[ExI] Wikileaks

Darren Greer darren.greer3 at gmail.com
Sun Dec 5 17:51:07 UTC 2010


>Once something is out there being copied, be it secret cult documents
or State Dept cables, the *worse* thing an organization can do is to
make a huge fuss about it<

It depends on your objective. If it's to keep the leaked information as
low-key as possible even after its release it doesn't seem like a good
strategy. But I think the goal here may be less about keeping the
information secret than punishing those responsible for leaking it. Julian
Assange has had his passport red-noticed by Interpol so he cannot travel
outside of the U.K. where they suspect he's hiding, and his lawyers claimed
recently they are being surveilled by U.S. intelligence services. The reason
for the red-notice is a warrant for two sexual assault charges against
Assange that conveniently appeared in Sweden just as this round of documents
were leaked. Amazon was forced through political pressure to stop hosting
Wikileaks, and U.S. State Department employees have been ordered not to look
at the documents from work or even at home.

Individuals, corporations, media and the general public have just been put
on notice that the government will exercise its right to secrecy by whatever
means it can. And its means are many. Perhaps that's why they think they can
get away with it when others haven't. I think they're wrong too, of course.
Civil disobedience inspires civil disobedience. I know if my government
ordered me not to look at a document from the privacy of my own home, the
first thing I would do is break the edict. In some ways Scientology is
better equipped to handle such a battle than the U.S. government. They at
least enjoy a slavish devotion and mindless obedience from the majority of
their proponents. Democratic governments usually get less than half.

Darren





On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 12:05 PM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>wrote:

> A number of years ago I posted that the battle between Scientology and
> the net was a warm up for the days when a major government got in a
> fight with the net.
>
> Later I decided governments were not likely to get in a fight with the
> net because they learned that such battles are hopeless.
>
> The fight with Wikileaks indicates that governments didn't learn a
> thing from the battle with the cult.
>
> Once something is out there being copied, be it secret cult documents
> or State Dept cables, the *worse* thing an organization can do is to
> make a huge fuss about it.
>
> Sigh.
>
> Keith
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>



-- 
"In the end that's all we have: our memories - electrochemical impulses
stored in eight pounds of tissue the consistency of cold porridge." -
Remembrance of the Daleks
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