Slashdot Mirror
Where Whistleblowers End Up Working
HughPickens.com writes Jana Kasperkevic writes at The Guardian that it's not every day that you get to buy an iPhone from an ex-NSA officer. Yet Thomas Drake, former senior executive at National Security Agency, is well known in the national security circles for leaking information about the NSA's Trailblazer project to Baltimore Sun. In 2010, the government dropped all 10 felony charges against him and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for unauthorized use of a computer and lost his livelihood. "You have to mortgage your house, you have to empty your bank account. I went from making well over $150,000 a year to a quarter of that," says Drake. "The cost alone, financially — never mind the personal cost — is approaching million dollars in terms of lost income, expenses and other costs I incurred."
John Kiriakou became the first former government official to confirm the use of waterboarding against al-Qaida suspects in 2009. "I have applied for every job I can think of – everything from grocery stores to Toys R Us to Starbucks. You name it, I've applied there. Haven't gotten even an email or a call back," says Kiriakou. According to Kasperkevic, this is what most whistleblowers can expect. The potential threat of prosecution, the mounting legal bills and the lack of future job opportunities all contribute to a hesitation among many to rock the boat. "Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, declared a war on whistleblowers virtually as soon as they assumed office," says Kiriakou. "Washington has always needed an "ism" to fight against, an idea against which it could rally its citizens like lemmings. First, it was anarchism, then socialism, then communism. Now, it's terrorism. Any whistleblower who goes public in the name of protecting human rights or civil liberties is accused of helping the terrorists."
John Kiriakou became the first former government official to confirm the use of waterboarding against al-Qaida suspects in 2009. "I have applied for every job I can think of – everything from grocery stores to Toys R Us to Starbucks. You name it, I've applied there. Haven't gotten even an email or a call back," says Kiriakou. According to Kasperkevic, this is what most whistleblowers can expect. The potential threat of prosecution, the mounting legal bills and the lack of future job opportunities all contribute to a hesitation among many to rock the boat. "Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, declared a war on whistleblowers virtually as soon as they assumed office," says Kiriakou. "Washington has always needed an "ism" to fight against, an idea against which it could rally its citizens like lemmings. First, it was anarchism, then socialism, then communism. Now, it's terrorism. Any whistleblower who goes public in the name of protecting human rights or civil liberties is accused of helping the terrorists."
It's a very effective method at discouraging effective and functional resistance against status quo.
Similar procedures were used against key people behind Occupy movement according to similar reports.
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
...and; People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
More to the point is that of course, all these disproportionate and draconian measures have ensured no whistle-blowing takes place. Good job, pat yourselves on the back and suck each other's cocks.
-nuff said
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
How's that transparent government working out?
If I remember correctly, before and after entering office, Obama vowed to improve government transparency and protecting whistle blowers. While in sections, such as with ARRA, government transparency was increased, the remainder of the government was obscured further.
Place something witty here
"Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, declared a war on whistleblowers virtually as soon as they assumed office," says Kiriakou.
Obama is certainly not any better than his predecessors, but I have to wonder if he is any worse. Valery Plame was on G. W. Bush's watch, for example.
yeah...i feel for this guy. i can relate.
in this day and age, pretty much anything you do that could potentially show that you are not a good little robot that sits up and says "more, please" when corporations and law enforcement slap you around goes on your record and eliminates you from enjoying that sort of upper middle-class life. how wonderful for the law-n-order types...no so much for independant souls.
it's happening all around us in real time...the Goodell story, Ray Rice...hashtag mobs become judge and jury for a few days and completely destroy lives.
now I get it...in this case it's different but corporate HR departments are just hashtag mobs of 1.
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
Well...
egrep ".*ism$" /usr/share/dict/words | perl -MList::Util=shuffle -e 'print shuffle();' | tail -n 10 ... tells me that the next ten things that the US is going to wage war against are:
Factionalism
Occidentalism
Aerotropism
Briticism
Rebaptism
Establishmentarianism.
