ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Trevor Timm - Writer, activist and legal analyst
Trevor Timm is the co-founder and executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports and defends journalism dedicated to transparency and accountability.

Why you should listen

Trevor Timm is a co-founder and the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. He is a journalist, activist, and lawyer who writes a twice weekly column for The Guardian on privacy, free speech, and national security. He has contributed to The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Harvard Law and Policy Review, PBS MediaShift and Politico.

Trevor formerly worked as an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Before that, he helped the longtime General Counsel of The New York Times, James Goodale, write a book on the Pentagon Papers and the First Amendment. He received his J.D. from New York Law School.

More profile about the speaker
Trevor Timm | Speaker | TED.com
TED2016

Trevor Timm: How free is our freedom of the press?

Filmed:
1,447,147 views

In the US, the press has a right to publish secret information the public needs to know, protected by the First Amendment. Government surveillance has made it increasingly more dangerous for whistleblowers, the source of virtually every important story about national security since 9/11, to share information. In this concise, informative talk, Freedom of the Press Foundation co-founder and TED Fellow Trevor Timm traces the recent history of government action against individuals who expose crime and injustice and advocates for technology that can help them do it safely and anonymously.
- Writer, activist and legal analyst
Trevor Timm is the co-founder and executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports and defends journalism dedicated to transparency and accountability. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
So this is James Risen.
0
488
2250
00:15
You may know him as the
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter
1
3174
2750
00:17
for The New York Times.
2
5948
1692
00:19
Long before anybody knew
Edward Snowden's name,
3
7664
2754
00:22
Risen wrote a book in which
he famously exposed
4
10442
2916
00:25
that the NSA was illegally wiretapping
the phone calls of Americans.
5
13382
3936
00:29
But it's another chapter in that book
6
17842
1770
00:31
that may have an even more lasting impact.
7
19636
2015
00:34
In it, he describes a catastrophic
US intelligence operation
8
22405
4818
00:39
in which the CIA quite literally
handed over blueprints
9
27247
3089
00:42
of a nuclear bomb to Iran.
10
30360
1786
00:44
If that sounds crazy, go read it.
11
32662
1795
00:46
It's an incredible story.
12
34481
1491
00:48
But you know who didn't like that chapter?
13
36456
2064
00:50
The US government.
14
38893
1150
00:52
For nearly a decade afterwards,
15
40592
2214
00:54
Risen was the subject
of a US government investigation
16
42830
3253
00:58
in which prosecutors demanded
that he testify
17
46107
2369
01:00
against one of his alleged sources.
18
48500
1904
01:02
And along the way, he became the face
for the US government's recent pattern
19
50829
4075
01:06
of prosecuting whistleblowers
and spying on journalists.
20
54928
3019
01:10
You see, under the First Amendment,
21
58681
1668
01:12
the press has the right to publish
secret information in the public interest.
22
60373
3627
01:16
But it's impossible to exercise that right
if the media can't also gather that news
23
64024
5134
01:21
and protect the identities
of the brave men and women
24
69182
3256
01:24
who get it to them.
25
72462
1150
01:26
So when the government came knocking,
26
74087
2032
01:28
Risen did what many brave reporters
have done before him:
27
76143
3041
01:31
he refused
28
79208
1185
01:32
and said he'd rather go to jail.
29
80417
1671
01:34
So from 2007 to 2015,
30
82611
2983
01:37
Risen lived under the specter
of going to federal prison.
31
85618
2794
01:40
That is, until just days before the trial,
when a curious thing happened.
32
88976
4047
01:45
Suddenly, after years of claiming
it was vital to their case,
33
93912
3801
01:49
the government dropped their demands
to Risen altogether.
34
97737
2690
01:52
It turns out, in the age
of electronic surveillance,
35
100912
2548
01:55
there are very few places
reporters and sources can hide.
36
103484
2888
01:58
And instead of trying and failing
to have Risen testify,
37
106959
3595
02:02
they could have his digital trail
testify against him instead.
38
110578
3047
02:06
So completely in secret
and without his consent,
39
114585
2516
02:09
prosecutors got Risen's phone records.
40
117125
2270
02:11
They got his email records,
his financial and banking information,
41
119903
4516
02:16
his credit reports,
42
124443
1753
02:18
even travel records with a list
of flights he had taken.
43
126220
2770
02:21
And it was among this information that
they used to convict Jeffrey Sterling,
44
129808
3785
02:25
Risen's alleged source
and CIA whistleblower.
45
133617
3119
02:30
Sadly, this is only one case of many.
