Summary: Weeks ago we turned 12.5 and we still have a perfect source protection track record

OUR reporting on affairs at the European Patent Office (EPO) has relied on leaks. This has gone on for half a decade. This site is a month younger than Wikileaks and rarely deals with 'pure' politics or war. We've long dealt with software patents in Europe, which is nonviolent policy. We dealt with a variety of other topics, but remained in the domain of technology.

Three years ago we detected DDOS attacks coming from Lockheed Martin and had already witnessed branches of the US Army accessing Web pages excessively or simply trying to knock down the site. Techrights, we believe, was also targeted with infiltration attempts by law enforcement. Governments like to know who talks to which people and what about; it gives these governments (and sometimes corporations that work for governments) greater control or leverage over people. It's a coercive force.

"Let's strive to reach 20 years with a perfect source protection record."Our site Tux Machines is turning 15 later this month and Techrights will turn 13 this autumn. We have not yet (as far as we're aware) compromised any sources. Nobody got caught, nobody got in trouble. We intend to maintain that.

A couple dozen times in the past we explained how to send information to us, e.g. [1, 2]. Not much has changed since then. When we publish material we take great care to ensure there's no identifying data or metadata in it; we're technical enough to know how to do this. If ever in doubt, consult the following posts as well:

• European Patent Office (EPO) Whistleblowing Guidelines
• European Patent Office (EPO) Whistleblowing Guidelines: Motivation and Impact of Leaks
• Potential Targets of European Patent Office (EPO) Whistleblowing
• Another Option for EPO Whistleblowers
• EPO Leaks
• Another Call for EPO Leaks

Let's strive to reach 20 years with a perfect source protection record. ⬆