# Whistleblowing *Disclosure of wrongdoing within an organization* Whistleblowing is the disclosure, usually by an employee, of information about conduct inside a private or public organization that is regarded as wrongful, whether illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical, or involving fraud.[^1] A [[Whistleblower]] may raise concerns inside the organization, publicly, or both. More than 83% of whistleblowers report internally, to a supervisor, human resources, compliance staff, or a neutral third party within the company, in the hope that the company will correct the problem.[^2] Allegations may also be taken to outside parties, with the whistleblower often serving as a source for investigative journalism or other media, or going to law enforcement or other government agents.[^2] Some countries set out by law what counts as a protected disclosure and how such a disclosure may be made. Whistleblowing occurs in both the private and the public sector.[^3] Disclosure is often followed by retaliation, such as dismissal or criminal persecution for revealing classified government secrets. Other measures that may be treated as retaliatory include an unreasonable increase in workload, cut hours, obstruction of assigned tasks, mobbing, and bullying.[^4] Many countries have whistleblower protection laws that give some protection and regulate the activity, usually treating public- and private-sector disclosures differently. The Wikipedia article states that these laws do not always achieve their aims: a whistleblower needs compelling evidence for a government or regulator to investigate, and may have to persist for years against prolonged institutional efforts to silence, discredit, and isolate them. Whistleblowers have been likened to "prophets at work", yet many lose their jobs, come under financial and mental pressure, and some lose their lives.[^5] ## Overview ### Origin of term The American civic activist Ralph Nader is said to have coined the phrase in the early 1970s as an alternative to words such as "informer" and "snitch", which carried negative connotations.[^6] The term is older, however, and goes back to the 19th century. It refers to the use of a whistle to warn the public or a crowd of a crime or of a rule broken during a game. In the 19th century it was applied to police officers, who used whistles to alert the public or other officers, and to sports referees, who whistled to signal fouls.[^7] In 1883 the *Janesville Gazette* in Wisconsin described a policeman who used his whistle to warn residents of a riot as a whistle blower, written without a hyphen. The hyphenated *whistle-blower* had appeared by 1963. In the 1960s journalists began using the word for people, Nader among them, who exposed wrongdoing, and it later became the single word *whistleblower*.[^7] ### Channels for whistleblowing #### Internal channels Most whistleblowers report internally, raising misconduct by a colleague or superior through anonymous reporting systems, which are often called hotlines. Depending on the situation, a person may either intervene directly to stop the conduct or report it.[^8] According to the Wikipedia article, there are some reasons to believe that people are more likely to act on unacceptable behavior within an organization when its complaint systems offer a choice of fully confidential options, rather than only those set by the organization's planning and control functions.[^8] ## Legal protection for whistleblowers Whistleblower protection differs between countries. It may depend on where the underlying conduct took place, where and how the information was disclosed, and how it was later published.[^9] More than a dozen countries have comprehensive whistleblower protection laws that establish reporting mechanisms and legal safeguards. More than 50 others provide narrower protections within anti-corruption, freedom-of-information, or employment legislation. International human rights law also offers some protection, because whistleblowers play a role in exposing human rights violations.[^9] ### International law #### Treaties No single international treaty is dedicated to whistleblower protection, but several treaties protect whistleblowers indirectly.[^10] Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees the right to "seek, receive and impart information". That right covers journalists gathering information, including from whistleblowers, and the public receiving it through the media.[^10] In *Kouider Kerrouche v. Algeria*, the UN Human Rights Committee found that prosecuting a person for exposing corruption violated Articles 17 (privacy) and 19 of the ICCPR. The finding affirmed that whistleblowing may be protected under the Covenant.[^11] Treaties on labour law and on anti-corruption also contain protections for whistleblowers.[^10] ## Methods used Whistleblowers who may face danger from those they expose use encryption and anonymous file-sharing tools to conceal their identity. The anonymity network Tor is widely used for this purpose and has received several major security updates intended to protect people leaking information anonymously.[^12] Dedicated whistleblowing software has been built on Tor to make secure disclosure easier. Because of the risks involved, most of these tools are open source, which allows them to be publicly audited. Examples include GlobaLeaks and SecureDrop.[^12] ### Whistleblowing hotline Companies generally set up whistleblowing hotlines to manage risk. The hotlines give employees and third-party suppliers who fear reprisal a secure, anonymous way to report. Setting up such a hotline is often regarded as a compliance measure and can signal an organization's position on ethics.[^13] The Wikipedia article states that it is widely agreed that a dedicated reporting service benefits organizational culture. These services are also called ethics or "Speak Up" hotlines, and outside providers often run them to encourage people to come forward.[^13] In 2018 the *Harvard Business Review* published findings supporting the view that such hotlines are crucial to company health, stating: "More whistles blown are a sign of health, not illness."[^14] ## In popular culture In season 6 of the American television series *The Office*, one subplot follows the salesman Andy Bernard. He learns that his company's printers can catch fire, struggles over what to do, and then sees how the company responds once the whistleblower goes public.[^15] In the 1998 film *Star Trek: Insurrection*, Picard and the crew of the NCC-1701-E *Enterprise* put their Starfleet careers at risk to expose a plan by the Federation and the Son'a to forcibly remove the Ba'ku from their planet.[^15] The rock/industrial band Laibach released "The Whistleblowers" on *Spectre*, its eighth studio album, issued by Mute Records on 3 March 2014. In 2016 the rock band Thrice released "Whistleblower" on *To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere*. The song is written from the perspective of Edward Snowden.[^16] In July 2018 CBS launched the reality series *Whistleblower*, hosted by Alex Ferrer, a lawyer, former judge, and former police officer. The show covers *qui tam* suits brought under the False Claims Act against companies alleged to have defrauded the federal government.[^16] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead section: definition of whistleblowing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead section: internal and public channels, share reporting internally (over 83%), external recipients. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead section: legislated protected disclosures; private and public sectors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead section: forms of retaliation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead section: protection laws and their limits; "prophets at work". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Origin of term* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — attribution of the phrase to Ralph Nader, early 1970s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Origin of term* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — 19th-century police and referee usage; 1883 *Janesville Gazette* story; hyphenated form by 1963; 1960s journalistic usage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Internal channels* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — internal reporting, hotlines, and confidentiality options. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Legal protection for whistleblowers* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — national variation; over a dozen comprehensive and over 50 limited regimes; human rights law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Treaties* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — absence of a single treaty; ICCPR Article 19; labour-law and anti-corruption treaties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^11]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Treaties* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — UN Human Rights Committee, *Kouider Kerrouche v. Algeria*, ICCPR Articles 17 and 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^12]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Methods used* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — encryption, Tor, open-source whistleblowing software, GlobaLeaks, SecureDrop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^13]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Whistleblowing hotline* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — purpose of corporate hotlines, outsourced providers, effect on organizational culture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^14]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *Whistleblowing hotline* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — 2018 *Harvard Business Review* findings and quotation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^15]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *In popular culture* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — *The Office* season 6; *Star Trek: Insurrection* (1998). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing [^16]: Wikipedia contributors, *Whistleblowing*, section *In popular culture* (revision 1380609668, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Laibach (2014), Thrice (2016), CBS *Whistleblower* (July 2018). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblowing