Wikileaks: Heroes of free speech or dangerous subversives?

[ItWillNeverWork]

After amazon refusing to host them, and their domain name provider taking away the wikileaks.org domain, and now france calling for them to be banned - are wikileaks to be considered hero's of free speech, or do you agree with the actions of the powers that be?

I say good on wikileaks, they are making the dirty politicians run around scared shitless - and I like it.

 

[Bakunin]

After amazon refusing to host them, and their domain name provider taking away the wikileaks.org domain, and now france calling for them to be banned - are wikileaks to be considered hero's of free speech, or do you agree with the actions of the powers that be?

I say good on wikileaks, they are making the dirty politicians run around scared shitless - and I like it.

They are indeed a drop of honesty in a vast ocean of politically and corporately motivated bullshit, serving to introduce a tiny smidgin of honesty and truth to modern political and diplomatic discourse.

Which is why the powers-that-be will no doubt resort to anything they think they can get away with in order to discredit them and/or shut them down.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

heroes, not hero's - title etc edited

 

[kained&able]

I think they are both dangerous subversives and heroes of free speech.

 

[Santino]

I think they are an inevitable presence in a networked world.

 

[dylanredefined]

Bit of both really.Probably a good reason not too broadcast every bit of secret info.Not sure what it is though.

 

[likesfish]

some of that stuff should not have been made public as it puts peoples lives at risk.
other stuff just embarreses goverment.
dipolmancy/goverment would'nt work if nobody ever said stuff they would'nt want published.
Yes russias a lovely democratic country which respects the rule of law its diplomatic to say that in public But if your in charge of serious stuff having that view probably isn't going to help in private.
some stuff needs to be secret.

 

[trevhagl]

They are indeed a drop of honesty in a vast ocean of politically and corporately motivated bullshit, serving to introduce a tiny smidgin of honesty and truth to modern political and diplomatic discourse.

Which is why the powers-that-be will no doubt resort to anything they think they can get away with in order to discredit them and/or shut them down.

exactly.

 

[trevhagl]

while it's true that some things are best left unpublished it's quite ironic that the mass media are making a huge deal out of this when the average person in the street couldn't care less.

so why? Because they'd love to see it shut down for not toeing the neo lib con line on ANYTHING

 

[likesfish]

russians just shrugged at the idea that hiliary had ordered diplomats to try to aquire sensative stuff.

 

[girasol]

I really don't know... I don't think you can beat investigative journalism though. Just pumping out tons of information out of context doesn't seem that useful. You need context.

What this has brought to light is that there is still a lot of illegal espionage going on.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

...the average person in the street couldn't care less.

How do you figure that?

 

[weltweit]

I wonder if in a years time wikileaks will still be operating, and if its leader will still be a free man?

 

[detective-boy]

I wonder if in a years time wikileaks will still be operating, and if its leader will still be a free man?

And, more importantly, whether or not everyone will still view him as some sort of saviour of mankind ...

(I've got to say he doesn't strike me as someone whose wardrobe is entirely skeleton free or someone who has purely altruistic motives ... but we know very little about him yet so it remains to be seen what eventually comes out ... )

 

[London_Calling]

The Wikileaks site is mirrored all over the web so it's not going anywhere.

Plus, it's not really him, most of the work is done by the six 'papers Wiki works with, inc. The Guardian, the NYT and Die Spiegel.

The Swedish and UK authorities know exactly where he is (in London) and seemingly no one wants to interview him.

 

[laptop]

I really don't know... I don't think you can beat investigative journalism though. Just pumping out tons of information out of context doesn't seem that useful. You need context.

Which would be what Wikileaks realised around a year ago, with its arrangement to give actual journalists advance access to, er, write up the context.

 

[trevhagl]

How do you figure that?

i couldn't name one person that could tell me anything that was in the leaks.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

(I've got to say he doesn't strike me as someone whose wardrobe is entirely skeleton free or someone who has purely altruistic motives ... but we know very little about him yet so it remains to be seen what eventually comes out ... )

Do you even understand what wikileaks do? That's a moronic thing to say, even by your moronic standards.

