This is a story of corruption, whistleblowing, retaliation and broken lives. It is not an easy story to stomach. But it is an essential story. It highlights, all too graphically, what we in the whistleblower protection movement are fighting for – and why.

The Australian shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, today called again for a royal commission into the banks, part of which he hopes will look at improving whistleblower protection.

Blueprint for Free Speech joined 171 experts, companies, and organisations in more than 35 countries in asking world leaders to support strong encryption and to reject any law, policy, or mandate that would undermine digital security.

Too often, we have seen parliaments pass whistleblower laws in haste – whether in response to scandals or disasters that whistleblowers could have prevented, or to comply with the letter (but not the spirit) of anti-corruption treaties. The outcome is often disappointing, and whistleblowers suffer as a result of inadequate legal protections.

Blueprint for Free Speech is sponsoring this free event, for all those interested in expanding their encryption and personal online security skills.

Public support for Edward Snowden in Germany has been overwhelming from the moment he exposed the US-led mass surveillance program in June 2013.

Thanks to the dedication of activists and reform-minded policy-makers, civil society is making real advancements in whistleblower rights. Blueprint for Free Speech congratulates everyone on the winning side of these important legislative victories!

Rights and protections for whistleblowers have been improved all over the world thanks to international and regional collaboration – particularly among NGOs and activists. To strengthen these joint efforts, Blueprint for Free Speech is co-hosting two important whistleblower events in Sarajevo on 18-19 June.

In a story that illustrates the risks and unpredictability of being a whistleblower, a government employee in Serbia was imprisoned with the complicity of the very same official whose alleged corruption she reported two years earlier.

Data privacy activists are calling for a National Day of Action against Metadata, as the new proposed Data Retention Legislation makes its way through the senate.

Members of the United Kingdom Parliament have been added to the list of prescribed persons to whom whistleblowers may make a protected disclosures under the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 1999.

The CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association) is set to develop a best practices guideline for whistleblowing arrangements within an organization. This is aimed at the public and private sectors, as well as NGOs and voluntary organizations.