WikiLeaks Losing Support From Anonymous

Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that members of computer hacker collective Anonymous have distanced themselves from WikiLeaks, claiming the whistleblowers' site has become too focused on the personal tribulations of its founder, Julian Assange. A statement linked from the Anonymous Twitter account, AnonymousIRC, described WikiLeaks as 'the one man Julian Assange show,' and complained that the website implemented a paywall seeking donations from users who wanted access to millions of leaked documents. 'The idea behind WikiLeaks was to provide the public with information that would otherwise be kept secret by industries and governments. Information we strongly believe the public has a right to know,' said the statement on behalf of Anonymous. The dispute could starve WikiLeaks of potentially newsworthy leaks in the future, as some of Wikileaks' recent disclosures – including the Stratfor emails – are alleged to have come from Anonymous."

Comments

Re:Dissent amongst thieves?

[girlintraining]

There might have been information in those cables that the public had a right to know, but a lot of it they didn't, and Wikileaks should have shown some discretion in what to publish and what not to. How would you like it if private communications with friends and family were leaked to the public because you happened to work for a company that engaged in unethical behavior that due to the leaks became public? Sure, the public had a right to know about that, but not your stuff too. And that's what the diplomatic cable leaks was about -- it wasn't just leaking information the public had a right to know, but everything. All of it. And no responsible journalist would do that because they're mostly decent human beings who understand a need to balance the public's right to know with an individual's right to privacy.

The "good" things they released do not erase the "bad" things they also leaked. You can't call people unethical while yourself being unethical and expect to get any kind of respect; You need to be an example of a responsible person or organization.