Amber Scorah, a former whistleblower from the tech industry, was inspired to co-found Psst in September 2024. This nonprofit organization aims to provide individuals in both the tech and government sectors with a secure platform to share information of public interest. By emphasizing anonymity and legal protections, Psst aims to provide a more secure space for whistleblowers.
Psst also has a full-time in-house legal team headed by Jennifer Gibson. Now she’s just as focused on making news shared through their platform remains secret. The nonprofit gives its users an unconventional “digital safe” which they can securely share. They can report it through an anonymous end-to-end encrypted text box on Psst.org. This virtual vault is where users can anonymously detail their complaints without the risk of retaliation.
Our legal team at Psst takes a close look at all entries locked away in our digital vault. Only after this careful manual review do they gain access to the aggregated information, always protecting user privacy and security. Once you enter your information, it will be stored in a secure “information escrow” system. If someone else makes the same type of complaint against that same company or organization, your submission is made public. This feature encourages community-building between whistleblowers and aids in corroborating their experiences.
Psst not only protects the identities of whistleblowers, it works closely with independent investigative reporters. The organization posts first-hand testimonies on its own website. This strategy increases the trustworthiness of the information being disseminated. Second, it provides a broader base for addressing systemic problems within agencies.
Psst’s effect is perhaps most clear in their recent, groundbreaking work with a group of disgruntled Microsoft employees. These workers were whistleblowers who alerted the public to the company’s widespread, misleading marketing practices regarding artificial intelligence products developed for use by fossil-fuel companies. Thanks to tireless advocacy from the Microsoft employees and Psst’s legal team, change happened. They filed a whistleblower complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of their employer.
Gibson emphasized how critical their legal framework has been in protecting the identity and safety of individuals who report sensitive information. She stated, “They’re designed to put lawyers in the room so the information isn’t disclosable. To some extent, we’re using their playbook.” This declaration highlights Psst’s dedication to protecting whistleblowers while continuing to make it easy for the public to disclose information that would otherwise stay under the radar.
Scorah’s reason for co-founding Psst comes from her personal story as a whistleblower. She wants to create a space where artists, activists, and allies can tap into the transformative power of sharing stories that inspire societal change. She hopes to have that same influence across the tech industry with Psst. Ultimately, her aim is to encourage others to speak out.
The platform gives people control over what kind of information they want to share and how anonymous they want to be. This kind of control and agency ensures that when individuals decide to share information, they do so on their own terms, without jeopardizing their safety or privacy.
By uniting reports from various organizations, Psst hopes to alleviate some of the alienating experience that can come with whistleblowing. This collective approach strengthens the narratives being shared, making it increasingly difficult for companies to dismiss them as mere complaints from disgruntled employees.
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