[sethrin]

Whistleblower is a very revealing thing to call Mr. Assange.

[fhub]

David McBride and Richard Boyle. Both tried the official channels then whistleblower channels. Both made some mistakes but all in the public interest. Aussie gov treated them shamefully.

[doctor_eval]

Witness K and Bernard Collaery came to mind when I was writing it. They blew the whistle on illegal espionage used to pillage the resources of our tiny neighbour, and the government threw the book at them. Absolutely shameful.

[doctor_eval]

I understand that Wikileaks is controversial but I don't think there is any dispute that he has acted in the role of whistleblower to some extent. But that's not really the point I'm trying to make, so I've removed the reference.

[sethrin]

I think I'd argue for a sui generis classification, which does partake somewhat of the whistleblower, but it seems like calling Napoleon a general. He was certainly that, at times. Apologies for the nit-picking in any case.

[yupyupyups]

Another example would be David McBride who was in the Australian military and blew the whistle on war crimes. He recently got sentenced to jail while actual exposed war criminals are free.