Encryption
Your tip is sealed on your own device before it is sent. After that, only the program that can act on it can open it.
What this protects
Section titled “What this protects”Your words and the location are scrambled on your own phone or computer before anything leaves it. What travels to the platform is a locked envelope, not readable text.
The location of what you are reporting rides inside that same locked envelope. It is never stored as plain, searchable text.
The platform stores the envelope in that sealed form. There is no plain, readable copy of your words or the location sitting in storage.
Who can open your tip
Section titled “Who can open your tip”Only the program you send your tip to can unlock it, using a key that stays on the platform. Even we cannot read it from outside that system.
If your tip is referred to another program, that program’s investigators can also read it. We keep a permanent record of the referral here, and the receiving program signs a confirmation that we keep too.
The honest limit
Section titled “The honest limit”Sealed does not mean unreadable by everyone. Investigators at your program can open your tip and read it. That is how your information reaches the people who can act on it.
When an investigator opens a tip, the platform’s own systems briefly handle the readable text to show it to them. So the honest claim is not that your tip can never be read. The honest claim is narrower: only investigators can read it, and every read is recorded.
Encryption protects your tip while it travels and while it is stored. It does not change what you wrote. If your own words could point back to you, sealing them does not remove that risk.
Related
Section titled “Related”If this page does not answer your question, ask the program you are reporting to.