certainly it was a year of very high profile leaks namely the court martial of chelsea manning formerly known as bradley manning spent a lot of time there covering the trial in fort meade maryland of course he is accused of the largest leak of classified information in military history charged with a very serious charge of aiding the enemy in addition to a slew of other charges and the judge found him not guilty of that most serious charge of aiding the enemy but guilty on most of the other charges he was sentenced to thirty five years behind bars of course manning a divisive figure some people handling him as a hero for shining a light on government wrongdoing others calling him a traitor for exposing government secrets throughout this trial his attorney david coombs tried to keep it under the radar but did make a very public statement after that sentence was delivered in august here's what he had to say while we were successful in avoiding the aiding the enemy offense. the fact that the government pursued this offense. the fact that the government. let the suspense go forward even aft

argued throughout this case is that it has had this chilling effect on the media they'd also chelsea manning is the only whistleblowers having to jail john kiriakou was sentenced to jail years the cia whistleblower we've been talking a lot of the notable whistleblowers of this year in studio. the story how did his story affect jobs where it was actually around this time last year that he was sitting in this studio i interviewed him right before he was about to go to jail as you had mentioned he's a former cia officer and he is also charged with leaking information to the media interesting thing about kerry aku before that happened he was also the first cia officer to publicly expose that torture does go on on u.s. bases at guantanamo bay and he brought specific attention to waterboarding saying that this practice happens at guantanamo bay and he was he called it torture he used those words now here is part of my conversation with him right before he went to prison. the bush administration more specifically president bush at the time was lying to the american people by saying that we were not

what can be released i mean chelsea manning did a huge data dump the most famous part was that video clip and one could argue maybe the video clip of the u.s. chopper pilots killing. the reuters journalists and the other locals would have been enough you know but it was a huge data dump snowden has released large amounts to wiki leaks through these recent release in large amounts you talked about sort of the the atomic bomb the world war two. threshold as it were but the germans were working on a bomb the idea that if you had two pieces of highly enriched uranium and you threw them together with some conventional explosives was not a secret at that point i know it was it was enriching uranium enough to be able to do it they were they were just behind us i mean at what point do we say here's the trip wire where this is something that really shouldn't be revealed and has anything like that come out in our lifetimes. well let me answer the second question first same thing come out like that in our lifetime. well and i do think. is an example you know a way maybe for example the see coul

chelsea manning that case may be a little more difficult to make than maybe snowden's you know. stones becoming euro can you believe it yeah well i do and and i think maybe one of the reasons is for example recently seymour hersh presented a story of the washington post showing proving demonstrating that the obama administration was cherry picking intelligence with regard to chemical weapons in syria and the post decided not to publish it they said no thanks and so seymour hersh's went out to the world and said look at this that i want to publish i mean is the is the a traditional media still serving that role of holding the government you know the fourth the state holding the government in china. well they are being challenged severely by the glenn greenwald's of the world glenn greenwald has got twenty or thirty millions or a million dollars to start his own. online newspaper if you will or whatever you want to call it and. the online types are going to win this battle that's a it's an intramural one will who's better the sabs and papers or the new guys because establishment p

rather you're also part of the i am chelsea manning video a few months back why is this case so important to you. well it's important to me and and i certainly i mean it's a tricky thing to talk about because there is i mean what do i know i'm a musician i live in l.a. so if i worked for the n.s.a. or had worked for the n.s.a. i might have a different perspective but it seems like sometimes governments including our own are interested in restricting information because it is actually sensitive and to disseminate it would be compromising but other times people almost restrict governments restrict information either because it's embarrassing or it's just a kneejerk reaction you know this feeling like like it's their job to restrict access to information and that's why i thought the bradley chelsea manning case was so important because he was sort of drawing attention to the arbitrary seemingly arbitrary way in which the government is trying to restrict access to just simply classified information right it's also a crime to overclassify we see things just being classified for th

what's the weight of public follow you for guys like chelsea manning people like edward snowden they seem to have public support the majority of public support does that mean their life. i'm not going to say chelsea money could chelsea but he's in jail for thirty five years but for people like them and potential future will suppose as their lot got any easier the job because of the potential backing they're getting from the public all different different well different countries reacted differently to the news and all the revelations here in britain there was a faster go situation we must remember that the impact well it's not over yet if glenn greenwald the person who has the secret is saying that only one percent has been released so far we can expect much more information of course they are doing the redacting of data and information so as not to harm agents in the field from the cia and the national security agency and other u.s. authorities so we haven't seen anything yet and of course i'm sure it'll encourage a whistleblowers right around the world to continue doing this because