Freemasonism
Achronism
Henotheism
Selenotropism
I look forward to the War on Henotheism. Make up your minds, there's either one god or there's multiple! If you don't pick between the existence of one god or multiple, then the Henotheists win!
(Side note: Slashdot, stop playing content critic with your "Filter error: That's an awful long string of letters there")
Fox: "I think we should call it... your grave!" Cast: "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
These guys are the first people I'd choose to hire if I had a position to hire them for. I want to work with people who are willing to fight against deception and corruption. They value the good of the people, that's you and me, above everything else, even their own job.
Manning tried to impress an actual hacker and the hacker dude didn't want any part of it.
Snowden grabbed the goods and and made headlines across the planet.
Why in Sam Hill do whistle blowers have to step into the spotlight with their incriminating evidence?
There are lots of ways to drop that crap off and be quiet about it.
The system is training for that, you know. It's the next logical step.
Want to expose a wrongdoing?
Wear the cloak of AC.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
It may be a moral good, even a moral necessity to do it. But you're *never* rewarded for it, even under the best of circumstances (all these bullshit whistleblower bounty programs are just for show). And at worst, you'll end up in prison or dead.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
As a whistle blower myself, I found that the trick is to do diaphragm exercises. Lots of people focus too much on the muscles in the mouth, but the real airflow comes from the lungs. Also, get yourself a real competition-grade whistle, not a cheap piece of Chinese-made junk. I personally am fond of the late Soviet militiary whistles - not only do they have a distinctive sound, but the titanium pea is extremely efficient at transforming air pressure to sound with little resistance.
Fox: "I think we should call it... your grave!" Cast: "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
And we lapped it up....
How is it logical that he loses his job and now he can't get any job?
I can understand probably government is off limits for him, and if he goes to a big company maybe the background check would keep him from a job. But there have to be plenty of small businesses who would be willing to hire him, and certainly if he just goes looking for anonymous low brow work, well that shouldn't be a problem, no?
This article seems to suggest if you piss off Uncle Sam, he'll force you into homelessness....
Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison after he pled guilty to a felony. in america its important to distinguish misdemeanors and felonies as most employers dont care about the former. Misdemeanors are traffic citations or DUI first offense and many are willing to overlook them in white-collar professions. a felony however is a different matter. Felonies in the US ban you in many states from public assistance like food stamps or government housing assistance. a felony can get you apartment application rejected, you car insurance increased, your credit rating destroyed, and will (despite what you were convicted of) destroy your life forever. If you want to buy a home, most homeowners associations will categorically deny the sale if you have a prior felony conviction. Felons cant hold politcal office, and are often subject to very strict mandatory parole terms imposed after their sentence for up to a year or more. Whats worse is most prisons also require you to pay restitution for their "services" and while a misdemeanor is often expungeable from your criminal record, a felony is not. Prior felony convictions in many states cannot be served at bars, and may be forbidden from owning a firearm. Kiriakou isnt being punished for "helping the terrorists." Hes just learning what its like to live in americas untouchable caste, a scarlet letter that affects more than 5 million americans currently.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Leaving government for the private sector usually involves a great deal of soft corruption: employers who want inside connections, inside knowledge, and lobbying power; obviously, these people can't bring that to the table. Beyond that, they may not have that many skills employers want.
How exactly is the Obama administration taking action that is any different from the Bush administration, the Clinton administration, the first Bush administration, the Reagan administration, or any other before then? The only difference is that the Obama administration pretends to be willing to protect whistleblowers; the previous administrations were openly opposed to them to the degree that nobody dared blow the whistle at all.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Or for that matter inconvenienced in any particular way. And Richard Armitage, the person who outed her as a former field operative wasn't punished that I'm aware.
Elementary. If you piss off the government of a country, then you better move to another country.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
They got caught with their dicks in the cookie jar, and still (still!) they blame the kid who called them out for it.
