Jason Wilson

2020 wasn't great! I personally haven't had anything close to the worst of it. I'm healthy(ish), nourished, and sheltered from the elements. What's more, I was fortunate enough to get enough work, enough resources, and enough support to keep walking the crooked path of freelance journalism. Indeed, the circumstances of this year gave me the space and time to significantly change my own methods of work, or develop some skills I was already working on. I believe those changes were for the better...

As I write, I'm preparing for a large, contentious pair of rallies in Portland, Oregon. I'll be on the ground, some of you will be watching it online. You may see something that you wish to preserve, and pass on to journalists. But online materials have a habit of disappearing, especially if they contain incriminating or discrediting content. Here's a tip sheet on how to preserve online materials with tools and very brief comments, in a way that helps us report on these events. The first t...

Today I have a news feature out in The Guardian, which describes the changing dynamics in Portland's protests. Far right protesters, and right-on-left political violence, have once again emerged on the city's streets. Interesting, inspiring, or troubling things I read this week (in no particular order): Eric K Ward, "Winning the Peace: What If We’ve Already Won the War?", on Medium. Patty Neiberg, "Ketamine that’s injected during arrests draws new scrutiny", AP. Amy Plitt, "Suburbia, Reco...

Welcome to my new website. Incredibly, despite a quarter century online, this is the first time I have had my own website functioning on my own domain. The reasons for that aren't as important as the reason I have decided to make a change in 2020: I am utterly dissatisfied, and intermittently horrified, by the mainstream services that many people use to maintain a presence online, and to perform sensitive work. My discomfort arises from a mounting concern for the privacy and security of mysel...

I have a new story at The Guardian's US edition today about some Google material I pulled from the #Blueleaks trove. A little-known investigative unit inside search giant Google regularly forwarded detailed personal information on the company’s users to members of a counter-terrorist fusion center in California’s Bay Area, according to leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian. But checking the documents against Google’s platforms reveals that in some cases Google did not necessarily ban the...