If you haven’t heard of Wikileaks you’re either living under a rock or you don’t watch/read the news, i.e. you’re a teenager.
Just to give you some background information, in case you are any of the above, Wikileaks was created in 2007 by Julian Assange. It’s a website, much like Wikipedia or facebook but their goal is to; “bring important news and information to the public.” (Wikileaks, 2007, para. 1) And in the view of some people, through semi-illegal and immoral means.
Pretty much, anyone who wants to leak something about a government, company, business or person can do so by sending classified, informative documents to Wikileaks. Julian Assange and his team of journalists then check the information, cover up their source, make sure it’s true and post the document on their website.
They’ve had an array of documents come in from reports from Guantanamo Bay to CIA reports, to Church of Scientology leaks.
In the view of Julian Assange; “democratic societies need a strong media and Wikileaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest.”
Despite this strong moral ideal of Wikileaks many people oppose it, especially governments. Access to the website has been stopped in the People’s Republic of China. Thailand has censored the website. The Australian Communication and Media Authority are attempting to blacklist Wikileaks. In America in the Library of Congress the site has been blocked. The U.S. army, the FBI and the Justice Department are all considering ways to take Julian Assange to court. All Federal Government staff have been blocked from entering the website.
Yet what right do these governments have in blocking the website? And what right does the American government have in taking Assange to court? He has done nothing wrong. He does not hack computers for information. He does not steal information. He is not a citizen of the US so he isn’t committing treason for releasing the documents. All he and his team of journalist’s do is accept the documents, check them and release them to the public.
And really, what right do democratic governments have in keeping secrets from their citizens?
References:
Wikileaks. (2007). About. Retrieved from http://www.wikileaks.ch/About.html
Julian Assange. (2010). Don’t Shoot Messenger for Revealing Uncomfortable Truths. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332
