Whistleblowing stories tend to capture the public’s imagination. For starters, there’s the public-interest motivation shared by many whistle-blowers, who want to draw attention to the harm that’s being perpetrated. But this alone isn’t enough to greenlight a major Hollywood adaptation staring Benedict Cumberbatch: what makes a story truly famous are the characters involved, their methods, and the risks they’re willing to take in pursuit of justice.
Let’s start with a definition. A whistle-blower, according to the UK government, is a worker who reports wrongdoing that’s in the public interest. Under this definition, whistle-blowers enjoy the protection of the law – therefore, if you’re considering sharing private company information and becoming a whistle-blower, it is advised that you first seek out legal advice from employment law solicitors to understand the implications of your actions and to confirm that what you wish to share would class as whistleblowing.
So, who are history’s most famous whistle-blowers? Let’s start with the most obvious.
Julian Assange
Julian Assange is arguably the world’s most famous whistle-blower. Through the organisation he founded, WikiLeaks, he has published a string of leaks relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is currently resident in Belmarsh Prison, from which he was denied bail. He spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, having been granted asylum on the grounds of political persecution – this during a time in which Sweden had issued an international warrant for his arrest, based on allegations of sexual assault.
Edward Snowden
Snowden is a former contractor working for the National Security Agency in the United States. He discovered that the government was collecting huge amounts of surveillance data, in collaboration with governments around the world. He has since claimed asylum in Russia, where he recently announced he would be applying for permanent citizenship. Oliver Stone has adapted the story for the big screen, in a film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the title role.
Katherine Gun
In 2003, Katherine Gun was working in GCHQ in Cheltenham, translating Mandarin into English. She discovered an email from a chief-of-staff at the American NSA, proposing that six countries have their offices at the United Nations bugged. These countries were to have a decisive role in determining the UN’s approval of the US’s proposed invasion of Iraq. Gun leaked the email to a friend, and it eventually found its way onto the front page of the Observer. She was charged under the Official Secrets Act, but the case was ultimately dropped.
Karen Silkwood
Karen Silkwood discovered that safety standards at her workplace, the Kerr-McGee nuclear site, were horrendously lax. She discovered in 1974 that her body contained several hundred times the normal amount of plutonium, and was ultimately killed in a mysterious car accident. The company ended up settling the case with her family out of court, without admitting liability.