SecureDrop team member Kunal Mehta demo’d the SecureDrop Workstation at RightsCon 2025 on Feb. 25. You can watch a recording of the talk; the slides (PDF) are also available. In the demo, Mehta explained the multiyear project to provide better and more streamlined tools for journalists to safely handle potentially…
Since its first version, SecureDrop has run on the Ubuntu Server operating system. Ubuntu provides security fixes and updates for each long-term support release for five years; SecureDrop currently uses Ubuntu 20.04 “Focal.” As of May 2025, that version will no longer be supported, so all servers must migrate to…
Over the past month, Freedom of the Press Foundation has received significant interest in newsrooms setting up SecureDrop. Our open source whistleblower submission system is already used around the globe by large media organizations, small nonprofit newsrooms, and everything in between. We’re excited to see more adoption of SecureDrop. To…
As the SecureDrop team previously announced, we’re shifting our focus in order to graduate SecureDrop Workstation from its pilot phase. One of the first steps we’ve taken in this direction is to reorganize and consolidate the project's Git repositories to make development and releases easier and faster. In summary: The…
I wrote for the #Wikipedia Signpost this month about how #MediaWiki details with file uploads on the backend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2021-11-29/Technology_report
New blog post about last month's #Wikimedia Datatcenter switchover: https://techblog.wikimedia.org/2021/07/23/june-2021-data-center-switchover/"In June 2021, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Site Reliability Engineering team switched most user traffic from our primary datacenter in Virginia (“eqiad”) to our secondary one in Texas (“codfw”). This is an exercise we’ve done multiple times over the past 5 years,…
I wrote for The Signpost this month, "The people who built Wikipedia, technically", filled with stories of Wikipedia's earliest days and how it grew into what it is today.Featuring interviews with @brion, @eloquence and more!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2021-01-31/Technology_report
If you work remotely on the web, you're probably getting comfortable with multiple video chat tools. At Freedom of the Press Foundation, we've published a high-level comparison of some common video chat applications, and many others maintain detailed comparison spreadsheets to help you compare dozens of tools. We also wanted…
Students in San Jose State University's journalism program discuss content for an upcoming issue. Student journalists have it pretty rough. Most try to balance passing a full load of classes with running around to get the latest scoop, often without being paid. Many programs are underfunded and, as we've previously…
The City of San Jose recently approved a proposal to put surveillance cameras on street lights. The proposal is extremely vague, and concerning for those fighting to defend our civil liberties. Similarly, there has been much recent discussion about adding surveillance cameras to De Anza College’s parking lots. One petition…
I don’t like writing…or at least I didn’t a year ago. I had heard so much about how “good journalism is more important now than ever” and decided to try it myself. I’ve been on the La Voz team for two quarters now, and can tell you that statement is…
The VTA board voted to raise the community college Eco-Pass fee to only $20 and keep it at that price for the next four years, following months of lobbying by De Anza College student activists. VTA’s original proposal was to raise the fee up to $40 in chunks of $5…
VTA board members questioned the lack of attendance and communication from De Anza College administration during Thursday’s board meeting. VTA Deputy Director Finance & Budget, Ali Hudda, said that they had emailed the De Anza Eco-Pass coordinator Dennis Shannakian twice, but never received a response. “That seems kind of odd…
Judicial Affairs Officer John Cognetta and Foothill-De Anza Police Assistant Chief Danny Acosta on Monday, May 15, warned students about the consequences of smoking marijuana on campus. Possessing or smoking marijuana within 1,000 feet of campus is illegal, Cognetta said. Dr. Mallory Loflin, a guest speaker from Stanford University School…
Do you play League of Legends or watch Netflix? If the Federal Communications Commission’s new plan goes through, you might need to start paying extra. The Trump administration’s new FCC chair, Ajit Pai, has set into motion a plan to overturn the 2015 net neutrality protections that millions of Americans…
