The only reason the government would so strongly oppose the revelation of documents from Wikileaks is if they had something worth hiding from the general public.
So you know, not good.
That is to say that information should be free, and shit.
I could see how being a Russian citizen and being made more aware of the corruption of your system is appropriate. I don't see how exposing Afghan informants and risking their lives helps anyone. Outside of the state department, I think most of the recent wikileaks puts the US in a better light, but I'm not sure all of it is really necessary. Moderation in all things, stop black and white thinking, already.
Considering how long the Internet's been around and how geeks generally feel about the government I can't believe it took this look for something like Wikileaks to show up.
I don't really care either way, but in general I think keeping governments transparent is a good thing.
" The only reason the government would so strongly oppose the revelation of documents from Wikileaks is if they had something worth hiding from the general public. "
Until the governments of the world are all sufficiently transparent, I don't mind having Wikileaks around.
" I could see how being a Russian citizen and being made more aware of the corruption of your system is appropriate. I don't see how exposing Afghan informants and risking their lives helps anyone. Outside of the state department, I think most of the recent wikileaks puts the US in a better light, but I'm not sure all of it is really necessary. Moderation in all things, stop black and white thinking, already. "
not like they don't already know... they're hella cynical
I partially support it since the government withholds a lot of information that people have the right to know. At the same time, however, sometimes there is a reason that information is classified, and that reason is to prevent it from causing potentially dire outcomes and costing peoples lives.
Support. I got a good laugh out of the Canada article. Seriously, I thought that shit was satire at first. The Cable literally was claiming that Canada has an inferiority complex because our Election did not revolve around USA. You couldn't come up with better arrogance or hypocrisy if you tried.. It was also so completely bitter, citing our effective bank regulations as totally lame because they actually worked to mostly shield us from USA's economic colapse.
I could understand if it has to do with big business' like Bank of America or if it's old documents about the government. However, I'm not one to support any newly made documents. I just rather keep everything cool and no countries get all pissy with each other.
Sure. If more aspects of government were open to the public then there would be less trust issues. They lie and screw over the general population so much that for us to take anything they say seriously or at face value is practically an impossibility at this point. It's really disgusting to see some of the stuff the government fights and wastes time over when so many important issues are being completely ignored.
" Sadly, I must abstain from voting. As an employee of a government contractor, I'm strictly forbidden from accessing, viewing, or discussing Wiki-Leaks or any its content. "
Yeah, they sent that notice out at my company, too. Fortunately there wasn't anything forbidding voting in a poll about it. ;-)
Wikileaks is not the disclosure of information. It is the theft of sensitive information and sold.
I am American and fully support the disclosure of information in its good time I do not support criminals stealing information and selling it and that information being available to elements that would harm this country from tips they could glean from said information being stolen and sold.
I think having something like WikiLeaks is a good thing, I wish there were more poeple to do this kind of thing in more countries. Though the latest one is just leaders calling other leaders babies, they could stumble upon something big. Getiing this information out to the public is a good thing, though I can see where other poeple are coming from when they say they don't want other countries pissed at eachother. But I always find having everything out in the open is better than keeping it secret and finding it through another person. Because it's always worse when you don't hear it first hand.
From what i've seen, all the stuff being leaked isn't "big government secrets", it's people talking informally. From what I've seen, these leaks have done literally nothing except reveal the exact, sometimes unkind words used in individuals' conversations which, frankly, we all knew were happening. I believe people should be allowed to have a private conversation, so I'm against these leaks. Alternately, every government worker could be completely formal for every second of every day, and instead of the government doing almost nothing, it could do literally nothing.
I'm not a huge fan of these poll choice. I'm a huge fan of disclosure of information, but to a point... There are some things that should stay secret, for various reasons.
I think WikiLeaks has done a lot of good things... But I think some of the stuff they've released is just stirring up trouble for the sake of stirring up trouble. Nobody is really benefiting.
I'd like to know somebody is responsible for the information they are releasing. If it's info that's good for the general public then yea I'm for disclosing it, but if the information is going to hurt people, and cause tension between countries (possibly leading to war) then I'm not for it.
I have read some interesting articles about how the recent leaks are actually from the CIA in an effort to weaken certain Arabic political powers in the middle east.
I think saying supporting Wikileaks and supporting the disclosure of information are one and the same is a bit misleading. I dunno, I haven't followed that story much, whole thing seems like a big nasty mess. Also, the dude is sorta being accused of rape right now, which is hilarious, because now I have this weird theory where this whole thing was a conspiracy to make it so he can say the rape accusations are a conspiracy.
