
“President Obama has been unprecedented in his use of the Espionage Act to prosecute those whose whistleblowing he wants to curtail. The purpose of an Espionage Act prosecution, however, is not to punish a person for spying for the enemy, selling secrets for personal gain, or trying to undermine our way of life. It is to ruin the whistleblower personally, professionally and financially. It is meant to send a message to anybody else considering speaking truth to power: challenge us and we will destroy you. Only ten people in American history have been charged with espionage for leaking classified information, seven of them under Barack Obama.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/06/obama-abuse-espionage-act-mccarthyism
Related posts:
Schneier: US gov. has betrayed the internet. We need to take it back
State Battles vs. Private Battles
The IRS is Coming After the Little Guys
Bifurcation Nation
Wendy McElroy: America’s Electronic Police State
Wendy McElroy: Death by Methodological Individualism
An Expatriate's View of Vietnam
A President Who Didn't Want the Job [2013]
Liberty Is Making the World Richer. You're Included.
Withdrawing Political Legitimacy
The Road to the Permanent Warfare State, Part 13
As Predicted, Stocks Make New Highs
An Orwellian America
Jacob Hornberger: The Pipe Dream of NSA Reformers
Red White: Why a Founding Father of Postwar Capitalism Spied for the Soviets