WikiLeaks & Me: Employing My Right To Be Informed

Edit: read this article too when you're done. I agree wholeheartedly: http://sofiaecho.com/2010/12/23/1016331_secrecy-is-the-problem-not-leakers

That's right, for once I'm talking politics. I've been avoiding doing a post on this for a while now, but I'll post now, because I want in on this moment in history. To preface, I started reading WikiLeaks before the press took a huge notice of it. I read the documents and cables, and I fully support the leaking of this material. There is a fine line between protecting people and withholding  information, and the State has crossed this line, in my opinion. Just to note: WikiLeaks has leaked much about other gov't secrets too, not just the U.S. Another note: to address the Julian Assange issue: while I have no comment as to whether or not he should be tried (or is guilty of) rape and exposing classified information, I will say that his guilt or lack thereof shouldn't impact how you view the documents that WikiLeaks as a whole has released. "Don't shoot the messenger", or in this case, the fact that the messenger might have dirty hands shouldn't colour your opinion of the message. Now: onto the meat.

This is largely an agreement with the Can't hide love for WikiLeaks article, and I suggest you go read it. Our government is throwing a fit over what Julian refers to as his "Forced Move", which are the leaks. They seek to keep our (the collective America) knowledge limited, making us mindless followers of our elected leader. "You elected him, let him do his job" is what I hear the U.S. say. I'm not advocating that we all become nutters who think the government is trying to keep us all complacent by tainting our food and things of that nature (I know some of those people, and I wanna punch them in the face), but I am saying take a good hard look at what information is being presented to you. Examine the leaks, examine the response given by the U.S. and by the world, and decide for yourself. Don't be a brainless idiot, because then those that want to keep information limited have already won. Don't let them keep secrets from their own citizens.

On secrets, I feel I have to make a point about democracy. In order for democracy to work, the State has to be transparent to its people. The voters cannot make good decisions unless we know exactly what is going on, even before it happens. I'm not saying that the State should turn to other countries and say "Hey! Here's all our secret information.", and that certainly is a danger of being transparent with its voters, but we are a democracy after all, and we need to make informed decisions. That information should be made accessible to us, it's our right. Whether or not we use it is up to us.

A quick note for twitter followers of WikiLeaks, And what really ruffled my feathers the other day, is the Twitter Subpoena for all the available information of everyone who followed them. This includes (if possible) the ip addresses, usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, real names, credit card info, and more of EVERYONE. Now, they're probably only using it to track the heads of WikiLeaks, but this poses an issue for me: I've always wondered if I'd ever need to hide my digital self from the State, and now it seems like I do. All because I did something like read information that should have been available to me in the first place, I may be on a watchlist. What's next? We round up everyone who has ever read a banned book? Knows how to secure information? Use encrypted communications? It seems rather far-fetched, and I hope it never comes, but what  if it does? There's talk of the U.S. wanting to give every American a digital ID, so they can follow what we do on the internet (the claim is so they can help fight fraud, which it would indeed do). If it comes to that, what will the uninformed mass do? Go right along with it I suppose. But I hope not. I hope we realize that some things are a bit too private, even though that may sound hypocritical. It isn't though. A democracy requires that our State be transparent, not the voters. That's what our bill of rights is for. I can honestly say that I grumbled when I learned of the Patriot Act. Allowing our government to search without warrant and detain without probable cause? That's a bit much. And yet, it was passed by both the House and the Senate swiftly. Where were our masses then? Remaining uninformed, I presume.

I guess, if you've actually bothered reading this far, your takeaway should be to be informed. Don't let all your media come from only one source. Read WikiLeaks, visit the BBC website, all that stuff. Even if it's boring, if it pertains to your privacy, read it.

One final thing: for those of you that don't read WikiLeaks, give it a go. Get informed. They have over 1,000 mirrors, but you can find them easiest at http://213.251.145.96