Slashdot Mirror
WikiLeaks Will Unveil Major Bank Scandal
Atmanman writes "When WikiLeaks announced it was releasing 251,287 US diplomatic cables, we all thought we knew what was meant by its earlier ominous words that, 'The coming months will see a new world, where global history is redefined.' It now appears the organization is sitting on a treasure trove of information so big that it has stopped taking submissions. Among data to be released are tens of thousands of documents from a major US banking firm and material from pharmaceutical companies, finance firms and energy companies."
...a lot of people recently said that Wikileaks has become an anti-US organization. We should probably wait and see what they actually release, but perhaps this news shows otherwise? Or is the fact that they are going to release data on US based corporations just going to be viewed as more evidence of an anti-US sentiment?
Palm trees and 8
"It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume"
While one may not like all the steps taken by Assange, one should give credit for the understatement that the new documents will "stimulate investigations".
...a lot of people recently said that Wikileaks has become an anti-US organization. We should probably wait and see what they actually release, but perhaps this news shows otherwise? Or is the fact that they are going to release data on US based corporations just going to be viewed as more evidence of an anti-US sentiment?
You should probably clarify that you meant anti-US government as they might actually be providing the citizens a lot more transparency than previously thought possible. When a US company is targeted, both the government and the people might be happy -- especially if it's tax evasion or violation of laws. Here's a good snippet when they run down which industries they might have dirt on:
Continuing then: The tech industry?
We have some material on spying by a major government on the tech industry. Industrial espionage.
U.S.? China?
The U.S. is one of the victims.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that everyone would like the offenders of industrial espionage to be dragged out in the open. Especially the United States government.
Anti-US, pro-US, who cares? This is going to get interesting and the knife is going to cut everybody.
I'm really going to break down laughing if Wikileaks hosts dirt on Amazon, their knew hosting provider with EC2!
My work here is dung.
They should wait until things are worse-off to release such damning and anger-inducing materials. We ain't going to spark the revolution this way!
It's always confirmation bias!
More than would if it wasn't exposed at all.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
This is a quote from the article which sums it up nicely:
Q: What do you think WikiLeaks mean for business? How do businesses need to adjust to a world where WikiLeaks exists?
A: WikiLeaks means it’s easier to run a good business and harder to run a bad business, and all CEOs should be encouraged by this. I think about the case in China where milk powder companies started cutting the protein in milk powder with plastics. That happened at a number of separate manufacturers.
Let’s say you want to run a good company. It’s nice to have an ethical workplace. Your employees are much less likely to screw you over if they’re not screwing other people over.
Then one company starts cutting their milk powder with melamine, and becomes more profitable. You can follow suit, or slowly go bankrupt and the one that’s cutting its milk powder will take you over. That’s the worst of all possible outcomes.
The other possibility is that the first one to cut its milk powder is exposed. Then you don’t have to cut your milk powder. There’s a threat of regulation that produces self-regulation.
It just means that it’s easier for honest CEOs to run an honest business, if the dishonest businesses are more effected negatively by leaks than honest businesses. That’s the whole idea. In the struggle between open and honest companies and dishonest and closed companies, we’re creating a tremendous reputational tax on the unethical companies.
Wikileaks is embarassing [sic] everyone who deserves it (in the U.S.)
From the article it doesn't appear they are after the US in particular, that's just where a lot of their information is coming from.
Q: Continuing then: The tech industry?
A: We have some material on spying by a major government on the tech industry. Industrial espionage.
Q: U.S.? China?
A: The U.S. is one of the victims.
messing with governments gets mixed up in equivalency and nationalism and generates more heat than anything actually useful. iran is already saying wikileaks is an american plot
http://www.presstv.ir/details/153259.html
something that hurts the usa should be a subject of celebration in the iranian government, right? no. because people are so mixed up in their prejudices, any reveal of what a government did or said can always be conveniently reexplained with some creative thinking such that your prejudices are never really examined. whether pro-usa, or anti-usa, your opinion of the usa is completely unaffected by wikileaks, as iranian spin shows
wikileaks clearly shows that the great satan is not the one who hates them and wants their destruction: all their neighboring countries secretly push the usa to topple iran, while those countries say nothing publicly. that's what wikileaks shows. this challenges the narrative of the great satan plotting your downfall, and so proof that the great satan is not a great satan. therefore, wikileaks must be explained away with plots and conspiracies, where julian assange is actually an agent of the CIA. it would be hilarious, if maintaining the prejudicial narrative weren't such a deadly serious effort by those who love, or hate, the usa, for prejudicial reasons. so it's a complete wash: wikileaks has zero effect on the usa's standing in the world, or in the minds of committed pro-usa or anti-usa partisans.
