Black Lamp is an independent civic-records intake channel based in the American South. We exist to receive material that the public should have access to but that ordinary channels have failed to handle.
We are not a newsroom. We are not a law firm. We are a small operation — operators, an encrypted intake, and a discipline of careful work. When material arrives, we read it, verify what we can, and decide together what to do with it. Sometimes that means publication. Sometimes it means handing material to counsel of record. Sometimes it means holding a record so it survives until the right moment.
Without explicit consent. Not to journalists. Not to courts unless ordered. Not to other operators outside our circle. Not under pressure.
Anything that goes out under our name has been read, checked against other records, and approved. We are not in the business of speed. We are in the business of accuracy.
No advertising. No sponsorship. No state funding. No quiet relationships with parties to ongoing cases. The work is the work.
We accept material under the protection of federal whistleblower statutes, state public-records laws, and the First Amendment. We do not solicit material that has been obtained illegally, and we follow appropriate counsel before publishing material whose provenance is unclear.
If you have something to bring, the door is the door at blacklamp.org.