Rep. Darrell Issa -- Who Says Investigating Wikileaks Is A Priority -- Sets Up His Own Whistleblower Site

from the say-what-now? dept

There seems to be a bit of confusion among the new leadership in the House concerning just what Wikileaks does. Just over a week ago or so, we noted that Rep. Darrell Issa, who is heading the "oversight committee" had declared that investigating Wikileaks was a major priority for Congress, because if the US government didn't attack back at Wikileaks, the world would "laugh" at how the US had become a "paper tiger."

And yet... days later, Issa has announced his very own "whistleblower" site, in which he's asking government officials and the public to blow the whistle on government fraud and abuse.

This is, apparently, not a joke.

So he's attacking Wikileaks -- which does the same thing, asking people to highlight fraud and abuse worldwide -- and then sets up his own website to do the same thing. Maybe he just didn't want the competition? Of course, some will point out that there are serious differences. Wikileaks releases certain things it receives publicly. It's not at all clear what Issa will do with whatever he receives. Of course, that seems to make Wikileaks seem like a lot more effective solution if you're really trying to expose government fraud and abuse.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: darrell issa, whistleblowing, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • icon
    Marcus Carab (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 11:08am

    "would would" != "world would" :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    :Lobo Santo (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:11pm

    --CONTROL--

    If you control the outlet, you decide what qualifies to be shown to everybody (or what qualifies to be shown to the NSA/CIA/FBI/TSA... and so on).

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:20pm

    Honeypot

    It's not at all clear what Issa will do with whatever he receives.

    Probably turn the *wistleblower* over to Homeland Security for investigation. Classic honeypot.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2011 @ 5:00am

      Re: Honeypot

      Issa is in embarrass the Obama administration mode. He would be more likely to try and use them for that.

      Someone should put up an Issa leaks page by and populate it with the most embarrassing leaks of the Bush administration by the best of wikileaks.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:22pm

    Welcome to another episode of "ends justify the means", TD style.

    There is one teenie tiny weenie little problem with Wikileaks: The documents had to be obtained and distributed illegally (and exposing state secrets) in order to make it work out. It isn't whistleblowing, it's a political agenda to attack the US and it's allies.

    So the means (having manning copy 250,000 documents) doesn't justify the end result (people confusing political agenda with whistleblowning).

    Rep. Issa want a site to report things like government waste and lazy federal employees, not to out operatives in foreign countries.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:28pm

      Re:

      Welcome to another episode of "ends justify the means", TD style.

      Another gov't shill, err, "information officer", raises it's ugly head.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        DS, 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:43pm

        Re: Re:

        Ha ha.. that's funny, because I myself had been accused of working for the gov't, when that's quite far from the truth.

        So, maybe this person has an honest opinion.. BUT OH NOES, IT"S NOT MINE! SO THEY MUST BE A SHILL!!!

        Let me guess, you use the word "sheeple" as well, and blame Palin for the recent shooting?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:30pm

          Re: Re: Re:


          Ha ha.. that's funny, because I myself had been accused of working for the gov't, when that's quite far from the truth.

          Of course you aren't. Such things don't even exist. That would be like accusing you of being a unicorn. Ridiculous.

          So, maybe this person has an honest opinion.. BUT OH NOES, IT"S NOT MINE! SO THEY MUST BE A SHILL!!!

          Just because it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck some people jump to the conclusion that it's a duck. Again, ridiculous.

          Let me guess, you use the word "sheeple" as well, and blame Palin for the recent shooting?

          I bet he opposes torture too. Typical lefty wuss.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 6:27pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          So, maybe this person has an honest opinion.. BUT OH NOES, IT"S NOT MINE! SO THEY MUST BE A SHILL!!!


          This is wrong it should be:

          So, maybe this person has an honest dumb opinion.. BUT OH NOES, IT"S NOT MINE! SO THEY MUST BE A SHILL!!!


          Let me guess you are the sheep that believe that Democrats and Republicans are different and they do things differently right?

          You also may believe that people do nothing wrong if they can get away with it, that is why you are so against transparency. No matter the cost of whistle-blowing, it is the only thing that keep those crooks in power in check and the price to pay for it is tiny compared to the consequences of letting them do whatever they want to.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Alatar, 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:37pm

      Re:

      "There is one teenie tiny weenie little problem with Wikileaks: The documents had to be obtained and distributed illegally (and exposing state secrets) in order to make it work out. It isn't whistleblowing, it's a political agenda to attack the US and it's allies. "

      At least when you blindly defend each and every action of a country, learn its language : in english, we say "ITS actions". Anyway, you would probably be the kind of guy who would support the system, if you remain coherent with your classical argument "if you have nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" that you would use to support Governments monitoring their citizens and censoring, TSA procedures and all that stuff.

