what's the point if the only way to use it as a consumer is through their closed source app?

if they're gonna market it for whistleblowers they could've at least made a dedicated app with an entirely open stack?

It does kind of feel like they could just set up a Signal account?

Ok, so it's an encrypted, open source whistle-blowing feature in their app / system.

The article is light on technical details but if it makes whistleblowing easier and safer than for example emailing their editors that's probably a good thing.

Love seeing open source projects from companies that aren't specifically tech firms

I saw the headline and was ready to rage about why they should just use signal instead. Then I read the article and honestly this is a fucking genius use of tech

Similar to other apps, CoverDrop only provides limited protection on smartphones that are fully compromised by malware, e.g., Pegasus, which can record the screen content and user actions.

The tech behind the tool conceals the fact that messaging is taking place at all. It makes the communication indistinguishable from data sent to and from the app by our millions of regular users.

Reminds me of how the Germans in WW1 knew they couldn't trust their diplomatic codes anymore so they just sent the important messages in the normal, innocuous telegraph system and diplomatic pouches. They knew that foreign intelligence would be focused on the bogus secure messages.

Horrible name sadly