46
138035
2415
02:33
President Obama ran on a promise
to protect whistleblowers,
47
141152
3607
02:36
and instead, his Justice Department
has prosecuted more
48
144783
3262
02:40
than all other administrations combined.
49
148069
2491
02:43
Now, you can see how this
could be a problem,
50
151179
2104
02:45
especially because the government
considers so much of what it does secret.
51
153307
4467
02:50
Since 9/11, virtually every important
story about national security
52
158758
4500
02:55
has been the result of a whistleblower
coming to a journalist.
53
163282
2920
02:58
So we risk seeing the press
unable to do their job
54
166670
2898
03:01
that the First Amendment
is supposed to protect
55
169592
2199
03:03
because of the government's
expanded ability to spy on everyone.
56
171815
3007
03:07
But just as technology has allowed
the government
57
175487
2453
03:09
to circumvent reporters' rights,
58
177964
2707
03:12
the press can also use technology
59
180695
2174
03:14
to protect their sources
even better than before.
60
182893
2340
03:17
And they can start from the moment
they begin speaking with them,
61
185698
3112
03:20
rather than on the witness stand
after the fact.
62
188834
2427
03:24
Communications software now exists
63
192197
2092
03:26
that wasn't available
when Risen was writing his book,
64
194313
2532
03:28
and is much more surveillance-resistant
than regular emails or phone calls.
65
196869
3999
03:33
For example, one such tool is SecureDrop,
66
201789
4218
03:38
an open-source whistleblower
submission system
67
206031
2685
03:40
that was originally created by the late
Internet luminary Aaron Swartz,
68
208740
4048
03:44
and is now developed
at the non-profit where I work,
69
212812
2665
03:47
Freedom of the Press Foundation.
70
215501
1531
03:49
Instead of sending an email,
71
217824
1652
03:51
you go to a news organization's website,
72
219500
2041
03:53
like this one here on The Washington Post.
73
221565
2000
03:56
From there, you can upload a document
or send information
74
224010
3943
03:59
much like you would
on any other contact form.
75
227977
2429
04:02
It'll then be encrypted
and stored on a server
76
230715
2619
04:05
that only the news organization
has access to.
77
233358
2548
04:08
So the government can no longer
secretly demand the information,
78
236351
3373
04:11
and much of the information
they would demand
79
239748
2104
04:13
wouldn't be available in the first place.
80
241876
1959
04:16
SecureDrop, though, is really
only a small part of the puzzle
81
244475
2964
04:19
for protecting press freedom
in the 21st century.
82
247463
2947
04:23
Unfortunately, governments
all over the world
83
251035
2373
04:25
are constantly developing
new spying techniques
84
253432
2500
04:27
that put us all at risk.
85
255956
1404
04:30
And it's up to us going forward
to make sure
86
258043
2698
04:32
that it's not just
the tech-savvy whistleblowers,
87
260765
2500
04:35
like Edward Snowden, who have
an avenue for exposing wrongdoing.
88
263289
3285
04:39
It's just as vital that we protect the
next veteran's health care whistleblower
89
267408
4747
04:44
alerting us to overcrowded hospitals,
90
272179
3308
04:47
or the next environmental worker
91
275511
2327
04:49
sounding the alarm
about Flint's dirty water,
92
277862
3198
04:53
or a Wall Street insider
93
281084
1680
04:54
warning us of the next financial crisis.
94
282788
2177
04:57
After all, these tools weren't just built
to help the brave men and women
95
285869
4128
05:02
who expose crimes,
96
290021
1538
05:03
but are meant to protect
all of our rights under the Constitution.
97
291583
3234
05:07
Thank you.
98
295460
1151
05:08
(Applause)
99
296635
3309

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Trevor Timm - Writer, activist and legal analyst
Trevor Timm is the co-founder and executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports and defends journalism dedicated to transparency and accountability.

Why you should listen

Trevor Timm is a co-founder and the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. He is a journalist, activist, and lawyer who writes a twice weekly column for The Guardian on privacy, free speech, and national security. He has contributed to The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Harvard Law and Policy Review, PBS MediaShift and Politico.

Trevor formerly worked as an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Before that, he helped the longtime General Counsel of The New York Times, James Goodale, write a book on the Pentagon Papers and the First Amendment. He received his J.D. from New York Law School.

More profile about the speaker
Trevor Timm | Speaker | TED.com

Data provided by TED.

This site was created in May 2015 and the last update was on January 12, 2020. It will no longer be updated.

We are currently creating a new site called "eng.lish.video" and would be grateful if you could access it.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write comments in your language on the contact form.

Privacy Policy

Developer's Blog

Buy Me A Coffee