      "Rep. Issa want a site to report things like government waste and lazy federal employees, not to out operatives in foreign countries."
      And, guess what, between those two things, there's something else : wrongdoings committed by those high in the hierarchy. That's what Wikileaks is providing and should exist in a clean Democracy

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        vivaelamor (profile), 15 Jan 2011 @ 2:09pm

        Re: Re:

        'in english, we say "ITS actions"'.

        Did you have to borrow the capital E in English for ITS?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Dark Helmet (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:40pm

      Re:

      "Rep. Issa want a site to report things like government waste and lazy federal employees, not to out operatives in foreign countries."

      Ah, so only the barely worth knowing about stuff. Got it....

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        ltlw0lf (profile), 15 Jan 2011 @ 3:50pm

        Re: Re:

        "Rep. Issa want a site to report things like government waste and lazy federal employees, not to out operatives in foreign countries."

        Ah, so only the barely worth knowing about stuff. Got it....


        The sad thing, if this is the case, is that Issa is committing Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, because this capability already exists and is run by the Government Accounting Office (FraudNET.) If he is using government funds to duplicate the efforts of an already existing service provided by a government agency, I might be the first person to report him to the GAO Fraud, Waste and Abuse group.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Zacqary Adam Green (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:42pm

      Re:

      As opposed to Issa's site, where all the evidence would be obtained with the complete consent of the people that it implicates?

      That's not how whistleblowing works.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:49pm

      Re:

      Uhh, the entire premise behind whistleblowing is that the ends (revealing bad activity) justify the means (releasing classified/secret/etc. information).

      So thank you for saying "it isn't whistleblowing, it's whistleblowing!"

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:10pm

        Re: Re:

        I think you missed the point.

        Real Whistleblowing is about changing things. It isn't about forwarding a political agenda. The connections between wikileaks, government(s), and political parties suggest that the action of wikileaks isn't to make the world a better place, but rather to make the world the place they want it to be.

        Banks decide to stop forwarding payments to wikileaks, and surprise, Wikileaks says they have incriminating documents on them. News Corp points out that wikileaks has issues, ad suddenly they have documents on old Rupe. All the while, Assange is out in public saying that the effects of losing paypal and bank transfers is costing Wikileaks half a million euros a week. Do the math, why the hecks does a virtual "whistleblowing" site need 26 million euros a year to run?

        Wikileaks isn't a whistleblowing site (at least not anymore). Now it is a political agenda site, not far separated from groups like The Pirate Party and some fairly extreme liberal factions in Europe. They are being selective in which whistles they blow, which suggests ulterior motives.

        Rather than just swallowing the TD pap whole, why not investigate a little yourself and learn something?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:14pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          And there you go again, completely sidestepping everything about the actual leaks to go on a rant about Assange and pirates (because you can't help yourself).

          Of course, this is unsurprising given your inability to actually argue against the leaks themselves.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:17pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Aren't the newspapers the ones actually releasing the information?

          Do they have "ulterior motives"?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Gabriel Tane (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:27pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          "Real Whistleblowing is about changing things. It isn't about forwarding a political agenda. The connections between wikileaks, government(s), and political parties suggest that the action of wikileaks isn't to make the world a better place, but rather to make the world the place they want it to be."Such as the documentation about a US company pimping out young boys to local officials? Yup... Dyncorp must have pissed them off something fierce to have such trivial info aired.


          "Rather than just swallowing the TD pap whole, why not investigate a little yourself and learn something?"
          Rather than just attacking TD and its readers, why not actually address the challenges to your statements?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:46pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            The old "pimping young boys" is a very wonderful piece of debating. Did you learn that from listening to Rush Limbaugh?

            Sorry, I can't answer to attempts to cloud the debate such as yours. Your mind was long since made up, no matter what is said here.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:52pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              The old "pimping young boys" is a very wonderful piece of debating. Did you learn that from listening to Rush Limbaugh?

              More likely from WikiLeaks. You just hate that, don't you?

              Sorry, I can't answer to attempts to cloud the debate such as yours. Your mind was long since made up, no matter what is said here.

              Yeah, if people are going to start bringing up the truth, you may as well just give up, eh?

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:53pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              Oh, your oblivious irony is amazing.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:55pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              And about Tunisia?

