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You don't fix the security state with hero worship and self-promotion. True, but I think that is is often very strong/odd characters, who are willing to dedica
by stfu 14y ago
You don't fix the security state with hero worship and self-promotion.
True, but I think that is is often very strong/odd characters, who are willing to dedicate their life for "big" fights. Those causes need someone who is willing to go out, and promote the hell out of a leak. Otherwise it goes down as just another internet-only phenomenon.
If you are leaking information to a 3rd party, you want the information out there and create the biggest possible effect. Otherwise you could just post it on your blog. So far only Assange has shown repeatedly, that he can deliver this exposure - and to withstand the heat.
Case and point: Not a single relevant leak has reached my attention from all the split-up groups that aimed to do better than Wikileaks. The only acceptable alternative seems Cryptome who benefit for their long-time legacy.
- belorn 14y agoA good example is anonymous. Are their leaks working as effective for change as Wikileaks was?
- redthrowaway 14y agoThe times when Anonymous and Wikileaks work together seem to produce some of the best results for both. See: Stratfor, Scientology.
- illuminate 14y ago"True, but I think that is is often very strong/odd characters, who are willing to dedicate their life for "big" fights" At what point does one's narcissism become more than the cause? "Case and point: Not a single relevant leak has reached my attention from all the split-up groups that aimed to do better than Wikileaks" I don't think many of Assange's sincere critics wish for Wikileaks to collapse, they want him to step down from its operations.
- richardjordan 14y ago...so is the alleged narcissism a worse wrong doing than what's being exposed? The only thing protecting Assange from having been bundled into a jet and whisked off to Guantanamo by now is his rather high personal profile. It's not like his enemies don't have a track record here...
- illuminate 14y ago"...so is the alleged narcissism a worse wrong doing than what's being exposed?" No, and that's not what was stated. What he was alleged to have done would be a wrong, as are many things Wikileaks covers. Does Wikileaks require Assange to do exactly what they're doing? They don't need such a figurehead. "The only thing protecting Assange from having been bundled into a jet and whisked off to Guantanamo by now is his rather high personal profile. It's not like his enemies don't have a track record here..." The second contradicts the first, there is nothing about his high profile that protects him from being whisked off. Those forces aren't particularly concerned about the media operating independently from the governmental interests.
- richardjordan 14y agoAssange became a cause célèbre in the UK long enough to make it difficult to get him extradited quickly. Doesn't mean he can hold those pressures off forever. The same media which profited from his leaks is the media whose portrait of him you're choosing to accept unless you know him personally. The arguments on here are pretty much exclusively about this alleged personality.
- illuminate 14y ago"The same media which profited from his leaks is the media whose portrait of him you're choosing to accept unless you know him personally" I really have no interest in "media" portrayal, and I certainly don't want to enable their continued "successes", as dim as they are, but I do take sexual assault charges and evasion seriously. The profile makes it easier for him to avoid them and find supporters to fund/house him, but I don't see how it would stop a government from whisking him off if they were able to.