Noble Defender of Freedom of Information or Anti-social Anarchist?

Check out the website www.wikileaks.info and decide for yourself.

Looking down at the stories they have exposed, for the most part I think they've done a good job. Far too much of government, politics and business is over-secret, over-classified and when exposed by whistle blowers is proven to have more than a taint of corruption involved. With a few exceptions, Wikileaks has been a good thing.

I agree that there must still be, possibly unfortunately, some real secrets in today's world – and not everything should be 100% accessible to the world's press. In the age of the internet this is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.

The old adage 'If you want to keep a secret, don't tell anyone' is not always realistic.

It's a difficult call – but I accept that people, especially those in the military, who reveal state secrets should be open to being prosecuted in the courts. (That does not mean that the state can torture them or hold them in inhuman conditions vis-à-vis Bradley Manning)

I don't however agree that a self-interested military court should have the ultimate say – surely it is a basic human right in a civil society that any accused can ultimately appeal to the highest court in the land?

Meanwhile, from my point of view, I give Wikileaks 3 stars.

www.wikileaks.info

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Jeremy G. The whole thing is fascinating to me. I wrote something similar to you in my review, but I always wonder now that there's the threat of wikileaks and its ilk, does it actually change the ways governments and leaders behave?

4/19/11  •  Votes (0)

K D. Oops - I didn't check the .org review. Sorry! Yes, I agree on the points you and Michael make there. As to whether it changes behavior, one distinct negative possibility is that as a New York mafia boss put it, all the really serious stuff will now be done on 'walking meetings' unrecorded and with no notes. That can't, in general, be good.

4/20/11  •  Votes (0)