Whistleblow Village

Whistleblow village has been a massively multiplayer interactive fiction and online video-game-like environment focused on telling the story of famous (and less famous) whistleblowers, publishers and activists for information freedom. It was also presenting the brutality of the war crimes of the Empire in a “cute” way, inspired by the aesthetics of the 16bit-era RPG videogames.

It ran as part of RC3, the “Remote Congress Experience” replacing online in 2020 and 2021 the famous hacker conference, the Chaos Communication Congress..

The “Whistleblow Village” has been a hub for information, action, invention and coordination about the persecution of whistleblowers and publishers everywhere. It had a strong focus on ending WikiLeaks and Assange’s political persecution.

It has been a place to discuss and explore the consequences of such a “war on journalism”; a place to celebrate the importance of freedom to publish and access information; and a place for exploring the ethical use of technology for publishing and countering surveillance, etc.

Throughout RC3 there had been a number of panels, group discussions, various collective efforts and initiatives, workshops, etc. Decentralized infrastructure was be shared ( including a wiki, pads, Big Blue Button rooms, a PeerTube instance, a radio stream, and more) Our only limit was the pixelated sky!

Whistleblow Village was a place to meet, but it was also an adventure! The courageous and adventurous were rewarded by many badges on their journey towards the prison of Guantanamarsh, and beyond…. Did they find their way to Mount Dox and explore its numerous spaces? Many surprises -some of them gruesome!- await… (nudge, nudge, teaser, teaser, knowhaddamean…)

Status of “Whistleblow Village”

Due to its nature, the fact that it was meant to be experienced by a large number of participants at the same time, and for being based on ephemeral infrastructure, Whistleblow Village is “gone”.

Some preservation efforts have been made to try to keep some version online, with little to no luck… The material is archived somewhere.

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