whistleblowers edward snowden and chelsea manning.nd another source, germany hammond, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison this november. these men, snowden, maiming, and hammond are prime examples of a politicized youth who have grown up with the free internet and want to keep it that way. it is this class of people that we are here to discuss this evening, the powers day and we all have and can have. >> wikileaks founder julian assange also address the chaos communications congress via video. speaking from the ecuadorian embassy in london, he urged information-technology specialists to join forces to resist government encroachments on internet freedom. workers, ith-tech is time we recognize because we are a class and look back in history and understood there would be great gains in human rights and education and so on that were gained through powerful industrial work that has forced ash formed the back tone of the economy of the 20th century. of the greater connection that exists now, economically and politically, which is all un

the undercovered is the trial of chelsea manning.ever you feel about what chelsea manning did and what punishment she should or should not get, it is undeniably one of the biggest trials of the year, if not the decade. and i think mainstream media really failed to cover it. it was mostly independent journalists there. they had a really hard time getting into the courts. >> "the new york times" basically was shamed into sending a reporter there. one thing i will say, it's a remarkable thing. i really understand now how people who don't want things to be covered keep them from being covered because i work in television now. and the first question at the editorial meeting is is there tape or sound? and there's never any tape or sound. there is no tape or sound out of began tan moe or basically anything that happens on wall street, derivatives, s.e.c. that doesn't justify people -- >> printouts -- >> but it's so fascinating to watch the way in people who don't want things covered keep things away from microphones, away from cameras. it m

like bradley and now chelsea manning who was sentenced to thirty five years in jail this august so we could leaks manning released many thousands of diplomatic cables and b.t.o. proof of u.s. involvement and i don't find. another man who found himself in jail this year was john key the first u.s. official to confirm the government's use of waterboarding to interrogate care suspects i caught up with him shortly before he went to have served his two and a half years sentence which i have never believed that my case was about a leak i have always believed that my case is about torture in the hunt for whistleblowers journalists have been targeted as well u.s. authorities secretly tapped the phones of dozens of associated press journalists the partner of glenn greenwald who broke the story about in the states the valence was detained in london while carrying materials from edward snowden to british authorities so closely cooperate with washington now accuse him of quote terry's. aaron swartz was neither a whistleblower nor a journalist when it was a champion of the free internet fighting a

like bradley and now chelsea manning who was sentenced to thirty five years in jail this august so we could leaks manning released many thousands of diplomatic cables and video proof of u.s. involvement in war crimes another man who found himself in jail this year was john key the first u.s. official to confirm the government's use of waterboarding to interrogate suspects i caught up with him shortly before he went to serve his two and a half year sentence i have never believed that my case was about a leak i have always believed that my case is about torture in the hunt for whistleblowers journalists have been targeted as well u.s. authorities secretly tapped the phones of dozens of associated press journalists the partner of glenn greenwald who broke the story about n.s.a. surveillance was detained in london while carrying materials from edward snowden to british authorities so closely cooperate with washington now accuse him of quote terrorism. aaron swartz was neither a whistleblower in the war a journalist whether he was a champion of the free internet fighting against censorship

like bradley and now chelsea manning who was sentenced to thirty five years in jail. this office so we can be swinging through these many thousands of diplomatic. the deal proof of what got into context another man who found himself in jail this year was john to be awful. the first u s official confirmed the government's use of waterboarding to interrogate terror suspects. i caught up with him shortly before she went to serve his torn a half year sentence. i've never believed that my case was about a week. i've always believed that my case is about torture. in the hunt for whistleblowers journeys have been targeted as well us authorities secretly tapped the phones of dozens of associated press journalist. the partner of going greenwald who broke the story about the nsa surveillance was detained in london while carrying materials from edward still good. the british authorities to closely cooperate with washington now accuse him of course carries. aaron swartz was neither a whistleblower nor a journalist who was a champion of the free internet fighting against censorshi

