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

Translator: Rune Sejr Fjord Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

So this is James Risen.

Det her er James Risen.

You may know him as the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter

I kender ham måske som Pulitzer-vindende journalist

for The New York Times.

fra New York Times.

Long before anybody knew Edward Snowden's name,

Lang tid før Edward Snowden var et kendt navn.

Risen wrote a book in which he famously exposed

Skrev Risen en bog Hvor han afdækkede

that the NSA was illegally wiretapping the phone calls of Americans.

den ulovlige telefonaflytning som NSA foretager af amerikanere.

But it's another chapter in that book

Det er dog et andet kapitel i den bog

that may have an even more lasting impact.

som måske har en endnu større betydning.

In it, he describes a catastrophic US intelligence operation

I det, beskriver han en katastrofal amerikansk efterretningsoperation

in which the CIA quite literally handed over blueprints

hvor CIA helt bogstaveligt gav Iran

of a nuclear bomb to Iran.

tegningerne til atombomber.

If that sounds crazy, go read it.

Hvis det lyder sindssygt, så læs det.

It's an incredible story.

Det er en utrolig historie.

But you know who didn't like that chapter?

Ved i hvem der ikke kunne lide kapitlet?

The US government.

Den amerikanske regering.

For nearly a decade afterwards,

I næsten ti år bagefter

Risen was the subject of a US government investigation

blev Risen undersøgt af regeringen

in which prosecutors demanded that he testify

og blev af anklagere afkrævet, at vidne imod

against one of his alleged sources.

en af hans påståede kilder.

And along the way, he became the face for the US government's recent pattern

I den proces blev han eksemplet på et mønster fra den amerikanske regering

of prosecuting whistleblowers and spying on journalists.

af at retsforfølge whistleblowers og spionere på journalister.

You see, under the First Amendment,

Det første tillæg til forfatningen

the press has the right to publish secret information in the public interest.

giver pressen ret til at udgive hemmelig information af almen interesse.

But it's impossible to exercise that right if the media can't also gather that news

men det er umuligt at bruge den ret hvis medierne ikke kan samle oplysninger

and protect the identities of the brave men and women

og beskytte identiteterne på de modige mænd og kvinder

who get it to them.

som deler oplysningerne.

So when the government came knocking,

Så da regeringen bankede på,

Risen did what many brave reporters have done before him:

gjorde Risen hvad mange journalister har gjort før:

he refused

Han nægtede

and said he'd rather go to jail.

og sagde han hellere ville fængsles

So from 2007 to 2015,

så fra 2007 til 2015

Risen lived under the specter of going to federal prison.

levede Risen under truslen af at blive sat i fængsel.

That is, until just days before the trial, when a curious thing happened.

Indtil, bare dage før retssagen, hvor noget mærkeligt skete.

Suddenly, after years of claiming it was vital to their case,

pludseligt, efter i årevis at påstå at det var vitalt for deres sag,

the government dropped their demands to Risen altogether.

droppede regeringen alle krav til Risen

It turns out, in the age of electronic surveillance,

Det viser sig, i den elektroniske overvågningsalder,

there are very few places reporters and sources can hide.

er der meget få gemmesteder for journalister og deres kilder

And instead of trying and failing to have Risen testify,

og i stedet for at prøve og fejle i at få Risen til at vidne,

they could have his digital trail testify against him instead.

kunne de få hans digitale spor til at vidne imod ham istedet.

So completely in secret and without his consent,

Så fuldstændigt i hemmelighed og uden hans accept,

prosecutors got Risen's phone records.

fik anklagerne Risens telefonoplysninger.

They got his email records, his financial and banking information,

De fik hans email, hans finans- og bankoplysninger,

his credit reports,

hans kredit oplysninger,

even travel records with a list of flights he had taken.

selv rejseoplysninger med en liste over ture han havde taget.

And it was among this information that they used to convict Jeffrey Sterling,

Det var disse oplysninger de brugte til at dømme Jeffrey Sterling

Risen's alleged source and CIA whistleblower.

Risens påståede kilde og CIA whistleblower.

Sadly, this is only one case of many.

Desværre er det kun en sag af mange,

President Obama ran on a promise to protect whistleblowers,

præsident Obama blev valgt på at beskytte whistleblowers

and instead, his Justice Department has prosecuted more

og istedet, har hans justitsministerium retsforfulgt flere

than all other administrations combined.

end alle andre administrationer tilsammen.

