Dushanbe,Tajikistan, 28 and 29 November 2013 – At a workshop 20 journalists from print and electronic media learned how to protect the communication with their sources from surveillance and interception.

The two day workshop was organised by the National Association of Independent Mass Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT) in cooperation with Reporters without Boarders, an international organisation that campaigns for freedom of information.

The training provided the participants with an overview of online and offline encryption and anonymization methods. In addition to theoretical instructions the participants carried out practical exercises and received a digital toolbox with software for their computers. The ultimate objective of the training was to enable the media to guarantee the confidentiality and anonymity of the communication with their sources.

Nuridin Karshiboev, the chairman of NANSMIT, emphasized that the protection of privacy and the protection of expression are intimately linked and added:

“This is an important initiative in order to provide digital security for the work of journalists. I hope this training will contribute to the enhancement of freedom of information and expression and thus to an improvement of the daily work of journalists.”