FDA Whistleblowers sue, allege they were spied on

[Winehole23]

The Food and Drug Administration electronically spied on whistleblowers who alerted the Obama administration and Congress of alleged misconduct in the agency, particularly relating to what they claim was the push to approve unsafe and ineffective medical devices, according to a complaint filed in federal court.



The complaint (http://www.whistleblowers.org/storage/whistleblowers/documents/FDAComplaint/fdacomplaint.redacted.pdf), filed on behalf of six former and current employees, alleges that the FDA and a number of others violated a host of the plaintiff's rights, including freedom of speech, association and due process; unreasonable search and seizure; and the right to petition Congress. Named as defendants are the FDA and several of its employees, the Surgeon General, the Health and Human Services Secretary, among others.


“The heart of it is an injunction prohibiting the government from targeting whistleblowers or anyone who engages in First Amendment protected speech for surveillance. You know, routine monitoring or monitoring done to everybody on an equal basis is fine, but you can’t select people because of their whistleblowing for this type of instrusive, over-the-top surveillance, which is done without a warrant, without any limitations whatsoever," said Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center (http://www.whistleblowers.org/) and lead attorney on the case.http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10270292-fda-whistleblowers-sue-alleging-electronic-spying

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Theres a bill going through Congress right now with the intention of strengthening the protection of people reporting misconduct. Apparently as it stands right now you are not protected if you report something going on that is part of your job duties. So if you are a comptroller in the defense department you cannot get protection about embezzlement in the defense department. However you can get protection if its in the department of agriculture.

Whole system sounds stupid.

[boutons_deux]

"routine monitoring or monitoring done to everybody on an equal basis is fine"

WTF? from a whistle blowers' defense lawyer?

[Winehole23]

A lawsuit filed January 25, 2012 (http://www.whistleblowers.org/storage/whistleblowers/documents/FDAComplaint/fdacomplaint.redacted.pdf) in US District Court in Washington, DC on behalf of six of the scientists (two of whom remain anonymous) says agency officials responded to their whistleblowing by installing spyware on their computers to capture screen shots of private e-mail. The defendants in the suit allegedly stored the e-mails in a file called "FDA 9" with sub-directories related to each of the scientists. The FDA later used the e-mails to file complaints against the scientists with the Office of Inspector General (OIG), claiming that the scientists violated the law by providing information to the media and Congress. The scientists say their actions were protected by whistleblower laws, and the OIG repeatedly declined to take action against them.



None of the plaintiffs still work for the FDA. Two of them, Paul Hardy and Julian Nicholas, are asking for a court order to get their jobs back, with Hardy saying he was fired without cause and Nicholas saying his contract was not renewed by the FDA in retaliation for his whistleblowing. More broadly, the defendants are alleging First and Fourth Amendment violations and asking for a "Declaratory Judgment finding that the United States cannot convert the private e-mail and electronic communications of federal employees without due process of law and just compensation and cannot target whistleblowers for searches and seizures without a search warrant or validly issued subpoena that is narrowly tailored and limits the scope of any such search within valid constitutional parameters."



The defendants in the case include the FDA itself, the Public Health Service, the Department of Health and Human Services, the US government as a whole, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg, a variety of lower-ranking officials, and 99 unnamed IT employees, who presumably helped facilitate the e-mail gathering.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/fda-whistleblowers-say-government-intercepted-gmail-yahoo-messages.ars

[Winehole23]

"routine monitoring or monitoring done to everybody on an equal basis is fine"

WTF? from a whistle blowers' defense lawyer?
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