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I feel the same way as the original poster, and I don't see how government misinformation has anything to do with it. Do you remember when wikileaks launched,
by akamaka 16y ago
I feel the same way as the original poster, and I don't see how government misinformation has anything to do with it.
Do you remember when wikileaks launched, it was described as an anonymous organization "founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and start-up company technologists, from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa"? When their website had a raw archive of documents on the front page?
The changes in wikileaks started happening before the government became very interested in them. They became much more focused on fund-raising, manipulating the media to their advantage, editorializing the leaked material, and Assange became the figurehead associated with every release of information.
- prawn 16y agoAnd how much more attention have they received to their cause since then? Apple has Jobs. Microsoft has Gates. It was Jordan and the Bulls. Wales is calling for donations on Wikipedia.
- akamaka 16y agoYes, he has brought attention, and in a very reckless way, I believe. But I didn't come here to debate that, I just wanted to point out that it isn't some government campaign of misinformation that has shaped my view of Assange.
- wvenable 16y agoI'm unclear on this: what has he done that is reckless?
- akamaka 16y agoOne point that has been made (and which I agree with) is that this leak will reduce the influence of those in government who are in favour of more openness, and strengthen the position of those who argue for more control of information. http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20101027_wikileaks_and_culture_classification http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20101027_wikileaks_and_cultur...
- wvenable 16y agoI'm still unclear what this has to do with Assanage personally? Wikileaks is an organization of people who publish (given enough time) just about everything given to them. It's one thing to call wikileaks reckless and another to call Assanage reckless.
- rhizome 16y agoyeah, i don't really care about original intentions, we're now where the rubber meets the road. i don't fault an opportunist for seizing the moment, and i read anybody arguing that this is not the right moment for wikileaks to exist. that the (US) media shirks their responsibility in kowtowing to power is not a controversial assertion. by and large, people with a problem with WL have a problem with the implementation. they want the warning messages to be reworded, and maybe have a 3px box-corner radius. i dunno, you think 5px would look too soft? anyway, what harm is there is letting him do whatever he does? he's not taking info himself, he's at the mercy of his submitters. i'd certainly love to see a zynga tag go up on WL, but until then we have our wonderful government and military to pay attention to and read about. consider it political pornography.