Editor’s note: Gary Jackson and Bill Nettles are part of the Carolina Whistleblower Attorneys. They have participated in numerous whistleblower (qui tam) cases in federal and state courts.
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Tech companies may seem invincible, but they, like other industries, face a potentially powerful nemesis in the old-fashioned whistleblower.
Indeed, a thoughtful, well-prepared whistleblower – as former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko seems to be – can do more to focus the public’s attention on problems and wrongdoing than legions of well-intentioned press pundits and politicians.
The key is preparedness. David may have brought down Goliath with a simple slingshot, but taking on Big Tech, Pharma, Oil, Government etc. requires more.
Zatko and his devastating revelations about Twitter are a case in point. According to the former company insider, Twitter mishandled the personal information of its 400 million users, and not only resisted fixing its problems, but actually employed at least one hostile foreign agent.
You probably know all this because you’ve seen the explosive headlines. Head-spinning press coverage is a big part of a whistleblower’s power. They make real and provable what the rest of us might have only suspected. And this brings the mighty to account.
But spectacle is a double-edged blade. A whistleblower who enters the arena under-prepared is likely to be sliced, diced and discredited. And when well-meaning but unprepared whistleblowers meet a bad end, society...
A recent investigation by the BBC has brought an uncomfortable issue into the open. Its undercover report, released on 16 April, alleges that some unregulated immigration advisers are encouraging ...