WHISTLEBLOWING

WHISTLEBLOWING

WHO ARE WHISTLEBLOWERS?

A whistlleblower is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. The information of alleged wrongdoing can be classified in many ways: violation of company policy/rules, law, regulation, or threat to public interest/national security, as well as fraud, and corruption. Those who become whistleblowers can choose to bring information or allegations to surface either internally or externally. Internally, a whistleblower can bring his/her accusations to the attention of other people within the accused organization. Externally, a whistleblower can bring allegations to light by contacting a third party outside of an accused organization. Whistleblowers can reach out to the media, government, law enforcement, or those who are concerned but also face stiff reprisal and retaliation from those who are accused or alleged of wrongdoing.

WHY ARE THEY NECESSARY?

Whistleblowing is a very ethical decision a person makes when he sees that something illegal in going on and nothing is being done about it or no one has any knowledge of its existence. A lot of illegal and corrupt activities go on and people get away with it because usually no one on the outside can figure it out. To tackle this major issue, Whistleblowers are necessary.

WHAT IMPACT HAVE THEY HAD IN THE PAST?

The nsa was tracking every cellphone and laptop including emails, calls and private data.

Edward snowden realised that this information needed to be out there in the public eyes. People were secretly being spied on by the Government. So he decided to leak around roughly 160,000 intercepted e-mail and instant-message conversations, some of them hundreds of pages long, and 7,900 documents taken from more than 11,000 online accounts. He said that he carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest. There were all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that he didn't turn over and that he had to screen everything before releasing it to journalists.

The Snowden Case was just a recent Whistleblowing Incident that took place. Usually Whistleblowing Cases have a large impact on people. Whistleblowing as a concept has existed since the 1700's.

PROBLEMS FACED BY WHISTLEBLOWERS?

Whistleblowing in the public sector organization is more likely to result in federal felony charges and jail-time. A Whistleblower who chooses to accuse a private sector organization or agency is more likely to face termination and legal and civil charges. Legal protection can also be granted to protect whistleblowers, but that protection is subject to many stipulations. Hundreds of laws grant protection to whistleblowers, but stipulations can easily cloud that protection and leave whistleblowers vulnerable to retaliation and legal trouble. Individual harm, public trust damage, and a threat of national security are three categories of harm that may come to whistleblowers. Revealing whistleblower identities automatically puts their life in harm’s way. Especially with media outlets using words like "traitor" and "treason" to associate with whistleblowers. There are many countries around the world that associate treason with the death penalty, even though whoever allegedly committed treason may or may not have caused anyone physical harm. histleblowers are sometimes seen as selfless martyrs for public interest and organizational accountability; others view them as "traitors" or "defectors." Some even accuse them of solely pursuing personal glory and fame. whistleblowers speak of overwhelming and persistent distress, drug and alcohol problems, paranoid behaviour at work, acute anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks and intrusive thoughts. Depression is often reported by whistleblowers, and suicidal thoughts may occur in up to about 10%. General deterioration in health and self care has been described. whistleblowers may struggle to find further employment due to damaged reputations, poor references and blacklisting. The social impact of whistleblowing through loss of livelihood (and sometimes pension), and family strain may also impact on whistleblowers’ psychological well being.

NEED FOR ANONYMITY AMONGST WHISTLEBLOWERS

Whistleblowing is a very ethical action that one decides to take when he sees that something illegal or corrupt is happening and he has knowledge about it. But due to all the problems faced by the whistleblowers, people will hesitate to go ahead and do the right thing, They will always be scared of the consequences. If the only motivation for someone is to do the right thing then the need to be anonymous is necessary. To protect oneself all kinds of trouble. A platform where with enough proof you can post the informtion by being completely anonymous is not available.

WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO MAKE EVERYONE A WHISTLEBLOWER?

Whistleblowing Incidents are usually large scale that involve government secrets or secrets kept by large private companies. But why doesnt whistleblowing exist at a lower level. In our everyday lives we see so many things that happen which are morally wrong or corrupt. Something like a police officer asking for a bribe from someone else or when your boss is evading his taxes or a politician doing something illegal. Whenever we come across a situation like that we dont want to get involved because we're scared or not report it because its a tedious task and the " CHALTA HAI'' attitude. Now Im not saying that this information needs to be always leaked to the media but even if its out there where it can be seen by people, its shameful when the person finds out that what he did is known to everyone. Everyone of us should try our best to stop wrong things from happening. If we dont have the power to stop it, we can all atleast do our part.