Erstellt am: 3. 4. 2012 - 12:32 Uhr

Today's Webtip: Tor for Journalists

and other guides for security in this interesting new world.

I've spent the last couple of days trying to get a Dead Kennedys track out of my head. I can't link to it, or post the video, so you will just have to guess which one. Jello Biafra did a new version of the song together with the Melvins and it's pretty darn funny but THAT video is even more problematic. Don't even google it.

Why is that track going through my head? Well, it's because of the Aprilscherz from hell. Although some may say that press is a bit too late, I think it's probably the only way the situation was finally going to become clear. Because now even the most non-geeky journalist in Austria is going to have to start thinking about things like securing their communication channels. If for no other reason than that the president of the Austrian Jrounalists Club (ÖJC), Fred Turnheim told them to.

While the ÖJC suggests it's members go analog, there have been a lot of other articles on the web trying to provide guides to semi-secure communication options. Erich Moechel has already explained the current situation for Journalists and others who may have to handle sensitive information, and has also provided some basic information that could be useful for the rest of us.

Others, like Der Standard and Futurezone have gone a step further, making even more concrete suggestions, including the use of VPN's and Tor. It's nothing really new, and something investigative journalists should have been aware of for quite some time. There is already a lot of information available, from sites like the Columbia Journalism Review where they explain just how easy it is to spy on journalists to the Online News Association where they try to explain how and why journalists might want to use Tor.

Local bloggers have also jumped into the fray, and I can only hope more guides and how-to's start making it into more peoples timelines and feeds.

The biggest problem right now is that there is still too much we don't know. Everyone I have talked to so far has said pretty much the same thing; we just don't have enough details. In other words, we are still waiting on those known unknowns, and until things get a bit clearer, it's just too early to be able to make concrete suggestions.

So what CAN you do? Stay up to date, inform yourself, don't panic, keep calm and...