however, the corporations, they need unmasking. a lot of people in the usa have this phony narrative of their poor neighbors and their government being the enemy of their prosperity. the real enemy of their prosperity: corporations. there is nothing wrong with capitalism, but corporatism is not capitalism. corporatism is buying off the government to permanently warp the markplace against the smaller players and to entrench your dominant position in it. the government is not the enemy, corporations are. the greatest enemy capitalism has ever known, in fact, is not communism, but corporatism, in all of economic history, the big players have always warped the markplace in their direction. yet so many fools believe this phony narrative of the government and poor people being the enemy of capitalism, and large corporations heroes, or at worst, harmless victims on the sidelines, of evil government regulations (that are written by those same corporations)
so hopefully, a reveal of how corporations are your real enemy, not your government, might open some foolish eyes, for once, i hope
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Okay. Why Not Just Release It!?
Wikileaks was a site that just published leaked documents. It still does this. It seems now though that it wants to be considered a major entity in its own right rather than just as an anonymous dumping ground for data. So now we have Julian Assange publicly engaged in self promotion, by revealing himself and Wikileaks pre-announcing its leaks.
It concerns me a little. It does seem to change the nature of what Wikileaks is. Is it a news site that has an explicit agenda, or an anonymous service that releases everything without taking a moral stance?
Well, to take a third option, what if he's heavily broadcasting his actions for a reason? You know, the US government scrambled around doing damage control in preparation for the cable leak. Maybe this is his way of saying, "Hey, I have this information and I'm going to give you the chance to do something before it hits the fan."
Devil's Advocate to be sure, but considering the goal of this is transparancy, it would mean a lot more if the bank would come clean itself, rather than wait for a third party who claims to have them already beaten.
Then let all who stand accused offer up their own info to refute? I'll not hold my breath. Falsified info is easier to spot than you think, and truth is much stranger than fiction. Forced transparency is better than nothing, when you're living in the dark, like most of us suckers. Let the leaking continue!
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
If the documents are sufficient, I wonder how they will continue to spin corrupt financial industry practices as the fault of Obama without actually doing anything useful to stop them. 9/11 spared them from Enron, and if lightning strikes twice...
Anyone with the phone number of Xe and a slush fund has ready access to those things.
FWIW, the most recent leaks, the State cables, were pretty embarassing to other nations and, surprisingly, flattering to US diplomats.
Yemeni President joking about whisky, in a Muslim nation? Boned.
Saudi King saying the West should bomb Iran? Uh-oh.
One of the key parts of diplomacy requires diplomats to be able to give uncensored advice to political leaders that may offend the public or other leaders.
In the long run this may reduce the quality of advice our leaders get which could have tragic consequences. Its the reason why executive
priveledge exists. The most honest president the US has ever had, Grover Cleveland, fought tooth and nail for leaders being able to receive honest
and confidential advice.
A leak is only good think if it serves a legitimate public interest, not merely curiousity. If your intention is merely to cause
embarassment for embarassments sake then youre not a whistleblower.
All I can say it "It's about F'ing time." Go Wikileaks Go!
For years, we have had to put up with our privacy and our rights being stolen. Now we even have to appear naked to fly. Our privacy is always under attack, and yet we are told "it's for our own good" either by the governments that assault us, or the corporations that rip us off and sell our personal data to each other.
FINALLY the time has come that governments and corporations are under the same microscope as the average joe. The internet has become the great equalizer. And notice how governments and corporations bristle at the mere thought that *their* privacy is being invaded, while they continue to casually rape us.
Yes, when it's the governments/corporations that have their privacy assailed, "ohhh the guy is a terrorist" "Assage must be imprisoned" "DDoS isn't good enough for him, hanging's too good for him!", etc..., meanwhile, few are DDoS'ing the RIAA, TransUnion, Equifax, et al.
THIS IS OUR REVOLUTION. And it's about time. Grab your pitchforks. Heads must roll.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
There have so far been some things that were interesting but nothing really shocking and nothing worth the cost. Assange is not about being a serious whistle blower working for the greater good. This is about shameless self promotion and nothing more. I can't even think he is a misguided idiot now, if he really thought this was for the good of the world that this stuff comes to light he'd release whatever he has got now to make sure it gets out before someone stops him and eventually someone will stop him. You can't just run around making the movers and shakers of the world look foolish forever before there is some reprisal.
