[tor-reports] Trip Report - IRE Conference June 19 thru 23, 2013

[Kelley Misata]

Team -

Karen and I were invited by the Knight Foundation to attend the
Investigative Reports and Editors Conference in San Antonio this past
Wednesday thru Sunday.  IRE is an annual conference sought after meeting
place for investigative journalists.  It was a fantastic opportunity for
Tor to *listen* and *learn* about how journalists view digital safety for
themselves and their sources.  It was a very full 4 day conference with
Karen presenting the basics of Tor 101 and sessions spanning long days.  We
experienced many "aha!" moments as we saw a glimpse into the world of
journalist and how, in many respects, digital safety isn't on their radar.
 We also made several connections with news organizations and individuals
which will help grow Tor's presence as a key resource within the journalist
community.

Here are a few highlights:

Sessions worth mentioning:
Broadcast Surveillance - Learning from the Pros
Soldiers Stories - Military Investigations
Reporting amid danger - When journalists are targeted and newsrooms are
infiltrated
Whistleblowers and leaks - Protecting sources
Surveillance, privacy and hackers
The Governments War on Leaks
Protecting the Vulnerable
Practicing Safer Internet - Learning to think about digital security.


Tor Session Recap  (sponsored by The Knight Foundation) - the room was
packed with over 30 people and Karen presented a very broad strokes
presentation of Tor and digital security then left a large amount time open
for questions.  People in the room were very curious about mobile device
security, how encryption helps to keep them safe, etc.  Our key messages
included a) journalist need to raise their level of awareness (get a bit
more paranoid) about their digital trace, b) first step to know understand
and know your adversaries and how they may be able to get what they want,
c) learning about the many options and layers available in secure
themselves digital through the use of Tor and other tools.  Everyone wanted
our brochures and Tor stickers.  As time ran out, conversations flowed in
the hallway specifically with an investigative journalist requesting we
come to Seattle and he would help "fill our time".

Key Connections - the following are some of the key connections we have
made at IRE, have already reached out and who will be added into the CRM
for continued outreach.  Here are some of the organizations we connected
with - The Seattle Times, Medill School of Journalism, WSJ, EnLinea
Directa.info, School of Journalism for ASU, KBVO-Austin, 60Minutes, Die
Tageszeitung, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, Investigative
Post, WhoWhatWhy and several independent journalist (including Quinn
Norton) who gave us great insights into how they see digital security and
what they need help with.

Key Findings:
- Journalists aren't yet thinking about threat modeling in a digital
environment, they are experienced at thinking about safety for sources and
whistleblowers in a physical environment but far less in a digital world.
 We can help connect the dots how their digital behaviors help/hinder
physical security.
- Questions about "burner phones" seems to be top of mind with several of
the journalists here - possible opportunity for a Tor learning event.
- Though they may do it in some regards in the physical world, helping
journalist see how to compartmentalize themselves in the digital world and
how easy it is to do.
- More needs to be shared about hidden services and how it can help
journalists - there is a huge opportunity to help news organization learn
about hidden services so they can use it for secure tip lines, etc.
- Many journalists are using Dropbox and other document sharing tools
without encryption or additional security layers.
- Journalist are in a key position to help their sources stay safe - but we
need to teach them how to do it in a way they are pass it on to their
sources.
- Corporate whistle blowers are a key market for journalists and they
resources that are used in the process (e.g. law firms) also need to
understand further what is and isn't possible in security identities online.
- Saturday's keynote lunch provided a very real view into the dangerous
conditions for journalists in Mexico.

Immediate Next Steps:
- Follow up with Knight Foundation on proposal for continued work -
highlighting gaps seen at IRE which we can help fill.
- Reach out to organizations such as the Committee to Project Journalists
and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism - how Tor can help? -
this is already in progress.
- Schedule large journalist training event in partnership with The Seattle
Times - they are excited and confident to fill the room.
- The Financial Times (locations in NYC and London) requested journalist
(nontechnical) training.
- Find groups, chats, etc. where the independent journalist community hangs
out.
- Reach out to the organizers of IRE and Knight about sponsoring more
trainings at next year's IRE conference - encouraging those in compromised
locations around the to come learn in depth about Tor and ways to pass the
information along to colleagues in their area.
- A few topic ideas for Tor journalist training series include:  Digital
Safety 101, Tor and other Tools, Training Sources to be Safe, Crossover
Digital and Physical World Security.
- Continued follow up with connections made at the conference.

Karen - feel free to add anything I missed.

Thank everyone!
Kelley







-- 
*Kelley Misata*
*Outreach and Communications*
*The Tor Project*
*www.torproject.org*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/attachments/20130624/b06c2ede/attachment.html>