[ExI] the ambiguously evil british have leaked julian assange's address

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Damien Broderick
Subject: Re: [ExI] the ambiguously evil british have leaked julian assange's
address

On 12/15/2010 6:57 PM, spike wrote:
> ...the chase scene is over, the evil government goons have rounded 
> up about 30 guys and have them all in custody.  Last scene, the head 
> evil goon says something like "We have all of you now, but we have plenty
of reason to think the secret has not been fully contained.
> So there is no point in killing you.  You are all free to go.  From 
> now on, no one has any privacy, present or past.  There are no secrets 
> anywhere ever again.  Welcome to your new world gentlemen, and may you all
rot in hell."
>
> Damien, ever heard of it?

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Past>

but cf. also much later

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Other_Days>


Thanks Damien!  The mark of good science fiction, or any fiction, is that it
is memorable.  I remember now when I read this.  It was in 1973.  I received
as a gift the newly minted Best of Isaac Asimov, which was published that
year, and which I still own.  My memory of that particular story, but not
the others in that volume, is remarkably clear.

For what it's worth, I myself was once a proponent of much greater openness,
being as I have had a G-rated life, and few secrets.  Now, not so much.  I
recognize there are *plenty* of perfectly legitimate reasons to maintain
privacy rights, and that privacy should extend to *some* government
functions but not all.

Here's what I want from you guys: think carefully and hard, the way I know
you can.  Think of all the *unintended consequences* of Julian Assanges
work, both good and bad.  The notion of good and bad doesn't necessarily
collapse down to one number positive or negative; it is too complex for
that.  So let it be a complex number, with a real good/evil axis and an
imaginary good/evil axis if you wish, or multiple categories or
circumstances.

For instance, Wikileaks can be used to destroy someone even an innocent
person, perhaps a rival for a sweetheart.  One could create a phony document
with the adversary's name on it, in which one insults the radical Mormons.
We know that Mormons are peaceful people, but there is a small percentage of
radical Mormons who misunderstand their peaceful religion, who can be very
dangerous if any careless Episcopalian insults their prophet, with something
as simple as a cartoon.  One could say something rather innocuous, such as:
Joseph Smith was a horny dog, married a nine year old girl, copulated with
her when she was eleven, which was egregious behavior even for the very
liberal standards of his day.

The radical Mormons then issue a Latter Day Complaint against you (you
infidel) at which time they collectively implore their god to remove his
protective hand from you (you sinner) which could result in your getting a
migraine, or your car intentionally scratched, or you and your entire family
being brutally murdered in your own home, that sort of thing.  The closer
you live to Salt Lake City, the greater the risk, and it is rising
everywhere in every nation as Mormons outcompete rival religions through
sheer high volume breeding and guys going around on bicycles with skinny
black ties  They don't assimilate well.

spike