Exposure Leads to More Whistleblowing
In the Free software (or "FOSS") world, we are relatively unique because of our access to courageous whistleblowers, whom we've always unconditionally protected. To many of them we are the "go-to" publishers. We established reputation in that domain, especially with respect to principled reporting and resistance to censorship. We put both sources and stories at a higher priority than ourselves as human beings. Recall what James Risen did to protect his sources in the face of threats to his liberty. Risen won a Pulitzer Prize, but the US never regained press freedom.
In areas like IBM or European patent affairs we've always earned a lot of trust because of the above (the immaculate track record) - to the point where we are the "release/relief valve" of suppressed information. This status comes with risks; it paints a target on my buttocks because I am the public face of the site. In turn, it paints a target on relatives of mine (I am thick-skinned, so the attacks begin to target my dead grandparents, my mom, my spouse, and various relatives who are in no way connected to this site even remotely).
After some abuse in IRC we've come back to normal. We are going to write articles, as usual, until the night. The hearing is over [1, 2], so we can return to full productivity (the abuser went to sleep) and the DDoS attacks became a little scarcer (last night we overcame almost all of them). Since our strength is focus we'd like to focus on the issues that truly matter, e.g. EPO corruption. These issues impact not only thousands of staff members and tens of thousands of practitioners; they impact everyone in Europe (many Europeans are not aware of it because the media deliberately refrains from informing them).
One topic we covered several times earlier today is the growing adoption levels of GNU/Linux and why Microsoft is in trouble. We'd like to do a lot more coverage along those lines.
Right now we have 5 strands or beats or series to cover; 2 of them concern the FSF and GNU, 2 concern the EPO, and we have a lot more to say on SLAPPs (we've extended to time allotted to that from 6 years to 10 years because the amount of material we have continues to grow rapidly). Amassing material to cover - with some of the EPO material being over a decade old! - is what makes us productive and attractive to many audiences. We also attract more whistleblowers, inviting them to come this way.
Techrights will be around for many years to come. The harder the attacks on it, the greater legitimacy it will earn. Techrights is run by many people, so the attacks on me are misguided and fruitless. The more aggressive attacks are immediately relayed to the police. █
Image source: Schematic diagram of a conventional spring-loaded pressure relief valve
