subject: Leaking Information Online [print this page] Many more people use the internet than understand how it works. In some cases this drives ignorance about privacy and in others it creates paranoia. You often hear people saying things like "I don't want my personal information up online, what happens if someone finds it?" Those people of course, would be unlikely to join social media networks such as Facebook. I always say, once you've published information online, anticipate that someone could find it, despite your minor privacy settings.
WikiLeaks brought information leaking to a whole new level. WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks and whistleblowers. For some WikiLeaks was revolutionary, liberating and the very movement that needed to take place for progress to occur and human, political, social and environmental injustices to cease. After all, governments may hold all the cards but that doesn't mean that they always play them the right way. And when they are the ones creating and enforcing the laws it can be difficult for regular citizens to do much about the realities they find themselves in.
On the other hand, that control was given to them for a reason. Politicians have set agendas that they need to follow and some information needs to remain confidential for the security of the country. By publishing private documents and conversations without any editing or context, WikiLeaks was stirring the pot. They were instilling fear and chaos where it didn't need to be.
Of course, newspapers, book publishers and content creators in general were desperate for the content that Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' Director, had access to. The UK's Guardian newspaper created a contract with Assange where they would be able to publish WikiLeaks information providing they had the consent of Assange or an authorised representative. This raised eyebrows internationally as it begs the question - who is controlling our news? And isn't it hypocritical that The Guardian, an acclaimed news source can't publish information that was stolen in the first place?
What's even more hypocritical is the story that came out in today's news. Assange is throwing a hissy fit about the fact that his UK publisher, Canongate, printed and distributed an unauthorised 70,000 world first draft of his autobiography. In any other instance, I would agree that this is an inexcussable breach of contact, but my sympathy diminishes almost entirely when it comes to a person who has made a living and international reputation from leaking very important information and has caused global problems in doing so. Sounds a bit like karma has gotten Mr. Assange.
The lesson to take from this article is not about Mr. Assange's specific case but about privacy over the internet. There are millions of hackers around the world, and in most cases hackers aren't even necessary to get the type of information needed to 'out' a person. Be careful about the types of photos and content you publish on social networking sites like Facebook because bosses, parents and friends can see it. We may all want our five minutes of fame, but what are you going to do with yours?
by: Tamara Jacobs
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