Tragically, Aaron Swartz, hounded by an apparently over-zealous prosecutor, committed suicide in early 2013. His just-unveiled major open-source privacy project, DeadDrop, lives on in a citizen and press protection program, The New Yorker’s Strongbox.

Strongbox is the first use of DeadDrop technology. The New Yorker magazine will use it so that its readers can “communicate with our writers and editors with greater anonymity and security than afforded by conventional email”. With the Department of Justice’s questionable seizure of over two months of Associated Press phone records, the First Amendment’s free speech right and its corollary, freedom of the press, is under attack. DeadDrop couldn’t have been released at a better time.

Strongbox: Aaron Swartz’s last gift to internet privacy. More >