Appalachia now has its own version of WikiLeaks. It's a website where government and corporate whistle blowers can anonymously share documents. Jim Tobias is co-coordinator of Honest Appalachia, which will focus on North Carolina and six other states.
Jim Tobias: Because it's such a rural region we felt a site like this would be of particular use. There's so many small towns scattered across this region, and we just thought this would be a really good way for people maybe from relatively remote places to be able to make their voices heard.
Would-be whistle blowers will be required to download software that secures their anonymity. The Honest Appalachia team says it will verify the authenticity of all documents, and work with local journalists to publish important material. The site is built on open-source software, and its creators hope others will replicate it. The project got started with a 5-thousand dollar grant from the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation.
