I recently wrote that I didn't feel much sympathy for a computer tester who lost her job because she pretended to be blowing a whistle at the CIA when she really didn't have any evidence of what she was claiming. One guy I do have sympathy for is Chip Salzenberg. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good source for the details that doesn't make Chip look like the most harrassed programmer in history. So, with forewarning, you can get more details at Geeks Unite.

Chip used to work at a company that did things he believed were illegal, and if not illegal they were definitely something the company would rather keep hidden (because the company had a policy to deny the facts, and the facts weren't well-known inside the company). Chip investigated and made sure it wasn't just a rumor. He then wrote a letter to the CEO saying that if things weren't changed, he would quit.

A few hours later police arrested Chip for stealing trade secrets. And, while I feel sympathy for him (largely because he actually investigated things), Chip did download the evidence to his home computer under his real login name (another Perl programmer was known to act a little differently on his job). Since he wasn't working for the government Chip didn't have any whistleblower protection. Eventually the case against Chip was dropped, but it could be restarted at any time.

Oh, and the letter? The company said they understood it was a letter of resignation.