Don't fool yourself with ideologies and policy statements and fancy speeches. It's all Bullshit. Democrats = Republicans = Cunts. Power likes to suck itself off and *hates* it when someone gets in the way. Somehow we all know this, but sometimes we need to see it to really believe it. Did many of those who voted for Obama really think the government under his administration would not only be caught spying on US citizens, but that he himself would actively defend it, and that he would use his underlings to spend more effort on the Snowden witchhunt and character assassination than looking into the NSA overreach wrongdoing? It's disgusting behavior, but not wholly unexpected for any reasonably diligent student of political history.
The only people worse than those trying to acquire power are those trying to retain it.
Obama called Starbucks and tole them not to hire him.
Please.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
By being a whistleblower they have displayed to the world that they have a lot of risk taking abilities. Now that they have appeared on slashdot, they should consider writing a book about their experiences. The hesitation, the resistance they faced at their work-place, then the moment... They can then sell the rights to their story to movie studios too!! That's the way forward to high risk takers such as whistleblowers. Make it all or loose it all!! They can then go around delivering lectures about their experiences, their book. Go independent, I mean!!
Start a web site that can serve as a talent pool for people like this. Many people would consider them american heroes, and if they had more visibility, maybe they would get hired faster. If they show up on a background check, the employers would be more likely to know why and give them a pass.
Twinstiq, game news
I saw things at work which were questionable or illegal like my mgr. dumping outdated chemicals into the process at a water treatment plant and falsifying reports to the state regulatory agency. I kept some records and pictures but never said anything about it because I feared that my job would be in jeopardy. One manager was corrupt and a co-worker filed a lawsuit which he won but then had to change jobs, sell his house and move to another city.
And yet, when I talk to people about shady things that it looks like to government has done or is doing, I am told that if such a thing were happening someone would talk. Someone with a conscience would come forward and expose the shady operation.
Well, not necessarily. As we see here, there is a high cost to coming forward. If what you are coming forward about is classified, expect to go to prison as well (with the bonus of perhaps not being able to prove your allegation because it is all classified). People's sense of self preservation and responsibility to family may just keep them from talking about any nefarious deeds they know about. We can't take for granted the idea that people will come forward about crimes or malfeasance. Sometimes they do, and we should be grateful for their sacrifice. But many more do not because the personal cost is too high.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
If we were serious about ending criminal acts in the US government, we would:
1) create a fully independent office inside the government to investigate and prosecute wrongdoers, with powers no less than congress' Special Prosecutor (i.e. equal to the presidency)
2) offer whistleblowers generous retirement benefits for life (to escape retribution)
3) give them blanket immunity from prosecution
4) prosecute the gov't wrongdoers all the way up the chain of command, *starting* at top executive levels
But the US government does the opposite. That's the very definition of racketeering and organized crime.
By the many brave people in the field who've been outed by members of the Obama administration either through incompetence or as part of a pattern of trying to impress some reporter. Informants who've been actually murdered, as opposed to driving around Virginia pretending to endangered.
How people can miss this one truth of government I'll never know. They all tend to find an "enemy" to focus the peoples hostilities on, and if there isn't one they invent one.
This is a good thing to remember when the news is telling us about the bad guy du jour that we must go fight against. Whatever they are telling you, it's bullshit. We may not know what the truth is, but whatever they are telling you on TV isn't it.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
If you're going to be a whistleblower, do it anonymously. Very anonymously. And be sure you have your facts straight and that they cannot be disputed or disproved. And be very sure that you have a nice cache of damning documents very securely stashed that can be released to the press should your employer attempt retaliation.
We big-government socialists knew that, not sure why you libertarians didn't?
Which libertarians? The working class ones or the ones who get to tell other people what to do?
Don't try to out wierd me, three-eyes. I get stranger things than you, free with my breakfast cereal. --Zaphod Beeblebr
The trick with whistle blowing is to make sure you have left the job BEFORE you blow the whistle. Snowden made sure he was out of the country. Others found employment elsewhere before blowing the whistle. With digital finger prints left in logs a whistle blower cannot assume that attempts to be anonymous will be successful.
