Wikileaks needs to be stopped. Government documents are classified for a reason. We as a society are becoming spoiled teenagers who walk around with a false sense of entitlement. While, yes we live in a free country, the access or ability to view and have things at are disposal is not all inclusive. These documents are kept from the public to protect our country and the people attemting to serve it.
While they are many who argue that these should be matters of a public nature, I strongly disagree. The ramifications of making such documents public are far greater than the benefits of having "ousted" the government. Documents of this nature could affect you on a much more personal level if placed in the wrong hands. Besides providing names of people who work for the government, how long do you think it will be before positions of our troops is released? How long until the oppposing country knows exactly where to attack our troops? How long before your loved one who is serving in the military is killed all because you felt entitled to know? While, yes these may seem far-fetched scenarios for now, ask yourself how quickly do you think it will go there? Once someone, especially web related, is given an inch they will take a mile especially if there are no consequences to follow.
Does it mean that the government is perfect in my opinion or does not make their fair share of mistakes? Hell no! We are all aware of how many crooked politicians are in office. However, ultimately this is the agency in place for our well-being and protection. So completely disarming them or at the very least making them ill equipped to do their job in an attempt to "correct" the government seems a little unintelligent on our parts. When the governement or politicians has made errors they need to be dealt with, yes, but not in this fashion.
When it comes to Wikileaks "bringing down big companies" I still am against it. While they may not pose a threat national security it still is not the right way to handle a person or people who have committed a crime. We have laws in place to do that. And as far as making it public knowledge...isn't that what the media is for? As the article "The Rights and Wrongs of Hactivism" states : "Posses and vigilantes, online and off, mete out rough justice at best. That is no substitute for the real thing."
You say that media should be making things public, not WIkileaks, however, Wikileaks is pretty much a social MEDIA outlet. Also, yes, we've got authorities to bust these schemes and crooked business going on with our money and what have you, but it seems as though none of those busts compare to the cracks that WIkileaks has made, Plus, i think another reason why people may be siding with Wikileaks is because its ordinary people doing the hacking, not police officers bc,let's be honest, many people view all government officials or authorities to be crooks, so who knows whether the police are trying to cover something up and/or putting on a show... instead of telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteYou say that by having the Wikileaks, our politicians and government become ill-equipped to do their jobs. However, most would say they are already in that position since as of late our country has been going downhill.
ReplyDeleteThe unfortunate thing is our media does not always let us know the shady things our government is doing. Sometimes it takes someone willing to risk it all to get necessary information out, and that's not the media.
I strongly agree with you, there is certain information that could be made public, some should not as you stated. Documents of this nature could affect you on a much more personal level if placed in the wrong hands.
ReplyDeleteThese documents are kept from the public to protect our country and the people attemting to serve it. The attacks on our troops, & military personal being killed is not as far fetched as you or any of us know. They are on alert at all times, moving location, being on guard and it is almost never public knowledge when they are attack.
I am also against Wikileaks targeting major coorperations and such. Perhaps more restraint needs to be used, such as if they discover something illegal, reporting it to the proper authorities for investigation instead of blabbing it to the world. Their possibly ill-gotten sources of information worry me. It gets me wondering about Wikileaks cloak and dagger agents snooping around trying to dig up dirt for the sheer purpose of bringing a person, company, or government to its knees.
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