To put it simply, it the fucking government doesn't want people to fucking freak out about something when they learn about it, they shouldn't fucking do it. Thank goodness for wiki leaks and all whistle blowers and watch-dogs. Bullshit like this shouldn't fucking happen:
http://www.politicolnews.com/chertoff-lobbyists-and-airport-scanners <--Chertoff making money off of airport scanners http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/11/pennsylvania_homeland_security_1.html <--- Homeland Security hires citizen spies to watch protests
Listen, long story short, our greatest weapon is our culture. We're supposed to be brash, take-no-shit, freedom-loving harbingers of justice. Look what happened in Iran, it almost had a revolution without a single shot fired by us. That's because our culture is so fucking pervasive. Every time we do some stupid shit, torture some fucking assholes or go to war for some stupid reason, our real weapon gets diminished.
So, obviously, if you have half a fucking brain, you understand things like Wikileaks are required.
" Wikileaks is not the disclosure of information. It is the theft of sensitive information and sold. I am American and fully support the disclosure of information in its good time I do not support criminals stealing information and selling it and that information being available to elements that would harm this country from tips they could glean from said information being stolen and sold. "
Pretty much this.
I admit there are some things that really aren't worth hiding and things we should know about... and some of the gossip is kinda silly, but hacking into government computers and stealing information is still a crime for obvious reasons and WikiLeaks shouldn't exist, plain and simple.
" I would if any of it was actually useful, in some way. But as it stands, most of the leaked info is just gossip. "
When people say this, it makes me wonder if they actually read some of the more serious allegations suggested by some of the wires?
@Dalai said:
" @WilliamRLBaker said:
" Wikileaks is not the disclosure of information. It is the theft of sensitive information and sold. I am American and fully support the disclosure of information in its good time I do not support criminals stealing information and selling it and that information being available to elements that would harm this country from tips they could glean from said information being stolen and sold. "
Pretty much this. I admit there are some things that really aren't worth hiding and things we should know about... and some of the gossip is kinda silly, but hacking into government computers and stealing information is still a crime for obvious reasons and WikiLeaks shouldn't exist, plain and simple. "
There was no hacking or stealing of information. It's called a damn leak people, did you even bother reading into HOW Assange got the info? (or at least how the US suspects he got it). This is an example of why these leaks need to happen; Americans especially (the majority of them) are horribly misinformed, partly by their mainstream media, and partly through willful ignorance. If the citizens of the US don't care, the rest of the world does, because the sheer influence of the US alone means there needs to be some level of global transparency when it comes to what it's doing.
100% support it. As I see it Wiki Leaks appears to be the last bastion of true journalism. There used to be a time when the Media was seen as the 4th check in the American government, keeping them clean by exposing all the secrets the press could find.
Sadly now the American media was more concerned with Heidi and Spencer then they were one of our Apache Gunships mowing down a bunch of civilians ON TAPE. So I guess it falls to this swede to expose our government. Good on him.
Pretty sure most Americans were already distrustful of their government before WikiLeaks rolled in. Frankly, I am more interested in Julian Assange as a person. He'd make a good Bond villain just because of his personality, political views, and the fact that he is wanted by Interpol.
"Pretty sure most Americans were already distrustful of their government before WikiLeaks rolled in. Frankly, I am more interested in Julian Assange as a person. He'd make a good Bond villain just because of his personality, political views, and the fact that he is wanted by Interpol. "
I think it's important that the public knows as much about the wars it is fighting as possible, and if the government refuses to tell us then I fully support an organization such as Wikileaks. The latest leak was more interesting than important, but the Iraq/Afghanistan War Logs and Collateral Murder were important, controversial releases that I'm glad I had the chance to see.
Its mostly tabloid but what isn't tabloid mostly serves to damage international relations and enflame crazy nations like Iran and North Korea into taking an initiative in doing something really stupid and tragic. Its easy to sit behind your screen and be 'brave' about all this but I do have empathy for the people who could die as a direct result of some of this info getting out. You know, empathy? Nah, the world should fall apart for your entertainment, friendless internet hermit. You only really care about videogame legislation. That's your sad little world.
There are certain things that a country should keep secret for its own protection and just the fact that a website chooses to expose these is completely unacceptable as this could completely and utterly cause a collapse of a country's foreign relations.
I support this as an American Citizen. If shit like Abu Ghraib, Mai Lai, Japanese American internment, Tuskegee experiments, Agent Orange, the last couple of decades in foreign and domestic policy was never blabbed about, then we would be much worse of as a nation. The US is capable of great things, but as long as we are sweeping our dirty laundry under the rug and getting up on a high horse (how's that for a tired couple of metaphors) we have less right to look down our nose at other countries.
A. , But the person who handed over the information to Wiki-Leaks should be tried and convicted of either Treason or should be executed in the same fashion as the Rosenberg's.
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