From: Geoffrey Gussis <geoff@digidem.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 11:26:48 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Whistleblowing on the Internet
Message-ID: <v03007802ae47e8a83d6d@[128.252.112.220]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I'm writing a paper for my ethics class on Whistleblowing, and specifically
how it has been aided by the Internet.  If anyone knows of any resources,
pointers, etc., I would greatly appreciate it.  The results will be
published on-line, and I can send a copy to anyone who is interested as
well.  I am interested in information covering both the private sector and
the government as well.  I do know that the Federal Government has an
online BBS where you can send in information on fraud, etc.

What I have uncovered so far:

+ As far as a Lexis/Nexis search goes, I only found a few articles, and
they centered around the Tobacco Papers, and the Scientology debate.

+ I located the Whistleblowing FAQ and contacted its author, but its last
update was in 1994 and it is no longer being maitained.

+ I visited a couple of other related Internet sites (I searched using many
search engines), but they don't really have examples of using the Internet
for whistleblowing purposes.

+ I am also aware of the majority of Anonymity/Privacy sites on the
Internet, and will definitely be utilizing them in the paper.


Overall, I am quite surprised that there isn't a whistleblowing
clearinghouse on the Internet; a site sponsored by a non-profit that lists
email addresses and secure forms for sending anonymized email to those
areas of the public and private sector that deal with whistleblowing.  As
the Internet is a great medium for information dissemination, and offers
significant privacy advantages, I really expected to find much more.

Is anyone else working in this area?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Geoffrey Gussis
2L - Washington University School of Law

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