Terrorism, the universal justification for pretty much every imaginable government abuse. Far better than blaming a conspiracy of an ethnic group like the previous generation fascists chose, terrorism is better because it can apply to anyone, regardless of ethnic makeup. Plus, it never ends, there will no doubt always be terrorists, or at least always someone that can be accused of it. Anyone you don't like can be accused of "helping the terrorists." When in actual fact, blaming terrorists itself helps the terrorists. See? We can all play that game.
Move to Europe. Many Europeans, especially in tech, are quite critical to all the American surveillance, and would probably be quite sympathetic to these whistle blowers. Their actions might even make it easier for them to get jobs in Europe than otherwise! Europe also needs programmers. Most of Scandinavia speaks so English so well that one can get a job speaking only English (if you have high-valued skills), so you have other options that Britain.
The machinations employed by government agencies and powerful corporations to punish whistle blowers clearly emphasizes the need for powerful investigative journalism, news organizations with the balls to stand up to steep fines and possible jail time to protect sources, and the absolute requirement that whistle blowers employ intelligence tradecraft to protect their anonymity at all costs.
It took several decades for FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt to be named as Deep Throat, and was only "outed" when Felt - then 91 and riddled with dementia - was named in a 2005 Vanity Fair article, largely only because Woodward confirmed his identity due to Felts' family having solved the mystery.
If you can't trust a journalist to sit in prison to protect your identity, and you are sitting on a time bomb of corporate or government malfeasance that needs to be made public, you had god damned better be sure to have that information delivered using methods that scrubs your identity from both the documents and the delivery.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
I don't live him.
He means, we all aspire to live as if we're Putin, who aspires to live like he was Chuck Norris.
If we were directly exposed to trying to live like Chuck Norris we would die from infinitely trying to roundhouse kick ourselves in the head for trying to live the Chuck Norris. Consequently we "does not live the guy" because Putin saves us from not being Chuck Norris as he is the only man manly enough to survive his own roundhouse kick to the head.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I don't live him.
He means, we all aspire to live as if we're Putin, who aspires to live like he was Chuck Norris.
If we were directly exposed to trying to live like Chuck Norris we would die from infinitely trying to roundhouse kick ourselves in the head for trying to live the Chuck Norris. Consequently we "does not live the guy" because Putin saves us from not being Chuck Norris as he is the only man manly enough to survive his own roundhouse kick to the head.
That brings about an interesting problem. What happens if chuck norris tries to roundhouse kick himself in the face? On the one hand, chuck norris does not miss. On the other hand, chuck norris does not let anyone kick him in the face. I think it may create a big bang.
I think it may create a big bang.
It did create the Big Bang, we are now in the infinite time and mass between kicks.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
1. Hey but Nick Leeson is making a killing out of it. He was convicted and jailed. And so is Kevin Mitnick and a host of others. The whistleblower should go beyond the facts of his whistleblowing and start from his childhood. How he dreamt of freedom and how fiercely he fought to save it on his school playground. Defending the hapless kids from the bullies.... blah blah blah... That makes a wonderful story. Then he can go about narrating his life after he lost his job, making ends meet. How he was determined to fight it out, all alone vs the state. How he survived the fallout... How he is the savior of morals and values. Of courage, grit and determination. blah blah...
2. At least they should make an attempt. Even if the book doesn't fly and the movie never happens, they can become a public speaker. If not in the US, definitely abroad. They can get into talking about leadership skills, entrepreneurial skills, self help blah blah blah... there is a big market for it. I know of people who have not done anything noteworthy in their lives but are making a killing by going to companies and talking about leadership, emotional intelligence, x habits of a leader, innovation and bull like that. These guys atleast have some real life story to tell.
3. Mitnick, Leeson are on the top of my head. He can walk clear of those states where such laws exist. In fact they can walk out of US and not bother. Nothing much there anyways. Earth is a big planet.
4. Launch a fight against the ammo in full public view and make a story out of it too!! Like we read on slash the other day of that Italian restaurant that came up with a neat idea to fight the extortion attempts of Yelp!