It's about time for legislation making it a crime to report whistleblowers to the police and a criminal offense to search or seize their equipment. Perhaps an independent review body could be set up to arbitrate these situations?
It should be the police's responsibility to make a decision about whether reports should be followed up or not. We should hold the police, prosecutors and the courts culpable for making reasonable judgements here, not random uninformed members of the public.
I am not sure about that:
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/02/blind_hacker?...