funding journalism: List of whistleblowers 1/4

Whistleblowing (wikipedia)
1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Bradley Manning, a computer security specialist believed to be responsible for the United States Diplomatic Cables Leak

Babak Pasdar, a computer security consultant performing contract work for a major telecom carrier in late 2003, revealed that a U.S. government office in Quantico, Virginia had direct, high-speed access to a major wireless carrier's systems, exposing customers' voicecalls, data packets and physical movements to uncontrolled surveillance. "What I thought was alarming is how this carrier ended up essentially allowing a third party outside their organization to have unfettered access to their environment," said Babak Pasdar, now CEO of New-York based Bat Blue. "I wanted to put some access controls around it; they vehemently denied it. And when I wanted to put some logging around it, they denied that." Pasdar executed a seven-page affidavit for the nonprofit Government Accountability Project in Washington.

Michael Paul a former senior technical analyst of the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts publicly disclosed in December of 2009 that tens of millions of dollars worth of overpriced construction work was being steered to unlicensed contractors in a bid rigging scheme that involved his employer and public funds. After Mr. Paul went public with his allegations as well as his previous requests to his employer for a qui tam release required under the states false claims act, the California Administrative Office of the Courts filed suit to recover a fraction of the monies paid to the unlicensed contractors, demoted Mr. Paul and extended the terms of the underlying contracts, contracts that are deemed void under the California Business & Professions Code. In response, Mr. Paul filed a taxpayer lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court to recover all of the false claims paid and to enjoin the California Administrative Office of the Courts from wasting taxpayer funds. He was promptly fired in violation of the California False Claims Act, the California Whistleblower Protection Act and the California Labor Code.

Stanley Adams, a former Hoffmann-LaRoche executive, who discovered evidence of price fixing in 1973. He passed the evidence to the European Economic Community, who erroneously leaked Adams' name back to Hoffman-LaRoche. Adams was arrested for industrial espionage by the Swiss government and spent six months in jail. He fought for ten years to clear his name and receive compensation from the EEC.

Marta Andreasen, an Argentine-born Spanish accountant, employed in January 2002 by the European Commission as Chief Accountant, and notable for raising concerns about fraud potential within EU, neglected by the Commission.

Stephen Bolsin, a consultant anaesthetist at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, identified that too many babies were dying during heart surgery. He spent the next six years confirming the high mortality rates and attempting to improve the service. By doing this Dr Bolsin developed a higher ethical standard in health care. This standard related to a higher quality of care and introduced the measurement of performance and performance monitoring in the NHS. This led to a fall in mortality rates for children’s heart surgery in Bristol from 30% to less than 5%. These dramatic improvements have been sustained and ongoing in Bristol as well as affecting all areas of healthcare in the UK.

BBC, Bolsin: the Bristol whistleblower

Dr. Donald Merino, who exposed Stevens Institute of Technology for abuse of the endowment, keeping multiple sets of books, misleading of the board and illegal low interest loans to the president.
Anat Kamm, who leaked documents to the media that revealed the Israeli Defense Force had been engaging in extrajudicial killings.

Donnerstag, 9. Dezember 2010