As parliament closes for summer, the news on British politics dries up a little. This, however, is not to stop wider issues continuing to rage on and pose new debates. I would like to use this post to briefly open a debate about the website Wikileaks (http://wikileaks.org/).
Wikileaks, for those who are new to the webpage, is ‘a public service designed to protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public’. Julian Assange, the founder of the website, receives documents from people from across the globe who wish to leak information on a vast range of different issues, such as war in Afghanistan, and he publishes them. This has meant that confidential documents belonging to the CIA regarding events taken place around the world are available for viewing by me or you with a few simple clicks of the mouse.
Many are thinking and arguing that this is a great thing, the Time magazine claiming ‘(Wikileaks) could become as important a journalistic tool as the Freedom of Information Act’. Let us briefly look at the arguments for and against the availability of this new tool:
The release of this information has shed evidence of vast civilian casualties in areas in which the US and UK’s forces are operating. With more people knowing about the atrocities that come with every war, it will become harder for governments to lead their country to war. Furthermore, armies will have to be more careful to reduce the number of civilian casualties because of the increased transparency of journalism, making war safer in the future. Wikileaks itself argues this very point; the increased scrutiny the website provides leads to stronger democracies, less corruption and better government.
However, although it is interesting to ‘have a nosey through secret documents’, is it really wise to have top secret documents containing information about nation’s military and economic capabilities available to everyone in the world? Furthermore, Wikileaks has failed to read through all the documents it publishes which shows a carelessness when handling such important information that is vital to every nation’s national security, but also has published the details of Afghan informants who risk their lives for our cause. The Taliban has already promised to punish all those they find on the list.
For me, it is clear that Wikileaks and its founder Assange have not thought through the full implications of their new journalistic tool. This also highlights the dangers of information sharing and the internets capability of seriously threatening the security of nations and its people. This, im sure, will be a topic debated much further…
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