INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mass decoy messaging between news agencies and readers can help protect the identity of whistleblowers, according to Dr
Manny Ahmed, the founder of CoverDrop, a whistleblower protection tool, and OpenOrigins, a blockchain firm that provides data provenance for
images and videos to ensure authenticity
Both tools work in symbiosis to ensure trusted communications.In an interview with Cointelegraph, Dr
Ahmed said that CoverDrop works by sending out large amounts of decoy encrypted messaging traffic between the readers of a news platform and
the news platform itself.Flow of messaging from the reader to the journalists
Source: CoverDrop white paperThis creates the illusion that every reader is a whistleblower, thus drowning out the identity of any true
whistleblowers in a sea of digital noise
The executive outlined the problem whistleblowers currently face in the age of digital surveillance:"Whistleblowers are in a tricky position
because, by definition, they are part of a small set that has access to privileged information
So, even if they use end-to-end encryption, the fact that they have ever had communication with a journalist is enough to single them out.It
Ahmed continued.The protocol flow of the CoverDrop system
Source: CoverDrop white paperThe CoverDrop and OpenOrigins founder warned that advances in AI and data surveillance tools would only
increase the threat to privacy and anonymity over time, creating a need for more robust defenses against the emerging panopticon of the
Ahmed noted that mass data collection by governments and intelligence agencies has been ongoing for over a decade but largely ineffective
allows intelligence agencies to assign an AI agent for each individual that would track all their data and provide a much more comprehensive