 

[Disjecta Membra]

In the end, people are people and the supposed "pc" culture did'nt end racism or change much of anything. Leak sites may do some good in illustrating points or illuminating some stuff but people find other ways of being themselves and adapt, they won't change anything in the end.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

The war logs, which endangered people who had collaborated with the US and UK forces, were enough reason to have Assange assassinated. Having him fitted up for rape is a lily-livered response. The diplomatic cables are just pointless gossip - not heroism to publish, but little villainy either.

 

[tar1984]

The war logs, which endangered people who had collaborated with the US and UK forces, were enough reason to have Assange assassinated. Having him fitted up for rape is a lily-livered response

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The war logs are the heroic bit, imo. Publishing the video of the butchering of 12 Iraqis from Helicopter fire is a huge service to the world. We all know the US/UK have been butchering innocent people by the bucketload in Iraq/Afghanistan, but at last here's some hard proof.

He's going to go after the banks next, apparently. He is a hugely brave man.

 

[tar1984]

I'd like to see what he has on the banks.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Having him fitted up for rape is a lily-livered response.

That half-arsed response actually cheers me up. That the collective establishment couldn't manage anything better is genuinely heartening.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

The CIA really isn't what it used to be

Hopefully they don't send a drone or an Apache after him while he's in West London. I'd like to say to Mr Assange that he should definitely avoid being in West London, particularly around the Shepherds Bush area.

 

[Bakunin]

The CIA really isn't what it used to be

Oh, I wouldn't say that. Their ever more ludicrous attempts to take out Fidel Castro were comedy gold, combining the best elements of the Keystone Kops, the Marx Brothers and with more than a smidgin of good old-fashioned British farce as well.

A real-life saga that could easily be entitled 'Carry On Spooking' or 'Whoops, There Goes Our Credibility' in fact.

Incidentally, did you know that the CIA's department concerned with the assassination of foreign spies, officials and heads of state was officially named the 'Health Alteration Committee'? They couldn't even get a suitably discreet job title right.

Has anyone seen their new Director yet?:

 

[detective-boy]

Do you even understand what wikileaks do?

Yes. They proactively seek to receive stolen, hacked and other unlawfully obtained material and to provide an (allegedly) risk free (to the original thief or hacker) means of publicising it.

Do you know anything about Assange? His motives? The other people involved with Wikileaks? Their motives? ...

(I do, of course, realise that because he uses the internets he must be beyond reproach ... )

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Yes. They proactively seek to receive stolen, hacked and other unlawfully obtained material and to provide an (allegedly) risk free (to the original thief or hacker) means of publicising it.

Where those who make the laws that the hackers break are using the secrecy those laws create to hide their hypocrisy and to cover up their crimes, those hackers are doing the world a massive service by blowing the whistle.

To be on the side of law and order is sometimes to be on the wrong side. In a sane world, Assange would be up for a Nobel Peace Prize. In this insane world, that prize is given to the commander-in-chief of the world's largest army maintained by the world's most belligerent state.

 

[detective-boy]

Where those who make the laws that the hackers break are using the secrecy those laws create to hide their hypocrisy and to cover up their crimes, those hackers are doing the world a massive service by blowing the whistle.

I have absolutely no problem at all with whistle-blowing and the publication of material which is genuinely in the public interest.

My only point is that the likes of you are rushing to canonise St Julian of Assange without knowing the faintest thing about him, his associates or their motives ...

Personally I like to know a bit about people who have taken it upon themselves to play God and to play games with the nuclear security of our world ... I also like to think that they are in some way accountable for their actions.

 

[nino_savatte]

I have absolutely no problem at all with whistle-blowing and the publication of material which is genuinely in the public interest.

My only point is that the likes of you are rushing to canonise St Julian of Assange without knowing the faintest thing about him, his associates or their motives ...

Personally I like to know a bit about people who have taken it upon themselves to play God and to play games with the nuclear security of our world ... I also like to think that they are in some way accountable for their actions.

That's a very interesting narrative. The thing is, the information is that old that the only people able to take full advantage of the findings are those people who own time machines. I have seen no convincing evidence that these leaks will cause the "deaths of thousands". As for Wikileaks "playing God", I would suggest to you that you are being a wee bit melodramatic.