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              Gabriel Tane (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 2:08pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              How am I clouding the debate? You said Wikileaks wasn't real whistle blowing... I pointed out one of the examples where it was (albeit in a sarcastic manner)... And now you attack me in response? Nice.

              And, by the way, I hate Limbaugh. But thanks for telling me how my mind works... appreciate it.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              Dark Helmet (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 2:10pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              "The old "pimping young boys" is a very wonderful piece of debating. Did you learn that from listening to Rush Limbaugh?"

              WTF? Are retarded? That HAPPENED. It wouldn't have gotten the publicity it deserved, that those poor Afghan CHILDREN deserved, if it weren't in part for Wikileaks. Are you suggesting that that tidbit should have remained hidden?

              "Sorry, I can't answer to attempts to cloud the debate such as yours. Your mind was long since made up, no matter what is said here."

              Right. Dismiss a real world example of the effect of Wikileaks as "clouding the debate", meanwhile you got your own timeline fucked up (here's a hint: Wikileaks had already said that a major US bank was their next leak subject BEFORE they stopped taking payment).

              You can hate Wikileaks. You can think they do things the wrong way. But do so with a valid argument, rather than dismissals and lies....

              link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Gabriel Tane (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:29pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Fixed my formatting. Oops.

          "Real Whistleblowing is about changing things. It isn't about forwarding a political agenda. The connections between wikileaks, government(s), and political parties suggest that the action of wikileaks isn't to make the world a better place, but rather to make the world the place they want it to be."
          Such as the documentation about a US company pimping out young boys to local officials? Yup... Dyncorp must have pissed them off something fierce to have such trivial info aired.




          "Rather than just swallowing the TD pap whole, why not investigate a little yourself and learn something?"

          Rather than just attacking TD and its readers, why not actually address the challenges to your statements?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:48pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/13/tunisia-youth-revolution

            And then, WikiLeaks reveals what everyone was whispering. And then, a young man immolates himself. And then, 20 Tunisians are killed in one day.

            And for the first time, we see the opportunity to rebel, to take revenge on the "royal" family who has taken everything, to overturn the established order that has accompanied our youth. An educated youth, which is tired and ready to sacrifice all the symbols of the former autocratic Tunisia with a new revolution: the Jasmin Revolution – the true one.

            • This article was originally published in French on nawaat.org

            link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Alatar, 14 Jan 2011 @ 3:30pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Debunking dishonest statements, part 2 :

          "
          Real Whistleblowing is about changing things. It isn't about forwarding a political agenda. The connections between wikileaks, government(s), and political parties suggest that the action of wikileaks isn't to make the world a better place, but rather to make the world the place they want it to be.
          + blah blah pirate party"
          Is there any link between the Pirate Party and Wikileaks? Is the PP ready to seize power?

          "Banks decide to stop forwarding payments to wikileaks, and surprise, Wikileaks says they have incriminating documents on them."
          RIAA-class fallacy, let me congratulate you. Wikileaks announced the next leaks would incriminate banks on the day they leaked the first cables. Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and Apple reacted days (weeks?) after. Don't rewrite history your way

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Mike Masnick (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 5:45pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          the action of wikileaks isn't to make the world a better place, but rather to make the world the place they want it to be.

          I find it amusing that you think this is somehow in conflict.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 6:33pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Sorry I love TD pap.

          Yours on the other hand I'm scared of LoL

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      SPQR, 15 Jan 2011 @ 10:52am

      Re:

      But we already know that government employees are riding the taxpayer gravy train. That's not a whistleblowing item, it's how we allow our government to operate. It seem to me that Issa is setting up a site to release "official" propoganda about the "wrongs of government" as a smoke screen against the truth of failure in our government. The US policy of "We've done nothing wrong unless we get exposed or caught" does not make those actions right.

      You know, this propoganda machine thing reminds me of another time in world histroy... some guy named Joseph Goebbels. I'm not making a direct connection here but damn if events aren't heading downa familiar path.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      fritzb, 15 Jan 2011 @ 12:17pm

      Re:

      Whoa, dude, you mean you *really* believe that???

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Steve R. (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:43pm

    Political Shownanship

    The fact that Wikileaks and Issa's whistle-blower websites may be doing the same thing is irrelevant to politicians. Wikileaks is "bad" because there is political advantage for Issa to wrap himself in the flag as a loud demonstration of "patriotism".

