Blockchain-based whistleblowing service to solve the problem of journalistic conflict of interest

Whistleblowing through newspapers is common. However, the whistleblower may face some problems if the anonymous whistleblowing channel, usually maintained by journalistic organizations, is not reliable. The first problem is the conflict of interest when the whistleblowing involves commercial or poli...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnales des télécommunications Vol. 77; no. 1-2; pp. 101 - 118
Main Authors Tomaz, Antonio Emerson B., Nascimento, José Cláudio do, de Souza, José Neuman
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cham Springer International Publishing 01.02.2022
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Blockchain
Circuits
Communications Engineering
Computer Communication Networks
Conflicts of interest
Cryptography
Engineering
Game theory
Information and Communication
Information Systems and Communication Service
Networks
R & D/Technology Policy
Reliability aspects
Signal,Image and Speech Processing
Whistleblowing
Anonymity
Ring signature
Whistleblowing
Game theory
Conflict of interest
Blockchain
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Summary:Whistleblowing through newspapers is common. However, the whistleblower may face some problems if the anonymous whistleblowing channel, usually maintained by journalistic organizations, is not reliable. The first problem is the conflict of interest when the whistleblowing involves commercial or political partners of the journalistic organization. The second problem is that, in conflict situations, the whistleblower’s anonymity can be unduly violated. To resolve these issues, we present a blockchain-based anonymous whistleblowing service. Our approach includes a cryptographic scheme based on a ring signature to ensure the whistleblower’s anonymity and, at the same time, give him/her the possibility to prove that he/she is the author of the whistleblowing in the future. Through game theory, we model two scenarios involving anonymous whistleblowing: the first is unfavorable to the whistleblower, and the second is quite favorable. We show that the whistleblowing channel proposed here, exploring blockchain’s properties and the reliability of ring signatures, creates favorable conditions for the whistleblower to feel motivated to disclose the whistleblowing.
ISSN:0003-4347
1958-9395
DOI:10.1007/s12243-021-00860-0