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WikiLeaks: Important petition for all Australians and supporters of free speech
tsaint:
As Julian et al have now taken it upon themselves to decide public policy on behalf of my government, I think it would be rather hypocritical of them if they didn't release ALL of their own documentation. Relevance to anything, discrimination about what material they release is not to be considered, I want it all.
So when Julian pubishes his tax returns, all material pertinent to his private life, then I'll be more favourably disposed to him and his organization.
Or even if he seemed to display some judgement and discrimination, I might, rather than a naive and immature "everything must be public" policy
Renegade:
As Julian et al have now taken it upon themselves to decide public policy on behalf of my government, I think it would be rather hypocritical of them if they didn't release ALL of their own documentation. Relevance to anything, discrimination about what material they release is not to be considered, I want it all.
So when Julian pubishes his tax returns, all material pertinent to his private life, then I'll be more favourably disposed to him and his organization.
Or even if he seemed to display some judgement and discrimination, I might, rather than a naive and immature "everything must be public" policy
-tsaint (December 12, 2010, 02:02 AM)
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Your wish is Openleaks.org's command. Starting tomorrow.
As Julian et al have now taken it upon themselves to decide public policy on behalf of my government-tsaint (December 12, 2010, 02:02 AM)
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That's a door better left closed here. e.g.:
As ________ has now taken it upon themselves to decide _________ on behalf of __________.
But Openleaks will be working towards transparency, which is VERY good. I think they may be the "go to" people in the near future.
I don't think Wikileaks is necessarily going to be important in itself as for the tasks it carries out going forward. It's done the most important thing, which is get the ball rolling, and inspire others. Police in Egypt have been arrested for torturing people thanks to this kind of inspiration.
Any organization that picks up the ball and carries on, like Openleaks, is going to be a great thing.
Finally organizations will need to consider what would happen if they became transparent.
That it is happening to the USA now is really neither here nor there. The USA makes a great target, so I suppose that it is the best place to start as it is/would garner the most media attention, which is most important. Hopefully we'll see the same thing happen in other governments and corrupt/evil organizations.
e.g. Shell got burned for more nastiness in Nigeria thanks to Wikileaks. Everyone knows that oil companies are exploitative and evil. (Can we all say "BP"?) But having the evidence laid out flat with credibility lets a few people take off their tinfoil hats. Evidence is the key there. (Sustained pressure to stop being evil is the next step as far as I can see.)
wraith808:
The thing is, I don't mind leaks if they expose wrong doing that should be made public, after appropriate measures have been taken to take it through proper channels and nothing has been done. But leaking just because 'information should be free' is complete BS IMO. Even the openleaks.org will still be a front, because they won't make *everything* public. There's no way. Unless they tape everything 24 hours a day while they work (which would then make the information useless because of information overload), there's no way.
Renegade:
The thing is, I don't mind leaks if they expose wrong doing that should be made public, after appropriate measures have been taken to take it through proper channels and nothing has been done. But leaking just because 'information should be free' is complete BS IMO. Even the openleaks.org will still be a front, because they won't make *everything* public. There's no way. Unless they tape everything 24 hours a day while they work (which would then make the information useless because of information overload), there's no way.
-wraith808 (December 13, 2010, 09:01 AM)
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We'll probably never see eye-to-eye on this.
I don't think that there needs to be any "wrong" committed for a leak to be useful. They expose attitudes and actions. Some actions are neither good nor bad, but are of interest as they can have wider implications.
I'm thrilled at the prospect of having a truly open society with transparency in government. We need it. Badly.
As for US government transparency, I hope that's just the beginning. I've gone on about all that before though, so I'll skip it.
I don't necessarily subscribe to all information being free. Book authors, writers, musicians... The list goes on. But that's pretty off topic. I do believe in freedom of information about what our governments are doing.
For example...
China is very closed. But we KNOW that they kidnap, torture, mutilate, and murder their own people. (Falun Gong)
If it happens "there", what's to stop it from happening "here"? It HAPPENS. And that's very scary. Keeping things transparent and open is a very good thing.
I'm not "anti-american" at all. I love the USA and think it has been a blessing in many ways. When I see things that stink though, I can't shut up about it. Yeah... I have a big mouth and I don't mix too many words. I prefer good old fashioned expletives. :D
I read an article from some fellow accusing Wikileaks of peddling stolen goods.
In the Wikileaks saga, the peddling is of stolen goods
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Source
He's actually got some good things to say, but I think he's off base with "stolen goods". That's a matter of opinion I suppose. Not sure. I can't see "espionage" being theft. I also can't see it being espionage when he's not in the territory of jurisdiction. It's fuzzy.
Anyone remember a while back a thread about new powers to shut down the Interwebs? Scary. Are there any cables that would relate to that? Are they right or wrong or neither? Just information?
I'd rather see secrets blabbed and have an open society. But then again, I don't do things that I'm afraid to admit to.
kyrathaba:
From JavaJones: Wikileaks is showing that the people and organizations we have entrusted with maintaining the structure of our society and the sanctity of our lives and rights have abused that trust, time and again.
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Agree!
From Renegade: "...with enough "tattling"...companies would be forced to behave more ethically."
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Agree!!
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