    Now if the very same Wikileak documents had been submitted to Issa's "good" whistle-blower website, Issa would be holding camera packed Congressional hearings on how our various intelligence agencies were incompetent in protecting American secrets.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 12:55pm

    So, this guy is one of the ones that are currently having a whistleblower tortured? And he thinks other whistleblowers are going to trust him and confide in him for some reason?

    Yeah, this plan is totally gonna get rid of that "the whole world is laughing at us" thing.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jonathan F, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:01pm

    Not the same

    Setting up a whistle blower site and publishing confidential communications is not quite the same thing is it.

    Wikileaks is more like your best friend that catches your wife cheating on you and then takes out a full page add in the NYT with photos of the illicit affair to let you and your family know about it.

    Wikileaks is all together different.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:06pm

      Re: Not the same

      "Wikileaks is different because it's different!"

      Convincing tautology.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      :Lobo Santo (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:10pm

      Re: Not the same

      You haven't actually examined any of the information Wikileaks has published, that much is obvious.

      Out of curiosity, why do you blindly regurgitate the rhetoric you've been spoon-fed rather than thinking for yourself?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:36pm

        Re: Re: Not the same

        "Out of curiosity, why do you blindly regurgitate the rhetoric you've been spoon-fed rather than thinking for yourself?"

        Because thinking is hard! Why do that when faux news will do it for you?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Jonathan F, 14 Jan 2011 @ 2:47pm

        Re: Re: Not the same

        Actually I have. Have you? Why don't you tell us all some thing Wikileaks published that had not been reported on by a media organization at least 9 months before hand?

        Come on dare you.

        That's what I thought. You don't know because your not well informed. Now who's blindly regurgitate the rhetoric they've been spoon-fed rather than thinking for themselves?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Bob Vila, 14 Jan 2011 @ 2:56pm

          Re: Re: Re: Not the same

          I don't think you gave him enough time to respond. You obviously typed "Come on dare you(?)" and "That's what I thought." very quickly. Not fair at all.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 3:39pm

          Re: Re: Re: Not the same

          Actually I have. Have you? Why don't you tell us all some thing Wikileaks published that had not been reported on by a media organization at least 9 months before hand?

          Come on dare you.


          Yeah, that Collateral Murder video had been all over the broadcast news airwaves for at least 9 months.

          Oh, wait...

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:45pm

      Re: Not the same

      "Wikileaks is more like your best friend that catches your wife cheating on you and then takes out a full page add in the NYT with photos of the illicit affair to let you and your family know about it."

      In a democracy, the government is like the wife and the public is like the husband. When she's unfaithful, he needs to know about it.

      You, on the other hand, are like her illicit lover trying to keep your affair secret, especially from her husband.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Jonathan F, 14 Jan 2011 @ 2:59pm

        Re: Re: Not the same

        Boy did that analogy go right over your head.

        The problem with your theory is that there were no secrets reveled.

        What Wikileaks reveled was what most educated people already knew: The Bush administration lied (did it take Wikileaks for you to know that? If it did, you really should read a newspaper), that the war in Iraq was a complete and utter mess until the surge (Again, did it take Wikileaks for you to know that?), etc., etc.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 3:10pm

          Re: Re: Re: Not the same

          Good job cherrypicking a few examples to suit your incorrect assertion.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 3:44pm

          Re: Re: Re: Not the same

          Yeah, people in the US Government doesn't always tell the truth. Everybody already knew that. So shame on Wikileaks for providing details! They're obviously just trying to attack the government!

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 3:49pm

          Re: Re: Re: Not the same

          "Boy did that analogy go right over your head."

          Actually, I'd say you're the one having trouble in the analogy comprehension department. Of course, it's hard to understand what you don't want to.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          vivaelamor (profile), 15 Jan 2011 @ 2:38pm

          Re: Re: Re: Not the same

          "What Wikileaks reveled was what most educated people already knew: The Bush administration lied (did it take Wikileaks for you to know that? If it did, you really should read a newspaper), that the war in Iraq was a complete and utter mess until the surge (Again, did it take Wikileaks for you to know that?), etc., etc."

          Going by what you've said then it served its purpose: confirming beyond doubt that the government had lied about very important issues. Are you saying that we don't need to know for certain that they're lying because everyone is accusing them of lying? That's an interesting position to take.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        vivaelamor (profile), 15 Jan 2011 @ 2:35pm

        Re: Re: Not the same

        "In a democracy, the government is like the wife and the public is like the husband. When she's unfaithful, he needs to know about it."

        I have so many problems with that metaphor. Can we go back to cars?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 6:32pm

      Re: Not the same

      Obviously you don't know about women do you?

