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Behind every astonishing data breach there is always someone determined to pay the price for such information to see the light. “If it weren’t for these people, we would live in a slightly darker place.“, Says the Spanish journalist Héctor Juanatey, author of the book”The analyst, an accidental spy on the case Assange and Snowden”.
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Julian Assange and Edward snowden They are, precisely, two of the most famous informants of these times. Their actions – branded as treason by some, and seen as examples of the fight for freedom of expression and justice by others – turned them into a nightmare for public and private organizations, especially for governments. And that has a price.
“The informants decide to risk their careers, even their lives, by filtering certain topics to which they have had access and which they believe should be seen by everyone”, Says Juanatey to Trade.
But Frances Haugen does not know that reality. While the latest whistleblowers to shake the world with their revelations are having a hard time, the young American has turned her war on Facebook into an international tour. He is a star in a world of crashed whistleblowers.
Frances Haugen, the young woman turned celebrity
A Frances Haugen only one red carpet is missing. Since he leaked internal documents from Facebook and denounced the company for knowingly affecting its users, the 37-year-old engineer has only garnered applause and support.
In just three months, the former employee of the tech giant and who defines herself as “Facebook whistleblower” On her Twitter account, she has toured London, Washington, Berlin and Paris, where she has been received by authorities and parliamentarians. He has lectured in Lisbon and in the European Parliament, always denouncing the bad practices of Facebook. He also testified before the United States Congress.
It was wonderful meeting with Christine Lambrecht, German Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection today! Thank you for standing up for German social media users ???? https://t.co/Smbx1aRYhD
– Frances Haugen (@FrancesHaugen) November 3, 2021
Juanatey is not surprised by the differential treatment Haugen receives. “Unlike other people, in this case we are talking about a company, Facebook, which in fact many governments have been dreading for a few years because it has become a kind of superpower”, He points out.
It was a pleasure getting to meet with you and discuss the forthcoming Online Safety Bill. The Bill promises to be an important step for transparency and accountability in the digital age. https://t.co/YaZ2KDY4WR
– Frances Haugen (@FrancesHaugen) November 3, 2021
Remember, furthermore, that Mark Zuckerberg himself, CEO of Facebook, has had to testify several times in the Congress or Senate of the United States for the practices of his company.
“It is not the same to filter information from a company of this type, although it is equally useful for the population, than to filter information from the actions of certain governments. Talking about Facebook is not the same as talking about what the United States Department of State or the NSA itself does”He adds.
Julian Assange, more than a decade without freedom
The 50-year-old Australian, founder of the Wikileaks portal, famous for publishing leaked information, has not been free in more than 10 years. Julian Assange, a 50-year-old Australian, published hundreds of thousands of classified government documents in November 2010. USA, including some on that country’s operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it has cost him dearly.
He was wanted by the Swedish police for sex crimes that were later shelved, he spent seven years asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and is now in a maximum security prison in the same city where he fears possible extradition to EE.UU. Washington accuses him of several espionage charges for which he could be sentenced to up to 175 years in prison.
“The worst consequences can be seen in the case of Julian Assange”, Says Juanatey, who emphasizes that many media outlets in the world sold newspapers, minutes on television, radio, etc., thanks to the diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks.
“Except for the governments involved, everyone agrees that what we learned through Wikileaks it was in the public interest. Do we remember the case of the video of the Apache helicopter that killed 12 people in Baghdad? It seems that the crime belongs to whoever made it public and not who carried out or ordered the attack”He says in reference to the US attack revealed by Wikileaks.
Edward Snowden, unable to leave Russia
Hero for some, traitor for others. Another disseminator of secrets who strives to seek a refuge to avoid the justice of USA it is Edward snowden.
The former US technology consultant who leaked secret data from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 was forced to flee his country that same year and now lives in exile in Russia and at risk of being charged at home. You have said that you have lost control of your life.
The European Parliament denied the possibility of the European Union offering him political asylum.
“Snowden is somehow ‘free’, but unable to leave Russia, a country he arrived in after passing through Hong Kong after making public information that revealed surveillance tools worldwide”, Says Juanatey.
Chelsea Manning, attempted suicide in prison
The former American soldier Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning) spent seven of his 33 years in prison for delivering classified diplomatic and military files precisely to Wikileaks about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Manning, who in prison changed sex and starred in a suicide attempt, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for spying and leaking thousands of documents.
Although she was pardoned in 2017 by then-President Barack Obama, she remained in prison and even attempted to take her own life. In March 2020, a judge ordered his release.
He currently lives in New York. He is an icon of the transgender community.
Zhang Zhan arrested for reporting on the pandemic
This Chinese reporter was sentenced to four years in prison for broadcasting live on social networks how confinement was experienced by the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China, in those first months of confusion in 2020.
The 38-year-old ex-lawyer was sentenced for “causing disturbances of public order”, a crime that the Chinese courts usually resort to against political opponents. The woman went on a hunger strike in prison and has been force-fed with nasal tubes for months.
Your family has warned that Zhang Zhan is seriously thin and “winter may not survive”.
Amnesty International has called for Zhang’s immediate release so that “end your hunger strike and get the treatment you desperately need”.
POINT OF VIEW
“The price they have paid has been tremendous”
Hector Juanatey
Spanish journalist and writer
It is thanks to whistleblowers that people around the world can come to know about matters of public interest that would otherwise remain in the shadows.
In my opinion, informants are people who just bring light amid so much darkness. Moreover, much of the investigative journalism of these times would not be possible if behind its publications there were no informants who took risks.
Assessing the responsibilities of whistleblowers depends on what we understand by liability. Is it responsible to make public information that should be? I think so. Should these people always be the ones taking the risk? I wish it were not so. Criminal responsibilities? Unfortunately, today many. Let’s look at what has happened and still happens to Julian Assange or Edward Snowden, two cases that I have studied in greater depth. The price they have paid has been tremendous.
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