
Letter from the grave (2009) - toddrew
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/stevecoll/2009/01/letter-from-the.html
======
toddrew
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_t...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_the_Mexican_Drug_War)

During the time I lived in Mexico there were 10 journalists killed in the
state of Veracruz where I lived. They were journalists that spoke out about
government corruption or cartel violence.

During the same time the entire police force of Veracruz were fired in one day
and the navy replaced them.

Currently there's blogo del narco, borderland beat and a few other places
online to read uncensored stories, but almost all have the writer's name.
Something like Wikileaks for safe, anonymous reporting would be great for
these countries.

~~~
danohuiginn
>Something like Wikileaks for safe, anonymous reporting would be great for
these countries.

Couldn't agree more. If anybody is interested in building something in this
area, please get in touch with me.

I'm part of a group of investigative journalists looking at organized crime
and corruption (<http://occrp.org/>). Security is a big worry for us -- our
journalists regularly receive threats and other harassment. We've talked about
setting up an anonymous publishing system, but don't have the capacity to
build it ourselves.

I'd love to talk with anybody who has thoughts on how to do anonymous
reporting. Especially, how do you put something up anonymously or
pseudonymously, but still publicise and get a decent readership for it?

~~~
wfn
Perhaps consider reaching out to the security folk at e.g. Tor Project?
They've multiple mailing lists (<https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-
bin/mailman/listinfo>) and many friendly people on them. In particular, 'tor-
talk' often finds itself engaged in all sorts of general Tor / anonymity-
related discussions as well as Tor-specific technical nuances. It is usually
rather welcoming and often sensitive to more or less any security-related
(especially when Tor software does / can play a role in them) issues and
questions.

Of course this is the 'less hairy' technical side of anonymity; probably what
you have in mind would involve social as well as network/software-based
infrastructure, especially if outreach / readership (as you said) are
important (and I suppose they would be rather central, as impact would
basically (maybe) very much be / is a function of / directly depend(s) on
readership sizes etc.) I suppose one would need to answer questions such as
e.g. how to maintain an image of credibility(?) etc. if article authors only
use pseudonyms. But making sure anonymity of the publishers / authors is
possible at least in the narrow internet networking sense might be a start,
perhaps.

------
11Blade
Something many take for granted here in the U.S. is constantly under attack
from corrupt governments and powerful organizations(cartels, financial
conglomerates and multinationals) in the developed and developing world. I
would dare say that even our own press is somewhat more bridled now then ever.

My respects for a man who walked tall despite the threats to his family and
life.

------
sshumaker
Who is the power behind the throne the author is talking about? Is it
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the president's brother and minister of defense?

~~~
rdudekul
According to the following account by his wife, President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
is responsible: [http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january122013/lasantha-
vi...](http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january122013/lasantha-vid.php)

------
vincefutr23
Interesting line - "we recognize that all human beings are created different."
I feel as if humans are created equal, and are molded by different cultures.
Nevertheless I agree with his plea for reverence of differences.

~~~
jasonshen
Culture isn't the only thing that separates people. We aren't blank slates and
this means we are not "equal" in the sense of being "exactly the same". That's
what he means by "created different". I think you mean we are born with equal
moral value / rights.

------
diego
This is definitely not news, and it's a general interest article that's not
particularly related to hackers in any way. Top spot on Hacker News right now.

Admins, the community is telling you something: this site has become a Reddit
clone with a more highbrow tone.

Edit: if you downvote, please reply too.

~~~
S4M
Downvoted. I like the article and find it refreshing compared to the "I built
X in Y" and such, and your comment is not informative. If you don't like the
article, just skip the comments and read something you believe is more related
to hackers.

>>Admins, the community is telling you something: this site has become a
Reddit clone with a more highbrow tone.

Please, don't speak in the name of the community. Actually, it's the main
reason I downvoted you.

~~~
diego
I liked it too. It's just not hacker news. It's not even news. I'd seen it
before on a mainstream site.

I like to see hacker news on Hacker News.

~~~
enraged_camel
Part of what makes a community like this is the diversity of intellectual
stimulation. If all we read about was hacker stuff, we would start to suffer
from homogenization of thought.

Another huge benefit of non-hacker submissions that you clearly overlook is
that it gets hackers out of the Silicon Valley tunnel vision and starts to get
them thinking about other industries, cities, countries, and problems.

------
sbierwagen
(2009)

~~~
morsch
Another journalist from the same newspaper was shot (but not killed) today:
[http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2013/02/17/attempt-to-
silence-...](http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2013/02/17/attempt-to-silence-the-
pen-again/)

