Tell Lawmakers to Reform the Espionage Act

The Espionage Act is an overbroad and poorly written law originally intended to combat spying and subversive activities that has more commonly been used to prosecute whistleblowers and other news sources. When enforced in this way, the law, threatens the country’s free speech and press freedom protections.

The law has yet to be used to prosecute a journalist or news outlet for disclosing sensitive governmental information provided to it by a governmental source. But the language of the Espionage Act—which makes it a crime to disseminate and publish classified and national security-related information—leaves too much room for the government to harshly penalize whistleblowers and crack down on news outlets that legally obtain leaked information and then publish that information to benefit the public good.

One hundred years is too long to leave these threats to free speech and press freedom looming. Sign our petition and tell U.S. policymakers that it’s time for a change.