29 - 1:33That is, until just days before the trial,
when a curious thing happened. -
1:34 - 1:38Suddenly, after years of claiming
it was vital to their case, -
1:38 - 1:40the government dropped their demands
to Risen altogether. -
1:41 - 1:43It turns out, in the age
of electronic surveillance, -
1:43 - 1:46there are very few places
reporters and sources can hide. -
1:47 - 1:51And instead of trying and failing
to have Risen testify, -
1:51 - 1:54they could have his digital trail
testify against him instead. -
1:55 - 1:57So completely in secret
and without his consent, -
1:57 - 1:59prosecutors got Risen's phone records.
-
2:00 - 2:04They got his email records,
his financial and banking information, -
2:04 - 2:06his credit reports,
-
2:06 - 2:09even travel records with a list
of flights he had taken. -
2:10 - 2:14And it was among this information that
they used to convict Jeffrey Sterling, -
2:14 - 2:17Risen's alleged source
and CIA whistleblower. -
2:18 - 2:20Sadly, this is only one case of many.
-
2:21 - 2:25President Obama ran on a promise
to protect whistleblowers, -
2:25 - 2:28and instead, his Justice Department
has prosecuted more -
2:28 - 2:31than all other administrations combined.
-
2:31 - 2:33Now, you can see how this
could be a problem, -
2:33 - 2:38especially because the government
considers so much of what it does secret. -
2:39 - 2:43Since 9/11, virtually every important
story about national security -
2:43 - 2:46has been the result of a whistleblower
coming to a journalist. -
2:47 - 2:50So we risk seeing the press
unable to do their job -
2:50 - 2:52that the First Amendment
is supposed to protect -
2:52 - 2:55because of the government's
expanded ability to spy on everyone. -
2:55 - 2:58But just as technology has allowed
the government -
2:58 - 3:01to circumvent reporters' rights,
-
3:01 - 3:03the press can also use technology
-
3:03 - 3:05to protect their sources
even better than before. -
3:06 - 3:09And they can start from the moment
they begin speaking with them, -
3:09 - 3:11rather than on the witness stand
after the fact. -
3:12 - 3:14Communications software now exists
-
3:14 - 3:17that wasn't available
when Risen was writing his book, -
3:17 - 3:21and is much more surveillance-resistant
than regular emails or phone calls. -
3:22 - 3:26For example, one such tool is SecureDrop,
-
3:26 - 3:29an open-source whistleblower
submission system -
3:29 - 3:33that was originally created by the late
Internet luminary Aaron Swartz, -
3:33 - 3:35and is now developed
at the non-profit where I work, -
3:36 - 3:37Freedom of the Press Foundation.
-
3:38 - 3:39Instead of sending an email,
-
3:40 - 3:42you go to a news organization's website,
-
3:42 - 3:44like this one here on The Washington Post.
-
3:44 - 3:48From there, you can upload a document
or send information -
3:48 - 3:50much like you would
on any other contact form. -
3:51 - 3:53It'll then be encrypted
and stored on a server -
3:53 - 3:56that only the news organization
has access to. -
3:56 - 4:00So the government can no longer
secretly demand the information, -
4:00 - 4:02and much of the information
they would demand -
4:02 - 4:04wouldn't be available in the first place.
-
4:04 - 4:07SecureDrop, though, is really
only a small part of the puzzle -
4:07 - 4:10for protecting press freedom
in the 21st century. -
4:11 - 4:13Unfortunately, governments
all over the world -
4:13 - 4:16are constantly developing
new spying techniques -
4:16 - 4:17that put us all at risk.
-
4:18 - 4:21And it's up to us going forward
to make sure -
4:21 - 4:23that it's not just
the tech-savvy whistleblowers, -
4:23 - 4:27like Edward Snowden, who have
an avenue for exposing wrongdoing. -
4:27 - 4:32It's just as vital that we protect the
next veteran's health care whistleblower -
4:32 - 4:35alerting us to overcrowded hospitals,
-
4:36 - 4:38or the next environmental worker
-
4:38 - 4:41sounding the alarm
about Flint's dirty water, -
4:41 - 4:43or a Wall Street insider
-
4:43 - 4:45warning us of the next financial crisis.
-
4:46 - 4:50After all, these tools weren't just built
to help the brave men and women -
4:50 - 4:52who expose crimes,
-
4:52 - 4:55but are meant to protect
all of our rights under the Constitution. -
4:55 - 4:57Thank you.
-
4:57 - 5:00(Applause)
- Title:
- How free is our freedom of the press?
- Speaker:
- Trevor Timm
- Description:
-
Trevor Timm speaks at TED2016
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:13
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Riaki Ponist
Hi there,
2:31
Now, you can see how this
could be a problem,
What I hear is:
I can see how this
could be a problem,
Is the change in the transcript intentional?
Thanks,
Riaki