How secret is too secret? It's a secret.

"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

Remember that quote? It's from Eric Schmidt, and we addressed it during our first week of reading. I rejected that statement then as it applied to the public sector of internet users, and I reject as it applies to governments as well. International diplomacy and national defense are complex issues, and with so many different interests at work, it is necessary to keep some communications under wraps.

But it's difficult to discuss issues of secrecy when we're dealing with a concept as nebulous as, well, secrets. How can those of us in the civilian sector say that the government is hiding too much when we don't know what they're hiding? Likewise, how can we say with absolute surety that the government deserves the right to secrets when we don't know what they might be keeping from us, and of what use it might be?

Despite being anti-Wikileaks, Jaron Lanier summarizes exactly why we need it: "There is certainly an ever-present danger of betrayal. Too much power can accrue to those we have sanctioned to hold confidences, and thus we find that keeping a democracy alive is hard, imperfect, and infuriating work." Any government should ultimately be at the service of its people, and the degree to which it keeps secrets should be a carefully measured means to the end that is the safety and well-being of the populace.

Wikileaks is not just a website. It's a movement, and it demonstrates a surprisingly widespread desire to look deeper into the workings of our own government. If we didn't have such an opposing force, we could sleepily drift into a kind of subtle fascism -- a Secret State, you might say. The fact that Wikileaks has American supporters shows a healthy level of skepticism for government, not a vengeful desire to tear it apart completely.

We may find ourselves pushing too far. Assange's politics are becoming more lucid, but Wikileaks is ultimately a wildcard organization. We are essentially watching from the sidelines as a largely anonymous group chooses to release or self-censor various sensitive documents. Is this dangerous? We have to find out.

However, we can't make much progress on either side by resorting to immature and ineffective tactics like DDOS. As The Economist notes, they are no substitute for a real protest. Neither is attempting to remove Wikileaks from the internet a permanent or level-headed solution. The best response by governments worldwide will be to engage in dialog with Wikileaks and prove that they are responsible enough to maintain their own transparency.