I don't think he does care if this stuff gets out, I think he is just about keeping the media circus and his own fame as grand as possible.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
So, they idea is: if a leak makes the US government look bad then it must be the real deal, but if it may serve the US government in some way then we have to suspect that it has been planted?
Nice judgement you have there.
This reminds me of what is going on with the leaks which state that the Government of Israel had notified both the Egyptian Government and the Palestinian Fatah before attacking the Gaza Strip during operation Cast Lead in 2008, mainly against Hammas (and thus making the Fatah look bad to the Palestinians). The international press is giving much more voice to those denying the leak than it gives to leaks which bring discomfort the US government.
So are they ready to abide by the Fort Laramie treaties or do you mean something else?
Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. - Cardinal Wolsey
Hey Xadelus! We're on the way to fight a revolution to get the oppressive British government off our backs!
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
Well, all right, how about if we pass a law requiring inspections of meat processing plants so that we can assure that workers are in humane conditions and-
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
Oh. Okay. Well, some guys and I are getting together to help Europe and Asia out from the threat posed by fascist governments, and we were wondering if-
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
Had the present leaks occurred when we were still considering war with Iraq, do you think we'd be in the mess we are today? As I recall, the media published only what the government wanted us to hear, that the rest of the world supported us. Because the public bought it, the congressmen bought it, and the debate was over before it began. Would you rather us wait until the next war starts?
We, the people, have Credit Scores to keep us honest. Businesses can post behavioral information about the people, affecting their credit scores. But, people get sued for slander and libel if they don't appreciate the business, and post behaviors of the business. Look at the Class Action Lawsuits going on right now; and that the telephone companies want to use arbitration to reduce the lawsuits.
Wikileaks simply levels the playing field. It is kinda like Big Brother watching Big Brother!
The cables have revealed that the spanish National High Court was influenced by US diplomatics to drop some cases that were embarassing for the US. I think it's far more embarassing for us than for USA.
Bank of America has been downright criminal in some of its conduct. I recently refinanced my mortgage and closed all of my accounts just to get from under those clowns. I've suspected that a lot of their dishonest conduct has been common business practice, now I'm sure I'll have that confirmed. Things I've seen happen:
* Deposits delayed to trigger overdraft charges.
* Flat out lied to about my escrow account size. They forced me to pay about $600 to "settle" the balance, then realized they made a "mistake" that took about 8 months to correct, netting me $1100 including $500 I was owed in the first place.
* Steering me into a trap credit card when I wanted a vehicle loan. First payment was a day late and my interest rate exploded.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
well then I'd say that is a reasonable indication that yes, they DO have an anti-US agenda.
Speaking first as a patriotic American, frankly, my first priority is to fix corruption here in the US. If WikiLeaks was publishing stuff from all nations, I would be primarily interested in the stuff about the US. Because I am a patriot. Because corruption reduces GDP. Because I want America to excel in GDP growth. (regarding the GDP-focus; my hobby-to-the-brink-of-religion is economic research)
Speaking as a pragmatic globalist, consider the correlation to monopolies. Small monopolies that have little power are not very hazardous. Large monopolies with lots of power are more hazardous. Anti-trust law focuses on the large monopolies because they have the greatest negative impact. That is rational. Similarly, the US has the most power on the global stage. I think that's a fine thing, being an American -- politically incorrect though it may be, it's good to be the king. However, being in that position means that any corruption or foul play on our part is subject to greater scrutiny. Just like big monopolies, that is a rational thing. Corruption in the US has a much bigger effect on the world than, for example, corruption in France. It only makes sense to focus on the most potent hazard, which is a combination of amount of corruption and ability to influence events. Our ability to influence is so massively outsized that it takes less corruption to make us a greater hazard.
Take your pick: Patriotic American me is happy with all the US-oriented WikiLeaks stuff because it is my house and I have a duty to help keep it clean. Pragmatic Globalist me understands that my country has a greater obligation to end corruption because we have more influence on world events.
Is WikiLeaks biased against the US? I don't care, as long as they keep publishing the US stuff -- that is the stuff that is most important to me. Frankly, Americans who feel otherwise strike me as unpatriotic.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance