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Digging Into the WikiLeaks Cables
A number of readers have sent in new WikiLeaks stories today, many of which focus on the content of the leaked diplomatic cables. The documents showed how the US government bullied and manipulated other countries to gain support for its Copenhagen climate treaty (though behavior from the US wasn't all negative), how copyright negotiations largely meet the expectations of critics like Michael Geist, and how Intel threatened to move jobs out of Russia if the Russian government didn't loosen encryption regulations. Perhaps the biggest new piece of information is a list of facilities the US considers 'vital to security.' Meanwhile, the drama surrounding WikiLeaks continues; Julian Assange's Swiss bank account has been frozen and the UK has received an arrest warrant for the man himself; the effort to mirror the site has gained support from Pirate Parties in Australia, in the UK and elsewhere; and PayPal was hit with a DDoS for their decision not to accept donations for WikiLeaks.
...don't seem to understand that the takedown of Wikileaks is a triumph of world government. It's literally the new world order responding to a threat and removing it. And they're cheering it on...
Here's hoping that doesn't happen. If it does, I look forward to that insurance file.
I kind of wish I was in a psychology course during all this...it would be interesting to examine the reactions of governments and officials to Assange. Some of the response seems like its been ripped straight from a movie or book, with thinly veiled attempts at painting the man as a terrorist. The strength of the rhetoric seems directly proportional to the level of embarrassment groked from different leaked cables.
Living With a Nerd
I haven't been on the 'Wikileaks is a terrorist organization' bandwagon, understanding that it's important that crimes not be covered up. However, when I read earlier today about the leak of the list of vital US facilities, I had to wonder just what they're thinking. I honestly can't figure out how the release of that benefits the public in any way. Yet it provides information that anyone seeking to harm the US would find quite valuable.
I don't think information should be made public for the sake of making it public. There are some things that are better off kept secret.
Is the fact that for the first time in my life, I am literally afraid of my Govt if I go to see a website and that I fully expect to be traced, put in a database, and labeled as some subversive. For going to a web address.
I’m already on my own no-fly list, and I’ll stay there until the TSA stops groping people to create a facade of security.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
As seen with East Germany, in the end the Government can't win over a determined people. Just a question as to whether the people will wake up in time while there is still something to save. ...
How long until the US People remember the constitution and their founding fathers' courage and ideas! Get up and let your "representatives" know how you feel about the "Great Chinese Firewall" and censoring of websites in the US
I think it's more likely that his arrest will be widely publicized in the media whereas his acquittal will be swept under the rug.
The common men on the street will think he's a criminal/terrorist and the establishment will have won.
But it will be a pyrrhic victory because 100 other wikileaks-type sites will follow in their footsteps.
Free Manning, jail Obama.
If you publish, you're a journalist. You may not be a -popular- journalist, but a journalist none the less. What are the professional requirements for being a journalist? Nothing.
Bye!
For a great explanation of the idea behind WikiLeaks, please see this.
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
I hope so. But my country has a prideful streak, and a history of "not negotiating with terrorists." The powers that be may figure, as long as Julian is alive, this information could come out anyway. They may decide that this cat is already out of the bag. If they do think that, an obvious response would be aimed not at stopping wikileaks, but at sending a message to any others out there that are thinking of doing the same thing: publish leaks, end up dead.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I saw an interview with Steve Johnson in which he said at the end of his book _Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation_ he attempted a survey of private vs. public sector innovation and concluded they're about even, or possibly government-funded ideas have a slight edge.
That means it is working.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
He made it the list of potential candidates. Don't forget to rate him. It might make prosecuting him into oblivion a bit harder.