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Ask HN: Why aren’t we seeing more whistleblowers?

by trifit on 3/6/23, 5:51 AM with 5 comments

  • by Pinegulf on 3/6/23, 7:30 AM

    Maybe a lot of whistlers end up face down in ditch or just disappear.

    You can really blow the whistle in countries where justice system somehow protects you. Even in those countries this isn't given (Snowden and Assange for instance).

  • by Shinmon on 3/6/23, 6:48 AM

    Personal downside is big, personal upside really small.

    Morals need to be stronger than the fear that you are done with.

  • by soueuls on 3/6/23, 7:22 AM

    Because countries like the US persecute worldwide.
  • by simonblack on 3/7/23, 12:37 AM

    "Snitches get Stitches"

    The malefactors are more powerful and vindictive than the whistleblowers.

    There are no practical legal protections for whistleblowers. Being a whistleblower is a mug's game.

  • by moremetadata on 3/6/23, 11:18 AM

    Future employment opportunities in the industry, often forces whistle-blowers to have to retrain and work in other sectors.

    David Icke blew the whistle on himself on live TV and now look at him. Society wont let him out of the hole that they forced him to dig!

    Market forces, peer pressure, reputational damage, all the things whistle-blowers will have to contend with for the rest of their life, and all because someone exploited a vulnerability in David Icke in a legal seemingly harmless, if not "bit of fun" way.

    And whilst news outlets are not future tellers, they still employ the same legal tactics to get their story, casting the whistle-blower into the gutter once the story has run its course and made some people a little bit richer.

    There is also a darker side to whistleblowing, it can put your life on the line as others have found out. Project Fear is the ultimate control mechanism in so many ways.