Whistleblower Who Posted Sensitive Materials to 4Chan Not Taken Seriously

A former employee of Australia’s Department of Defense, who held fellow countryman Julian Assange up as an idol, posted sensitive materials he stole from the workplace to 4chan, where no one took him seriously (and called him “newf*g”, presumably). 21-year-old Michael Scerba uploaded documents related to the Five Eyes spying program – which is an initiative that combines the surveillance powers of the NSA (US), GCHQ (UK), CSEC (Canada), ASD (Australia), and GCSB (New Zealand) and has existed since the end of the Second World War – to 4chan in October 2012. The post had only 14 replies, described by Scerba as “a bunch of ‘fake and gay’ remarks”. Classy guy, sounds like he would have fit in well there.

At the time, Scerba said of his leak, “I release(sic) what I feel should be in the media: bombings, civilian deaths, actions of the ‘terrorists’ that just aren’t reported in the media.” As his 4chan post didn’t hit in quite the way Scerba has hoped, it was unlucky for him that one of the few people to see it was an employee of Australia’s intelligence service, who then alerted authorities.

Scerba’s materials were genuine, though, and the now 25-year-old is facing a Supreme Court trial in Australia for accessing and leaking confidential information. Since the trial will feature confidential information as evidence, making at least some of the process private, with documents related to the case to be destroyed 28 days after the end of the hearing, which has stirred civil rights activists into quite the frenzy.

Thank you Engadget for providing us with this information.