:James Dolan (computer security expert)

Dolan grew up in Chester, New York. He grew up with four sisters. He went to school at the Tuxedo Park school and was considered gifted at an early age. Later, he moved to Brooklyn, which is where he called home{{cite news |last=Vincent |first=Isabel |author-link=Isabel Vincent |title=These Hackers' Suicides Are Eerily Similar |date=January 27, 2018 |work=New York Post |url=https://nypost.com/2018/01/27/these-hackers-suicides-are-eerily-similar/ |access-date=January 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180129040701/https://nypost.com/2018/01/27/these-hackers-suicides-are-eerily-similar/ |archive-date=January 29, 2018 |url-status=live }} and Chester, New York.

From 1999 to 2006, Dolan served with the Marines in two deployments during the Iraq War where he worked as a data network specialist. In 2003, Dolan served with III Marine Expeditionary Force{{cn|date=January 2018}} during the initial Iraq War. In his second deployment, which was from September 2004 to March 2005, Dolan served with 4th Civil Affairs Group in Fallujah,{{cn|date=January 2018}} which was one of the centers of the conflict at that time. Dolan was in Fallujah during Operation Phantom Fury, part of the Second Battle of Fallujah.

Trevor Timm from the Freedom of the Press Foundation referenced Dolan's military service in his description of Dolan in the obituary he wrote, saying that the impact of serving in Iraq was an often spoke of motivating factor for Dolan's cybersecurity work, with the goal of making metadata "transparent and accountable."

After his service in the Iraq War, Dolan worked in computer security at a large IT company.{{cite news|last1=Gilmour|first1=David|title=James Dolan, who co-created SecureDrop, dead at 36|url=https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/james-dolan-dead/|work=The Daily Dot|date=9 January 2018}}

In 2012, as a side project to his IT job, Dolan helped develop the open source SecureDrop, initially known as DeadDrop.{{cite magazine|last1=Poulsen|first1=Kevin|title=Strongbox and Aaron Swartz|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/strongbox-and-aaron-swartz|magazine=The New Yorker|date=14 May 2013|language=en}} In 2013, Poulsen and Dolan moved it to the Freedom of the Press Foundation to ensure its continued development and adoption following the death of fellow developer Aaron Swartz.{{cite news|last1=Robinson|first1=Garrett|last2=Dolan|first2=James|title=SecureDrop's Garrett Robinson and James Dolan – at Aaron Swartz Day 2013|url=https://www.aaronswartzday.org/securedrops-garrett-robinson-and-james-dolan-at-aaron-swartz-day-2013/|work=Aaron Swartz Day|date=17 August 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Robinson|first1=Garrett|last2=Dolan|first2=James|title=SecureDrop's Garrett Robinson and James Dolan – at Aaron Swartz Day 2013|url=https://archive.org/details/aaronswartzday2013?start=3477|work=Aaron Swartz Day|date=8 November 2013|format=Video}} Dolan was the lead maintainer for DeadDrop, and as the Freedom of the Press Foundation's first employee, performed outreach and assisted in installations for news organizations that included The New Yorker, ProPublica, The Washington Post, and VICE News, among others.{{cite news|last1=Timm|first1=Trevor|last2=Reitman|first2=Rainey|title=Freedom of the Press Foundation Launches SecureDrop, an Open-Source Submission Platform for Whistleblowers|url=https://freedom.press/news/freedom-of-the-press-foundation-launches-securedrop-an-open-source-submission-platform-for-whistleblowers/|work=Freedom of the Press Foundation|date=15 October 2013|format=Press release}}{{cite magazine|last1=Gustin|first1=Sam|title=Meet SecureDrop, a New Lock Box for Whistleblowers|url=https://business.time.com/2013/10/15/meet-the-nsa-proof-drop-box-for-whistleblowers/|magazine=Time|date=15 October 2013}}{{cite news|last1=ssteele|title=Tor at the Heart: SecureDrop|url=https://blog.torproject.org/tor-heart-securedrop|work=Tor Blog|date=6 December 2016|language=en}}

In 2015, Dolan moved to San Diego, California, to work as head of security at Classy, an American software company and an online fundraising platform designed for nonprofit organizations, a position he held at the time of his death.

Dolan was found dead in a Brooklyn hotel in December 2017 at the age of 36.{{cite news|last1=Menegus|first1=Bryan|title=James Dolan, Co-Creator of SecureDrop, Dead at 36|url=https://gizmodo.com/james-dolan-co-creator-of-securedrop-dead-at-36-1821921230|work=Gizmodo|date=9 January 2018}} Former colleagues speculate James died of suicide (the same as Swartz). He reportedly had developed PTSD from his time in the Marines. Dolan was the second member of the SecureDrop team to die by suicide. A GoFundMe fund was set up by his fellow Marines to establish the James Dolan Memorial Fund, which will annually donate to designated non-profit foundations and projects in his name.{{cite web|title=James Dolan Memorial Fund|url=https://www.gofundme.com/james-dolan-memorial-fund|website=GoFundMe|date=12 January 2018}}

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Category:1981 births

Category:2017 suicides

Category:2017 deaths

Category:American computer programmers

Category:Computer security specialists

Category:Internet activists

Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War