3 ms·
But that doesn't help. If I have in my hand what is supposedly a top-secret document then how do I confirm whether it's real or not? (Let's assume that the forg
by hugh3 16y ago
But that doesn't help. If I have in my hand what is supposedly a top-secret document then how do I confirm whether it's real or not? (Let's assume that the forgers haven't made any obvious mistakes.) I sure as hell can't go knocking on the door and asking whether I can compare this document with the original version.
A great example was the Rather-gate memos from the 2004 election, a supposedly "leaked" memo which got published with great fanfare despite the fact that the forgers did make some obvious errors (ie producing a 1970s document in Microsoft Word using default fonts, spacing and parameters). But if the forgers hadn't been complete dumbasses then how would we have ever known whether they were real?
- msredmond 16y agoUnfortunately, unless you can verify them, you don't publish them. That does mean that some things that are genuine will not get published. But it avoids what's worse -- publishing things that aren't true.
- hugh3 16y agoYes, that's the way it should work. It's not the way that they do, though. Heck, has a single Wikileaks document ever been proven to be genuine?