Salon.com > Whistleblowers

New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

This week has been a disquieting one for journalists concerned about protecting their sources. The revelation that the Justice Department had been spying on AP reporters' phone records, although it came as no surprise to those attuned to this government's attitude to First Amendment protections, reinforced the importance of enabling the unsurveilled free-flow of information.

It was the right moment then, for the New Yorker to launch Strongbox, an open-source drop box for leaked documents, co-created by late technologist and open-data activist Aaron Swartz with Wired editor Kevin Poulsen.

"With the risks now so high – not just from the U.S. government but also the Chinese government that is hacking newsrooms in the West – it's crucial that news outlets find a secure route for sources to come to them," said Poulsen on Thursday.

Obama leaves room for whistle-blower prosecution

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:51:00 +0000

In a speech Thursday, President Obama addressed the recent scandal in which the DOJ was found to have been spying on AP reporters' phone records. In line with the White House's push Wednesday to reintroduce a media shield law, Obama's comments made the administration's position clear -- a free press is supported, so long as that freedom is under its control.

Obama said that he made "no apologies" for being concerned about national security -- the context in which the Justice Department's surveillance of journalists was couched. The media shield law the White House has asked Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to introduce specifically includes the caveat that the media shield will exclude reporters who publish leaks deemed to cause “significant harm” to national security. Obama commented today that while he valued a free, independent press, "Leaks related to national security can put people at risk, they can put men and women in uniform that I've sent into the battlefield at risk ... U.S. national security is dependent upon those folks being able to operate with confidence that folks back home have their backs, so they're not just left out there high and dry."

What’s so special about journalists?

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:50:00 +0000

The government's seizure of AP phone records has rightly been described by the news agency's president as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion." All those who care about a free and robust press, with protected sources, are justified in their deep concern and demand for answers from the Obama administration. But there is a caveat. It must be added to concerns about undue government surveillance on non-journalists too.

The AP spying scandal must be contextualized (as Kevin Gosztola pointed out): This administration is waging a war on whistle-blowers and First Amendment protections. A creeping surveillance state is being codified, under which the Fourth Amendment is also desecrated and journalists hardly stand alone as objects of surveillance.

As NSA whistle-blower Thomas Drake -- one of a record six individuals to be indicted under the Espionage Act during Obama's presidency -- told me recently, this government's approach to security resembles a "hoarding complex." His point was borne out by comments from CIA’s chief technical officer, Gus Hunt, who recently explained the spy agency’s strategy for a broad surveillance dragnet in a New York speech:

Right-wing media push new Benghazi myths

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:10:00 +0000

Right-wing media are using a congressional hearing to push new myths about the Obama administration's response to the September 11, 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya. In fact, these myths are discredited by previous congressional reports and testimony, which show that the politicized nature of the hearings come from right-wing media and Congressional Republicans, that the military could not have rescued personnel from the second attack, that the administration was in constant communication at all levels during the attacks, and that the intelligence community believed there was a link to an anti-Islam video at the time of the attacks.

MYTH: Latest Benghazi Hearing Is Apolitical

Fox News' Brian Kilmeade Attacks The Claim That Benghazi Hearings Are "Politically Driven." On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade claimed that because self-identified whistleblowers are testifying at congressional hearings on Benghazi at a time that elections are not being held, the hearings can't be politically driven, saying "politics is out, and whistleblowers are in":

Attorneys launch Whistleblower Defense League

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:22:00 +0000

Hacktivist Jeremy Hammond currently awaits trial in a federal prison cell and could receive life in prison; Bradley Manning saw his 1,000 day pretrial military detention last month; Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer has been handed a 41-month prison stint after his found and exploited a security flaw in an AT&T server; Aaron Swartz's federal trial over the downloading of millions of online academic articles would have begun this week, had the young technologist not hanged himself earlier this year. The legal challenges facing whistleblowers and free-data activists, crystallized in these high profile examples to name just a few, have risen to the fore in recent months.

States seek “ag-gag” laws to silence farm whistleblowers

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:25:00 +0000

So-called "ag-gag" bills, which protect factory farms from potential undercover whistleblowers have been recently introduced in five states. "This week, the Indiana Senate is debating a proposal to criminalize taking photographs or videos inside an agricultural or industrial operation without permission," Think Progress reported.

As Grist noted last month, "in 2011 and 2012, Iowa, Utah, and Missouri all enacted some version of an anti-whistleblower ag-gag law, while similar proposals were struck down in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, and Tennessee. These laws are specifically designed to stop whistleblowers providing evidence of animal abuse or other poor practices from reaching the media or animal rights groups. As TP noted:

Policeman: I was fired for reporting officers who threatened Obama

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:25:00 +0000

A police officer in Richmond, Virginia says he was fired from the department after whistle-blowing to a local news station about threatening comments fellow officers made about the president and first lady.

From WTVR:

The whistleblower told CBS 6 last year that the inappropriate comments were made by a 20-year police veteran who was talking on the phone to an officer assigned to provide outside security for the president and first lady. The whistleblower reported that the veteran suggested the officer “take a couple of shots . . .” and that another voice in the background talked about planting a bomb under the stage.

The Secret Service investigated and found no criminal act, but the two officers were fired amidst the furor. The fired officers have been fighting to get their jobs back.

Understanding Christopher Dorner

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 23:26:00 +0000

Bradley Manning: imprisoned, tortured. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: lost her career at the Environmental Protection Agency. Karen Silkwood: died in a suspicious car accident. Gary Webb and Deborah Jeane Palfrey: committed suicide, the former having lost his career, the latter under threat of a 55-year prison sentence. Adrian Schoolcraft: involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward.

This isn’t a country that necessarily holds whistleblowers in the highest regard.

India’s war on whistleblowers

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:26:00 +0000

NEW DELHI, India — In India, the truth might set you free. Or it might land you behind bars. Or even dead.

Take the case of Naveen Sorinjee, a TV reporter jailed in Karnataka for exposing an assault on young couples by a far-right Hindu group. Sorinjee has inspired a hunger strike and a slew of editorials. But more than a two months after his arrest, he's still in the slammer. And he's not alone.

India this year plunged to its lowest ranking on Reporters Without Borders'world press freedom index since 2002, falling to 140 out of 179 countries, as governments around the country cracked down on free speech and allowed criminals, political “workers” and armed groups to attack journalists with impunity.

Meanwhile, since the right to information law gave rise to the anti-corruption movement, the number of bureaucrats, activists, and even policemen who were harassed, beaten, jailed and murdered for daring to expose government and corporate malfeasance has continued to grow, according to the Asia Center for Human Rights (ACHR).