A group of Italian volunteers have launched a site to encourage victims of the mafia, as well as whistleblowers within the organisations, to come forward with incriminating information.
MafiaLeaks uses the encrypted anonymising browser Tor to enable informants to securely share their secrets with the site. Currently, the recipients are limited by MafiaLeaks to the Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, the Sicilian TV station Telejato and Antonella Beccaria, an independent investigative journalist. All are known for their anti-mafia activities.
"We are not asking you to trust MafiaLeaks," the site's founders, who have remained anonymous to prevent reprisals, wrote. "Indeed, please do not trust MafiaLeaks! Send your information anonymously, do not leave your name, do not leave anything in the data that can be traced back to your person."
Despite the inevitable comparisons to WikiLeaks, the framework of the site is based on the open source project GlobaLeaks, and bears similarity to the New Yorker's Strongbox project, as well as the late Aaron Swartz's SecureDrop. All three emphasise the anonymity of the whistleblower: not even the recipients of the information know their identity, nor can they ever find it out.
Once submitted to MafiaLeaks, the data remains on their server for 20 days, encrypted with a key which is only visible to the whistleblower and their chosen confidant. During that period, the whistleblower can return to the dropbox to add more information, with the intention of allowing a dialogue to begin.
The time, more than two weeks and less than a month, was chosen because repeat visits to an internet café could become suspicious.
To make a report, users are instructed to download the Tor browser bundle and then direct their browser to the project's secure website. Currently, the site only accepts documents, and is looking for financial information and records of membership.
It's more difficult to use a dropbox like this to attack the mafia than it is to bring down corrupt businesses or politicians for the simple reason that the mafia doesn't tend to invoice for assassinations, or provide receipts for protection money. And MafiaLeaks has an additional problem: the founders' anonymity means that the police are loath to co-operate.
But there remains hope. The site's manifesto proclaims that "the goal … is to break down the wall of omertà and silence that protects the mafia … We call on all citizens: 'if you know something, say something'".
