New York Times Debating a Drop Box for Leakers

The New York Times is considering launching a system that would allow people to anonymously submit large files which would be vetted by the paper, and if deemed worthy, published to the public.

Michael Calderone gets Bill Keller to admit that the Times is looking into something like Al Jazeera’s Transparency Unit, which launched earlier this month, and has been publishing previously classfiied information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Keller says:

A small group from computer-assisted reporting and interactive news, with advice from the investigative unit and the legal department, has been discussing options for creating a kind of EZ Pass lane for leakers.

Given that Al Jazeera’s system has already been a success, you can expect these discussions Keller mentions to progress very quickly. Al Jazeera has effectively cut out the middle man with their Transparency Unit, and the Times knows this. The paper also hasn’t had the best relationship with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, so what better way to stick it to Assange than to cut him, and Wikileaks, out of the picture forever?

And you thought Assange was already kind of paranoid. Just wait until he hears this.

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