Whistleblowers risk job loss, damaged reputations, and even death or imprisonment. Safe, anonymous reporting tools are vital to protect them. Especially in high-risk environments.
Recognising this, the European Union adopted the Whistleblower Protection Directive in 2019, requiring member states to establish legal safeguards against punishment and a system in place to enable secure whistleblowing.
Under the magnifying glass
Open source framework GlobaLeaks is one of the tools used for protected whistleblowing, enabling informants to stay nameless and safe. The framework allows organisations to easily set up and maintain a secure and anonymous reporting platform, empowering users to report misconduct while staying unidentified. The four major fields of application for GlobaLeaks are Anti-Corruption, Corporate Compliance, Human Rights Protection and Investigative Journalism.
“Our aim is not just to disseminate open-source software, but to make whistleblowing effective. That’s why GlobaLeaks is more than just a tool, it’s a whole framework, supported by documentation, services, and advocacy.” explains Susanna Ferro, Project Manager at GlobaLeaks
The project launched in 2011 to defend online freedom of expression and digital rights.
“The whistleblowing international network that supported digital rights is merging together with the open-source community and advocating together, because they recognise that a tool that protects digital rights is more powerful if fully implemented with open source.” elaborates Giovanni Pellerano, Co-Founder of GlobaLeaks
By 2017, the platform was translated into more than 20 languages and deployed in over 60 projects worldwide, serving activists, public administrations, independent media agencies, corporations, and more. Since 2020 the software is recommended by Transparency International among the available secure, ethical and free solutions could be used for whistleblowing. In 2023, GlobaLeaks had expanded its reach significantly, supporting more than 90 languages and thousands of initiatives globally. In the same year, GlobaLeaks was recognised as a Digital Public Good by the Digital Public Good Alliance.
The journey in public administration
Many public institutions feared that open source software was inherently less secure, assuming its transparency made it more vulnerable to hackers.
“In the short term, a closed-source tool might appear more secure due to 'security through obscurity'. But in the long run, open source is more secure because it allows researchers to continuously audit and improve it.” explains Giovanni Pellerano
Others worried about the lack of professional support, believing that without a commercial vendor, there would be no reliable help or ongoing maintenance. Additionally, there was distrust of community-led development, with some viewing it as less professional and reliable compared to proprietary solutions developed by established companies.
“Public agencies used to believe open source was a problem. But after 10 years, open source projects like GlobaLeaks have proven their value. We now serve 7,000 public agencies in Italy alone, ministries, hospitals, municipalities, all under the EU whistleblower directive.” says Giovanni Pellerano
After overcoming the initial scepticism, GlobaLeaks has been implemented in numerous administrations in Europe and worldwide.
Bústia Ètica at the Barcelona City Council was the first public anti-corruption reporting platform in a municipal government, utilising GlobaLeaks to ensure anonymity and privacy for whistleblowers. This project marked a major milestone, making Barcelona the first city government to invite citizens to submit secure, anonymous reports of wrongdoing.
Italy’s National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) launched a national whistleblowing platform based on GlobaLeaks, providing a safe channel for whistleblowers to report illegal activities while protecting their identities.
Additionally, several municipal governments in countries such as the Netherlands and Spain have adopted GlobaLeaks to receive citizen reports confidentially, showing the platform’s flexibility and scalability.
Today, GlobaLeaks is an omni-comprehensive whistleblowing framework, used by over 30.000 organisations worldwide.
A new standard
GlobaLeaks is a great success story of open source usage in the public sector and beyond. The project aims to replicate the disruptive impact they had in Italy, in all of Europe and the world. Offering their services and software to help dismantle corrupt systems and empower whistleblowers.
“I would like to see GlobaLeaks recognised as the standard framework for whistleblowing. Not just as software, but as a model where, due to its critical nature, every system should be open source.” says Giovanni Pellerano about the future aspirations of GlobaLeaks