Whistleblowers

Our City of Victoria made the international news when Christopher Wylie, who worked for AggregateIQ in Victoria,

blew the whistle on the company Cambridge Analytica that he claimed had used mined personal data from Facebook without consent to influence democracy.  He specifically mentioned the Brexit ‘Leave’ campaign in the UK, and other national and local elections that may have been affected by these tactics.

Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning have all sacrificed their freedom for a cause.  Snowden is still in asylum in Russia, but still active (and influential) on social media.  Julian Assange is still captive at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and has recently had his internet access jammed and visitors disallowed by the newly elected Ecuadorian government.  Chelsea Manning was sentenced to serve 35 years in a maximum security facility, but it was commuted by Obama.  She is now running for the US Senate in Maryland.

Here is a good summary of the recent Christopher Wylie allegations: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/world/canada/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-canadian-liberal-party-canada-letter.html

Contrasting opinions:

Whistleblowers are patriots: “We need whistleblowers as a form of checks and balances within our society. We need to look up to these individuals, and call them patriots of our, so called, free world.”  Read more:https://thepioneeronline.com/35266/opinions/was-2017-a-year-of-whistleblowers-versus-patriotism/

Whistleblowers are traitors: “Stealing classified information to systematically undermine U.S. alliances across the world, while aiding U.S. adversaries, is practically the definition of treason.”  Read more: https://thediplomat.com/2013/12/yes-edward-snowden-is-a-traitor/

Canadian Legislation:

Here’s what the revamping of the federal whistleblower law would look like if implemented (Jun. 2017): http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/whistleblower-report-law-canada-1.4167847