As a journalist I have struggled with Wikileaks. I inevitably approve of transparency and reject secrecy. But I have come to realise that privacy and secrecy are not the same and there lies the rub.
What Assange and his chums has been leaking is mostly trivial in the grand scheme of things. It does not expose high crimes and misdemeanours. It does not even for the most part illuminate the paths of power in any helpful way. Generally it has reminded us that people in delicate negotiations need the space and privacy to say what they think. By sharing what may be an unpalatable point of view in their domestic arena they may be better able to influence outcomes that impact directly on the safety and well-being of that internal audience.
Worse, while we all waited breathlessly for the revelations to destroy the evil empire of the USA it has largely done the opposite, suggesting that in many arenas America's foreign policy is more deft than most Brits would be willing to concede.
And then the CIA and others ride in heavy footed to such an extent that the conspiracy theorists begin to wonder if they doth protest too much. Which in turn begins to turn the entire event into another "internet farago".
And it is worth noting that early on it was suggested that the material to be revealed had already been seen by as many as two million government servants - suggesting it was no big deal anyway.
Then, instead of being a web event, which it is, it has become something dreadful brought on by the internet itself.
It is critically important in fact to differentiate between the internet, which as such does not exist, being a mesh of interconnected networks able to communicate because of some clever and now 30 plus year old protocols. The web on the other hand is a set of servers (computers by any other definition) which contain and serve to computers worldwide information, pictures and other content. This ability was invented from the off in one go in 1993 (by a bored CERN geek by name of Tim Berners Lee). It is indeed possible to 'turn off' any web site by shutting down the servers (it simply hops to a new location of course but it takes time, resources etc). You cannot really shut down the internet, especially now it is in the ether as wireless and satellite broadcast).
Which is where my problem gets really tough. The internet in all its forms is a wonder to behold, capable of great good while guilty of much harm (just like printing with moveable type was 400 years ago actually!). Its impact is not really as great as say telegraphy or even wireless which changed the world from wait and see to see and wait. But is is huge and it is also of itself, blameless.
Like fast cars it is the fools at the wheel who do the harm. The internet and the world wide web are doing more good than harm. And if Wikileaks harms either for the quality of its revelations so far then I for one will want to hunt down Assange and ... well I'm a pacifist so I'd just give him a good lecture on truth, secrecy and privacy. In public of course.
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