The above image is of Women Suffragists who were nearly prosecuted under the Espionage Act in 1917 when they protested Woodrow Wilson in front of the White House. Read more here.
Obviously, who to charge under this act has been an issue from it’s creation.
Now that the hysteria over Wikileaks has died down a bit, perhaps this piece from Slate.com history of the Espionage Act of 1917 can be read with a clear head.
No matter your opinion of current events, the history behind how we got here is always interesting.