“Signal-gate” may have faded from the headlines, but there’s something about the fiasco involving the secure messaging app that every journalist should remember, says David Huerta, senior digital trainer with the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
“There is this idea of what’s called ‘operational security.’ It’s that you can have really, really, really amazing technology that is perfectly implemented, but if you accidentally invite the editor of The Atlantic to the room, there’s not really anything that technology can do for you at that point,” he said. “So you’ve just got to be careful.”
While Huerta believes Signal is one of the best messaging apps currently available, it’s more important for journalists to develop a firm understanding of what secure messaging entails, he told NPF Widening the Pipeline fellows on June 2.
“We’ll want to make sure that it’s a private tool and the reason that privacy is guaranteed in this case is through encryption,” Huerta said. “Everything on the internet has encryption to some degree or another, so the type of encryption actually matters a huge amount.” Journalists want end-to-end encryption.
Other factors to consider when choosing a communication tool include its availability in certain regions and the risk of legal requests or subpoenas for the information gathered on it. Journalists should also ensure that their contacts are verified and that they can manage the notifications they receive.
Despite the benefits of a secure messaging app, Huerta said there’s an immutable bottom line: it’s worthless if the people you want to talk to won’t use it.
“You may run into a source that literally just doesn’t know how to install apps on their smartphone,” Huerta said. “It is something that their job gave to them. They might either not know how to install apps or they might have a phone that is locked down so they’re not able to install apps. So you may have to think through, what do they already have access to that we can use?”
Access the full transcript here.
This fellowship is funded by the Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation. NPF is solely responsible for the content.
