Althouse: "We felt that Wikileaks was developing in the wrong direction... There's too much concentration of power in one organisation; too much responsibility; too many bottlenecks..."

December 13, 2010

"We felt that Wikileaks was developing in the wrong direction... There's too much concentration of power in one organisation; too much responsibility; too many bottlenecks..."

Coming soon: "Openleaks."

24 comments:

Titus said...: It's fucking cold and awful out here.

The roads are a mess.

How do you live here Mary?; 12/13/10, 12:03 PM
Titus said...: The poor rare clumbers can't even find a decent place to pinch their morning loaves. And when the squirt out of their adorable asses the loaves are literally steaming.; 12/13/10, 12:05 PM
Clyde said...: I think that ANY organiZation that can't SPELL organiZation properly is developing in the wrong direction.; 12/13/10, 12:09 PM
Toad Trend said...: Hmmm....kind of has a ring of 'big government' to it, now doesn't it!; 12/13/10, 12:13 PM
Rialby said...: Someone needs to start leaking the private details of these motherfucker's lives i.e. how many times they've cheated on their partners, how much credit card debt they have, who they have fucked over in the past, etc.; 12/13/10, 12:21 PM
rhhardin said...: In Wales it's Wikileeks.; 12/13/10, 12:55 PM
Penny said...: Information just wants to be free...except for the name of Anonymous.

Of course we all know Anonymous from our time on the internet. No axes to grind. Right?; 12/13/10, 1:01 PM
lemondog said...: Government contracting for an ark to be built?

Where are the plumbers when you need them.; 12/13/10, 1:03 PM
alan markus said...: Just imagine, a whole bunch of copycat sites springing up all over the place. Kind of like the proliferation of blogs - so many, that it all becomes inane background noise.

I must say, the potential to anonymously submit bogus "secrets" sounds like fun.

Titus, it's time to prepare for the big time - take your act international. Create an interesting expose' and upload it.; 12/13/10, 1:15 PM
Peter Hoh said...: I liked it better the first time, when it was called Post Secret.; 12/13/10, 1:16 PM
BJM said...: @alan

Yeah, sort of the way the wire services and media publishes bogus photos/captions/stories their photogs and reporters make up to serve their preferred agenda.; 12/13/10, 1:37 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Someone needs to start leaking the private details of these motherfucker's lives i.e. how many times they've cheated on their partners, how much credit card debt they have, who they have fucked over in the past, etc."

Doesn't matter if their personal foibles aren't affecting the lives of millions. The lies of the various governments of the world are rather more in need of exposure than the sort of trivial personal behaviors you list here.

Or don't you see a difference?; 12/13/10, 1:43 PM
William said...: Putin said that Assange should win a Nobel. This from a guy who is president of a country where investigative journalists have the life span of a mayfly.....By Assange's own reckoning, the greatest crime that has thus far been revealed is that Hillary wanted to spy on UN diplomats. Wow. Who would ever have believed that our government could be so blameless?.....I would be more tolerant of these leaks if some high minded file clerk in Russia leaked info on government participation in the government sponsored murder of journalists. But, of course, that's why it will never happen. The leaker would not get the chance to play Daniel Ellsberg and have candlelit vigils in his honor. He would soon be another anonymous corpse in a land of anonymous corpses.....There's a difference between burning the flag and burning the Koran. It's the same difference as that between leaking on the US and leaking on brutish regimes.; 12/13/10, 1:48 PM
Larry J said...: Doesn't matter if their personal foibles aren't affecting the lives of millions. The lies of the various governments of the world are rather more in need of exposure than the sort of trivial personal behaviors you list here.

First, fire is part of the natual life-cycle of many types of trees but that doesn't justify arson.

Second, why is it only US government secrets that they're rushing to publish? I'm not seeing anyone (yet) leaking Russian or Chinese secrets. This is coming across more as an attack against the US than a crusade for freedom of information.

Third, if the secrets released leak to weakened diplomatic access, that could increase the possibility of war rather than decrease it. Likewise, the US military secrets released will likely lead directly or indirectly to the deaths of more US troops. To me, that constitutes an attack and should be delt with accordingly. Should Assage or any of his cohorts meet with a gruesome and unfortunate death, well that's just too damn bad.; 12/13/10, 1:59 PM
Revenant said...: Doesn't matter if their personal foibles aren't affecting the lives of millions.

The only way to be sure their personal foibles aren't affecting the lives of millions is to make the details of them public.; 12/13/10, 2:03 PM
Rialby said...: "The lies of the various governments of the world are rather more in need of exposure than the sort of trivial personal behaviors you list here."

Clearly I hate a big, lying government as much as yourself Bobby. Unfortunately, our government cannot conduct diplomacy in the open. You must know that being the brilliant man you are.

If international criminals insist on publishing state secrets, states should respond in kind.; 12/13/10, 2:05 PM
Rialby said...: "Third, if the secrets released leak to weakened diplomatic access, that could increase the possibility of war rather than decrease it. "

Amen. We should all hit our knees and pray that this new age of openness doesn't result in the deaths of millions of innocents.; 12/13/10, 2:06 PM
Rialby said...: Btw, what is it about asymmetrical warfare that Leftists just don't want to understand? Or is that they do not want to admit to asymmetrical warfare against the US because they support it?; 12/13/10, 2:16 PM
Triangle Man said...: I have not seen any discussion about the person with greatest culpability in the leaks. Whose decision was it to open access to all of those cables across such a broad range of users who had no need to see them? Some senior level administrator must have decided that openness was more important than preserving secrecy.; 12/13/10, 2:25 PM
Rialby said...: I had heard that they were opened as part of an effort to prevent another 9/11 (more openness results in greater chances of cooperation). That seems plausible and, given the ineptitude of government, probable.; 12/13/10, 2:28 PM
Crimso said...: "Or don't you see a difference?"

How about when FDR said the B-25's came from "Shangri La?" Was that lie okay? We need a baseline to determine when it's okay for a government to lie before we start exposing any lies. I trust neither you nor Julian Assange to establish that baseline. Nothing personal.; 12/13/10, 3:17 PM
traditionalguy said...: The common phrase, "Knowledge is power" is actually untrue. What is power is the keeping of secrets...and therefore back handedly, another takes away that power by revealing the secrets. Wikileaks is on the cutting edge of ending governmental power with digital caches of "No Longer Secret".; 12/13/10, 3:26 PM
Larry J said...: Triangle Man said...
I have not seen any discussion about the person with greatest culpability in the leaks. Whose decision was it to open access to all of those cables across such a broad range of users who had no need to see them? Some senior level administrator must have decided that openness was more important than preserving secrecy.

The PFC who allegedly copied and released all of those files is awaiting court marshal next year.

After 9/11, there was a lot of talk about different government agenices failing to connect the dots. The emphasis changed from "need to know" to "need to share." The push to open up classified info to people with the proper clearance and SIPRNET access was one of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, among others. They just didn't anticipate some asswipe copying all of that info illegally and releasing it.; 12/13/10, 3:31 PM
Unknown said...: adding to William. Putin also threatened the "mole"( "we know who is") who leaked the details about the Kaos group led by Ann Chapman
Putin number of gun marks: 130 bankers. 120 journalists
and one spy claiming internal job in Chechenya; 12/13/10, 5:30 PM