WSJ launches SafeHouse, its answer to WikiLeaks

May 5, 2011 By Molly McHugh

The Wall Street Journal looks to get into the business of whistleblowing with SafeHouse.

The Wall Street Journal is looking to give WikiLeaks some competition. The publication has launched SafeHouse, which encourages readers to share information concerning “fraud, abuse, pollution, insider trading, and other harms.” Boasting a secure upload system that will encrypt its contents and keep tipsters anonymous, SafeHouse wants to become a mecca for controversial insider information.

“If you have newsworthy contracts, correspondence, e-mails, financial records or databases from companies, government agencies or non-profits, you can send them to us using the SafeHouse service,” the site reads. According to WSJ, the site is hosted on secure servers managed for its own editors.

WSJ couldn’t have chosen a better time to introduce SafeHouse. WikiLeaks has struggled since its release of private international cables and the ongoing legal issues surrounding its former leader Julian Assange. The site currently isn’t taking submissions either, “due to re-engineering improvements [to] the site to make it both more secure and more user-friendly.” WikiLeaks was shut down after Cablegate and has since existed on mirror sites.

The New York Times has also been toying with the idea of launching its own WikiLeaks-type service to aid whistleblowers. A Times spokeswoman told Forbes, “We’re continuing to work on it.” SafeHouse will also have some competition from OpenLeaks, former WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg’s project. Domscheit-Berg decided to jump ship with the former site and begin his own as a result of Assange’s tightening grip over the organization.

SafeHouse promises to keep sources anonymous, but does say that using names could help its journalists. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. There’s a chance it could become a goldmine for WSJ, a well-known and trusted publication that knowledgeable, high-ranking insiders may feel more comfortable coming to, versus WikiLeaks or OpenLeaks. As long as it can keep sources confidential and keep its servers safe, it’s never a bad move to try and make the information come to you.

Showing 7 comments

Bradley Goetsch at 4:08pm 6th May 2011 Pfft...
ZogWee at 6:05am 6th May 2011 Should be very interesting to see how that turns out. www.anon-toolz.at.tc
Andrew Couts at 7:38pm 5th May 2011 It's no wonder every news publication out there wishes it had the general public just dropping scoops in its inbox. So this comes as no surprise. And it's certainly encouraging that the wind is shifting this way, instead of the opposite direction. That said, I don't particularly trust the Wall Street Journal, at least when it comes to supporting whistleblowers. Especially if those whistleblowers are anti-corporate. And then, of course, we have the fact that WSJ is a News Corp company, and we all know the journalistic standards the adhere to at some of their other news outlets... Sure, send 'em your big, harmful news. You're secure. But it doesn't mean they're going to report it. (Which just means you should send it to everyone, and not put all your eggs in one blender, or whatever the saying is.
Gravy G at 7:07pm 5th May 2011 It's called www.coasttocoastam.com I think. At any rate, a lot of people think what this talk show talks about is crazy, but some of what they say has been proven. I'm thinking that it cannot just be rental companies doing this. I'll bet it is rampant like in DVR's, Televisions, I know they have a recording program for videos and cameras to track where the pic or video actually comes from. Printers have the capabilility to put in hidden water marks to track conterfeiting. Where does this end?
Gravy G at 7:03pm 5th May 2011 Part 2. Rental Companies Spying on everyone who rents a computer. You rent a DVR from a cable or satellite company. You rent a t.v., whatever you rent. Wait. What if a lot! I'm talking about whatever electronic device that has video or audio capabilities, they all do this? It is not wll known, but newer gas and electronic major appliances have a measuring device in them, that lets them lower the heat, say in dryers, that will do this if you are over using your allotted amount.
Gravy G at 6:59pm 5th May 2011 This seriously has me thinking... If renting a computer constitutes them putting "spyware" literally on a computer where the lady involved says she checks email and uses the computer in her underwear, or even naked, because you are allowed to that. In your buff, use a computer. If they took pics, and then there was this kid who had over 400 pictures taken of him because he took a computer home that the school owned it? I'll bet this software has gone rampant throughout the world! Imagine this!
Dan Gaul at 5:26pm 5th May 2011 I think this is great more competition is entering the space. It can only be a good thing.