Welcome to The Citizen SecureLeak.
If you have sensitive information that you would like to share with us – this is the place to do it. To ensure that the anonymity and safety of whistleblowers are preserved, The Citizen is implementing a method of submission that adheres to industry standards that are used in many newsrooms across the world.
All files and messages uploaded through our portal are anonymous, confidential, secure, and encrypted.
Legal Protections
The Citizen takes the privacy and security of the Peralta community very seriously. Our staff writers and editors understand the importance of ethics in journalism and are committed to protecting our sources from any reprisal or retribution.
In addition to our newsroom’s commitments, there are legal protections that prevent journalists from being compelled to reveal their confidential sources.
California Shield Law Statute
Reporters cannot be judged in contempt by a judicial, legislative, or administrative body for refusing to disclose the source of any information they receive.
The statute also protects reporters’ rights to refuse to disclose any unpublished information that was received by a source.
California State Constitutional Provision
Additional protections for reports laid out in the CA Shield Law.
Federal Constitutional Provision
Federal protections of reporters’ rights to refuse the disclosure of confidential sources.
Our Process
Once a file(s) or a message(s) has been uploaded through our portal, it will be received securely by The Citizen. We will review the information and then attempt to verify it independently.
If there are additional ways to independently verify the information you have provided, please let us know in the message portion of this portal.
We cannot guarantee that the information provided through this portal will result in its publication.
If you desire to contact The Citizen, let us know–we can facilitate a secure and anonymous method of communication.
How to Use the Portal
Write or copy/paste text and input it into the message textbox.
Drag or upload files in the file upload section below the message text box.
Security is a priority. We only allow uploads of safe file types. These are:
Images like .png, .gif, .jpg
Documents such as .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf
Audio like .wav, .mp3, .mp4
Video like .mpg, .mov, .wmv
There is a file size limit of 256MB. If you want to submit several files that in total are larger than this size, you can split up the files across multiple uploads. If a single file is larger that this size, send us a message through the portal with a way to contact you.
We recommend creating an email account for this sole purpose without any personal information attached in order to preserve your anonymity.
You can submit both a message and files at the same time.
