

Site's founder claims to have exclusive info from bank executive's hard drive



Forbes Magazine on Monday.  







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RE: Who to side with on this one?
By The Raven on 12/2/2010 3:29:22 PM , Rating: 2
I really doubt that he is passing up criticism of the Russian gov't or anyone else. I think it is our culture of free speech and free thought and whistleblower safety that produces all of this.

I mean the US gov't itself can't get all the info they want out of Iran for example; how do you expect one of their citizens to do it?

And he is an English speaker and deals with English speaking countries. Among those America is the one pushing policies. I don't hear much controversy out of New Zealand for example. Of course they get info from non-English sources as well but I'm just trying to explain the probability that Wikileaks is not targeting the US in particular. It is not driven by some diversity panel so I don't expect equal coverage.

By foolsgambit11 on 12/2/2010 11:31:10 PM , Rating: 2
And if they are targeting America, there may be good reasons for it. For instance, targeting China would have little impact, since the governmental system minimizes the impact of popular opinion (as well as censors information, so it's doubtful whether the public would hear much about the leak). The fact that Western democracies are sensitive to public opinion is what makes Wikileaks' strategy effective. Additionally, since people are affected by U.S. policy around the world (more so than other countries, given America's power), I think they have a right to speak up about abuses of that power, or take action to try to rein in that power if they feel that's in their best interest.

That being said, the U.S. is certainly within its rights to take legal action against people entrusted with sensitive or classified information who leak it to foreign nationals. But America's right to protect that information shouldn't give it power to go after people who aren't governed by its laws, and have no obligation to protect its secrets.