Now, you can see how this could be a problem,

Man kan se hvordan det er et problem,

especially because the government considers so much of what it does secret.

specielt fordi regeringen betragter meget af hvad den gør som hemmeligt

Since 9/11, virtually every important story about national security

Siden 11. September er næsten alle sikkerhedshistorier

has been the result of a whistleblower coming to a journalist.

kommet fra at en whistleblower kontakter en journalist

So we risk seeing the press unable to do their job

Så vi risikerer en presse ude af stand til at udføre sit job

that the First Amendment is supposed to protect

som det første forfatningstillæg er beregnet til at beskytte

because of the government's expanded ability to spy on everyone.

fordi regeringens udvidede evne til at spionere på enhver.

But just as technology has allowed the government

På samme måde som teknologi har tilladt regeringen

to circumvent reporters' rights,

at omgå journalisters rettigheder,

the press can also use technology

kan pressen også bruge teknologien

to protect their sources even better than before.

til at beskytte deres kilder bedre end før

And they can start from the moment they begin speaking with them,

og de kan begynde fra det øjeblik hvor de starter med at snakke,

rather than on the witness stand after the fact.

i stedet for i vidneskranken bagefter.

Communications software now exists

Der findes nu kommunikations software

that wasn't available when Risen was writing his book,

som ikke var tilgængeligt da Risen skrev sin bog,

and is much more surveillance-resistant than regular emails or phone calls.

og som er meget mere overvågningssikker end almindelige emails og telefonopkald.

For example, one such tool is SecureDrop,

For eksempel er et værktøj SecureDrop,

an open-source whistleblower submission system

et open-source whistleblower indsendelses system

that was originally created by the late Internet luminary Aaron Swartz,

der oprindeligt blev skabt af den afdøde internetstjerne Aaron Swartz,

and is now developed at the non-profit where I work,

og som nu bliver udviklet hos organisationen hvor jeg arbejder,

Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Instead of sending an email,

I stedet for at sende en email,

you go to a news organization's website,

gå du ind på et nyhedsmedies hjemmeside

like this one here on The Washington Post.

ligesom den her hos Washington Post

From there, you can upload a document or send information

derfra, kan du uploade et dokument eller sende oplysninger

much like you would on any other contact form.

på samme måde som på andre kontakt skemaer

It'll then be encrypted and stored on a server

Derefter krypteres det og gemmes på en server

that only the news organization has access to.

som kun nyhedsmediet har adgang til.

So the government can no longer secretly demand the information,

Så regeringen ikke længere i hemmelighed kan afkræve oplysningerne,

and much of the information they would demand

og mange af oplysninger som de ville kræve

wouldn't be available in the first place.

vil ikke være tilfængelige alligevel.

SecureDrop, though, is really only a small part of the puzzle

SecureDrop, er dog kun en lille del

for protecting press freedom in the 21st century.

af at beskytte pressefriheden i det 21. århundrede.

Unfortunately, governments all over the world

Desværre udvikler regeringer overalt

are constantly developing new spying techniques

nye spionteknikker

that put us all at risk.

som sætter det hele i fare.

And it's up to us going forward to make sure

og det er op til os fremadrettet at sikre

that it's not just the tech-savvy whistleblowers,

at det ikke kun er de teknologikyndige whistleblowers

like Edward Snowden, who have an avenue for exposing wrongdoing.

som Edward Snowden som kan afdække synder,

It's just as vital that we protect the next veteran's health care whistleblower

det er ligeså vigtigt at vi beskytter den næste whistleblower i veteranplejen

alerting us to overcrowded hospitals,

som advarer om overfyldte hospitaler,

or the next environmental worker

eller den næste miljøarbejder

sounding the alarm about Flint's dirty water,

der alarmerer om Flints beskidte vand,

or a Wall Street insider

eller en Wall Street insider

warning us of the next financial crisis.

der advarer om den næste finanskrise.

After all, these tools weren't just built to help the brave men and women

I sidste ende er de her værktøjer ikke kun beskyttelse for dem

who expose crimes,

der afslører forbrydelser,

but are meant to protect all of our rights under the Constitution.

men også midler til at beskytte vores rettigheder under forfatningen

Thank you.

Mange tak

(Applause)

(Bifald)