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Can you imagine the conspiracy theories that Assange would be spewing on twitter if his emails were hacked and published. He would demonize the hackers, accuse

by steve19 12y ago

Can you imagine the conspiracy theories that Assange would be spewing on twitter if his emails were hacked and published. He would demonize the hackers, accuse the CIA, the NSA, MI5/6 etc. of colluding, and his friends at the Guardian would be writing pages of vitriol railing against the hackers/cia/nsa/mi5. But Hollywood screwed Assange with The Fifth Estate so now they are fair game. He would have prefered to publish Disney emails, but this leaks plenty of conversations about Disney, or that reference Disney, so I guess its good enough. I thought Wikileaks jumped the shark with "Collateral Murder", but this just about puts them in the same league as the worst elements of the NSA. If Sony broke the law, they could have selectively published those emails. Yesterday is was the military, todays is large corporations, next I guess Wikileaks will publish the accounts of prominent individuals they don't like. For the record, I think any mainstream media that republish these emails are just as bad as Wikileaks.

hnnewguy 12y ago
>If Sony broke the law, they could have selectively published those emails. I think the point is to not be selective. Release the info, and let people do with it as they may.
pjc50 12y ago
QV the UK press "hacking" scandals. The problem is the role of press and activists as a sort of citizen's law enforcement branch. The rule of law is not strong enough that crimes committed by powerful individuals, companies, militaries, and so on will be actually investigated. So scandals must be uncovered from the outside. But the public is also quite hungry for non-illegal scandal. WRT "Collateral Murder", what do you think is the correct way to investigate war crimes when you know the military involved will not punish them internally?
- steve19 12y ago
  I dont have any issue with publishing the video. I have issue with them spinning it. And they did not just spin it, they edited it for effect. Pointing at other corrupt organizations and saying they also have done wrong that went unpunished (although as far as I know the UK hacking did not go unpublished), does not justify doing wrong. The irony of course is that Assange is hiding in London precisely to avoid appearing in court. But I also acknowledge we all have a different set of morals. For some the ends justifies the means. I personally believe the ends never justify the means. The ends justifies the means is usually what war criminals claim to be their justification.
  - pjc50 12y ago
    I wasn't pointing out the UK hacking as an unpunished wrong, I was saying that there are certain wrongs which (in practice) can only be exposed by (potentially illegal) leaks. A better example from the UK might be the widespread allegations of uninvestigated child abuse by members of the establishment that I'm not going to name for fear of libel litigation.
sarciszewski 12y ago
> Can you imagine the conspiracy theories that Assange would be spewing on twitter if his emails were hacked and published. LOL good luck! They're behind seven proxies. </meme> But seriously, if someone pulled a WikiLeaks on WikiLeaks that would probably go over well. Hats off to great exploits and whatnot.

by steve19 12y ago

hnnewguy 12y ago

>If Sony broke the law, they could have selectively published those emails. I think the point is to not be selective. Release the info, and let people do with it as they may.

pjc50 12y ago

QV the UK press "hacking" scandals. The problem is the role of press and activists as a sort of citizen's law enforcement branch. The rule of law is not strong enough that crimes committed by powerful individuals, companies, militaries, and so on will be actually investigated. So scandals must be uncovered from the outside. But the public is also quite hungry for non-illegal scandal. WRT "Collateral Murder", what do you think is the correct way to investigate war crimes when you know the military involved will not punish them internally?

steve19 12y ago
I dont have any issue with publishing the video. I have issue with them spinning it. And they did not just spin it, they edited it for effect. Pointing at other corrupt organizations and saying they also have done wrong that went unpunished (although as far as I know the UK hacking did not go unpublished), does not justify doing wrong. The irony of course is that Assange is hiding in London precisely to avoid appearing in court. But I also acknowledge we all have a different set of morals. For some the ends justifies the means. I personally believe the ends never justify the means. The ends justifies the means is usually what war criminals claim to be their justification.
- pjc50 12y ago
  I wasn't pointing out the UK hacking as an unpunished wrong, I was saying that there are certain wrongs which (in practice) can only be exposed by (potentially illegal) leaks. A better example from the UK might be the widespread allegations of uninvestigated child abuse by members of the establishment that I'm not going to name for fear of libel litigation.

sarciszewski 12y ago

> Can you imagine the conspiracy theories that Assange would be spewing on twitter if his emails were hacked and published. LOL good luck! They're behind seven proxies. </meme> But seriously, if someone pulled a WikiLeaks on WikiLeaks that would probably go over well. Hats off to great exploits and whatnot.