Snowden anniversary a reminder of the need to protect whistleblowers and journalists

AP Photo/George Brich
Whistleblowers are essential to a free and unfettered press.
Whistleblowers play a critical role in informing the public and holding the government to account.
Sources who act out of conscience to leak information to the press further our democracy. Whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden, have exposed some of our government’s gravest abuses.
Unfortunately, whistleblowers are often prosecuted and jailed. That’s wrong. Whistleblowers and the journalists they work with should be celebrated, not punished.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered on October 16, 2017. Her death has divided Malta and shaken governmental and journalistic institutions to their core. The year since has functioned as a national reckoning, a questioning, and a movement.
The documents whistleblower Terry Albury is assumed to have shared detail the FBI’s recruitment tactics, investigations of minorities, and how the agency monitors journalists. Next week, he'll be sentenced in federal court, and for his act of courage, he could face years in prison.
Google should protect whistleblowers who to the press, and immediately address the concerns that its employees have raised about the company’s complicity in a project that could expand China’s censorship and damage press freedom.
For alerting the public about hacking attempts on election infrastructure, Reality was given five years in jail.
Over 300 news organizations join together and publish editorials denouncing Trump's attacks on the press. And while his rhetoric gets an outsized amount of attention, his administration’s actions are more dangerous to the press than anything Trump has said.
Newly revealed ICE emails suggest that journalist Emilio Gutiérrez-Soto was targeted for deportation after criticizing U.S. immigration authorities
The first whistleblower prosecuted by the Trump administration, Reality Winner pled guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act. Her case is the latest in a long history of targeting sources and whistleblowers under the draconian law.
Former intelligence contractor and whistleblower Reality Winner has pled guilty to leaking a secret NSA report to the press.
Five years ago today, the first story based on the Snowden revelations exposing the NSA's mass surveillance regime was published. In the years that have followed, Snowden's disclosures have transformed the national and international conversation about privacy in our digital lives.
You've read the post-mortmems on #efail. How can we, as digital security trainers, unpack the vulnerability for more evergreen advice?