Idle banter forum

So far most of it just seems to be gossip stuff. No startling revelations. Hard to say how some will use the information. Instead of blaming Wikileaks the US should look at it's own security a little better. The first batch was attributed to a private. How would someone of that rank with little time in service have access to such sensitive information. I would hate to be Assange right now though. He has successfully irritated a lot of governments. A lot of the rightwingers in America are calling for his head.

I think it has been a bit of a mixed bag so far -- by that I mean some of it has made for interesting reading, but there hasn't been much so far that has really been all that surprising. Governments don't always tell the truth, diplomats spy on each other and weapons get sold to punters who probably shouldn't be getting them. Gross simplification I know, but nothing too earthshattering.

Earlier in the week WL alluded to another cache of files regarding a major US bank. I think, should that be released, it would be much more interesting. I assume it will demonstrate some kind of corporate evilness that you come to expect from the banks, but will be interesting to see if the govts that are currently busy trying to shutdown WL would then act to prosecute on the basis of docs WL release

Coming to a cinema near you no doubt.

I have a couple of problems with wikileaks.

The first one is that they release information even if it puts peoples lives at risk. They don't seem to have any kind of ethical filter.

Two, they defacto target almost exclusively western democracies. This is the best form of government we have on the planet, and by damaging its principals we are doing a favor to regimes such as North Koreas and Irans. Why aren't they targetting these detestable regimes? Because they can't.

Much of what they have released appears to have been done so with the intent to embarass governments. I don't see anything constructive in that.

Indeed Neosho. Expose journalism can be useful, because it is specifically targetting abuses within the system, which allows a free and open society to correct those abuses and make its country a better place for its citizenry. But the shotgun approach just doesn't do that. It kills the illegimate and the legitimate together and it seems to me the consequences are harmful to all.