in contrast to what bradley no child chelsea manning has done for the information revolution and wiki leaks which are very important up until now and still are but what he has done is he is changing the minds of americans about the importance of their privacy he has taken the issue of privacy government surveillance and transparency and brought it to the kitchen table now americans are seeing what it's like and feeling what it's like to be spied upon by the government and i think the poll numbers differentiate i think we're seeing americans a lot more concerned about what the government is doing up until now you know they took what wiki leaks and bradley manning and brought to us. somewhat with a grain of salt they saw the iraq war logs and the afghan afghanistan war logs and they said you know the wars are over now we're finding there that the government's been spying on our phone records our e-mail our social media browsing and they're saying this is a little bit more personal personal and it's making me uncomfortable in washington also what's your favorite story of this year what m

it was across central asia per se but let's talk about the united states bradley manning now chelsea manning decided to blow the whistle on u.s. army violations he did so by going before going to wiki leaks and he was turned down by the media as well why do you think that happened julian. sadly it's no surprise to me and it's i can talk about the specific case of course but we've dealt with many others. you know old media organizations that are any size i get invited to sit at the table of power and the because they become health organizations in their own right and people want to curry favor with them. as an organization with individuals in the organization and so they basically become part of the very family not that they claim to be holding to account but another whistleblower edward snowden did use the media and not wiki leaks to channel his revelations don't you think that's a good sign that he was able to do it through the media well i think it's quite sad actually edward snowden didn't go to in fact the media he went to someone that's closely associated with us and specific journalist

in contrast to what bradley no child chelsea manning has done for the information revolution and wiki leaks which are very important up until now and still are but what he has done is he is changing the minds of americans about the importance of their privacy he has taken the issue of privacy government surveillance and transparency and brought it to the kitchen table now americans are seeing what it's like and feeling what it's like to be spied upon by the government and i think the poll numbers differentiate i think we're seeing americans a lot more concerned about what the government is doing up until now you know they took what wiki leaks and bradley manning and brought to us. somewhat with a grain of salt they saw the iraq war logs and the afghan afghanistan war logs and they said you know the wars are over now we're finding there that the government's been spying on our phone records our e-mail our social media browsing and they're saying this is a little bit more personal personal and it's making me uncomfortable in washington and also what's your favorite story of this year wh

in contrast to what bradley no child chelsea manning has done for the information revolution and wiki leaks which are very important up until now and still are but what he has done is he is changing the minds of americans about the importance of their privacy he has taken the issue of privacy government surveillance and transparency and brought it to the kitchen table now americans are seeing what it's like and feeling what it's like to be spied upon by the government and i think the poll numbers differentiate i think we're seeing americans a lot more concerned about what the government is doing up until now you know they took what wiki leaks and bradley manning and brought to us. somewhat with a grain of salt they saw the iraq war logs and the afghan afghanistan war logs and they said you know the wars are over now we're finding there's that the government's been spying on our phone records our e-mail our social media browsing and they're saying this is a little bit more personal personal and it's making me uncomfortable in washington and also what's your favorite story of this year

surveillance by google and others coming through both snowden and of course the other revelations by chelsea manning and of course one interesting question was is the guardian in a better position in security services to determine what the public should know in terms of national security is it. well the security services should be held to account by pages and newspapers should be held to account by their readers and the public and their sense of responsibility i think the guardian has taken a responsible view on this responsible view to report on the dangers of a surveillance society to all of us and i think that m.p.'s should never forget it's their role our role my role is elected by the people to hold government and all its agencies to account and not be afraid to ask questions we're not here to have a love in with agencies with government or the government itself jeremy called and live in london member of parliament the british labor party thank you very much and if your thoughts on this. lead dancer at the bolshoi and two of the defendants have been found guilty of a brutal acid attack on a rus

have a serious look at changing the laws i think certainly we can give amnesty to people like chelsea manning or edward snowden but that doesn't protect the next whistleblower you have to change those laws in or order to protect free speech to protect people who are pointing out abuses within government and who should be protected and allowed to share that information in order for us to correct these wrongs mary very good point there i mean could that could be a case here with manning and with snowden be good good presidents to make better laws and laws that fit the in the digital age that we live in today. that is a really important point in a really interesting point certainly. mr manning why mr snowden have both done is provoked a national debate and given impetus for some for some quarters to argue that you know our current regime needs to be updated now whether or not that's going to move the american people i think this is something we're seeing right now certainly if mr snowden comes he makes the kind of political necessity argument that i'm hearing from our panelists today that will f