      Try this one LoL
      http://cheaterpumpkineater.com/

      You may be listed there dude.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:31pm

    Maybe he's planning to whistleblow without releasing classified documents for our enemies as well as friends to see... which is the primary problem with what those 'other guys' are doing right now.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:39pm

      Re:

      "Maybe he's planning to whistleblow without releasing classified documents for our enemies as well as friends to see..."

      Because, in a democracy, the people should have no idea what government officials are up to. Because, if they did, they might not vote "correctly", right?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      The eejit (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 2:16pm

      Re:

      Ah, but there's the rub.

      I suspect Issa will only release those 'secrets' for political gain. That's not whistleblowing, that's spinning.

      But nope, Wikileaks is clearly the bastard lovechild of Satan and Josef Fritzl.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:32pm

    IT'S A TRAP!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ofb2632 (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:33pm

    A great idea

    Wikileaks should post VERY sensitive information on Rep Issa's site then let everyone know what they did. Issa then can admit he is the same type of 'terrorist' that Wikileaks is, or he can deny!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Jose_X, 16 Jan 2011 @ 5:27am

      Re: A great idea

      Maybe we should encourage anyone who has been keeping up with the cable material to report those things to that site.

      It would be interesting to see how much of it they fail to recognize is old news.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    sam, 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:41pm

    of tcourse they hate wikileaks being there for whistleblowers. the current system that wikileaks is outside is designed to allow retaliation against the whistleblower and hide the fing corruption of the system

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Bob V (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 2:33pm

    Office of Inspector General

    Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

    I know for a fact that the military has a hotline for fraud waste and abuse. I seem to recall similar posters up at various government offices about who to call to report any incidences of fraud waste and abuse.

    Maybe someone should educate the Representative of his options.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    hmm, 14 Jan 2011 @ 3:55pm

    I think the only "whistle blowing" that will go on as a result of ISSA's site, is the officer blowing his whistle to start/stop the waterboarding of anyone who posts anything to the site that the US government doesn't want anyone to know................

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ronald J Riley (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 5:20pm

    So fill his site with info about corporate fraud.

    Issa made his money with a numbers of inventions. Our vice president got into a heated discussion with him a number of years ago. I was present and Issa made it clear that he no longer had an inventor-entrepreneur mentality. He has transformed himself into another politician cow towing to big corporate interests.

    Why do our politicians focus on all the wrong issues?

    One more point, every bit of information posted to Issa's site should be posted elsewhere. Perhaps Mike can create a companion site and then report on which items Issa has followed through on?

    Ronald J. Riley,

    President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org

    Other Affiliations:
    Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
    Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
    President - Alliance for American Innovation
    Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
    Washington, DC
    Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      techflaws.org (profile), 15 Jan 2011 @ 4:58am

      Re: So fill his site with info about corporate fraud.

      LOL, your attempt at highjacking threads are as convincing as your bullshit on patents. I'm also a little freaked you got your ugly mug back to your footer. Thank god for Adblock.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Jose_X, 16 Jan 2011 @ 5:23am

      Re: So fill his site with info about corporate fraud.

      >> Perhaps Mike can create a companion site and then report on which items Issa has followed through on?

      I wouldn't suggest that unless techdirt wanted to get into that business and risk its current approach and standing.

      Anyone can go carry out those experiments; however, if you find something "juicy" to submit and do so, you will likely be risking getting caught in the TRAP.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    PW (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 6:39pm

    Anonymity preserved...sort of

    OK, while I'm sure in a world of trust this sort of statement would make sense, seeing it Issa's site made me laugh perhaps a bit too much:

    "The page promises that all personal details will be "kept in strict confidence." It requires users to state their phone or e-mail address as well as their agency or organization, but not their name."

    I'm sure no one will notice his persecution of Wikileaks and all of its actors in deciding to *trust* Issa's site ;)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Leo McDevitt, 14 Jan 2011 @ 9:27pm

    Issa set up a Republican Only whistleblower site

    Darrell Issa's 'whistleblower site only reports whistleblower complaints to Republicans. The site is NOT a government site. The word "Republicans" is all over the site.

    Darrell Issa has no interest in cleaning up Washington.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Gabriel Tane (profile), 15 Jan 2011 @ 5:43am

    Wait wait wait....

    Something just hit me...

    "Darrell Issa". "Darrell". Darryl? Wow... That's a creepy coincidence. Both have a shaky grasp on reality.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2011 @ 1:52pm

    I'll call it now. This is an FBI honeypot site that the representative helped to set up. Government employee's who leak to it will have their employment terminated.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.