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Originally Posted by knox
There is no crime in what Wikileaks did.
Also, if you're working for a company they may ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement. However, if you find any information about criminal activity it's ok for you to break that contract, in fact, you could even face charges if you don't.
What Manning did was exactly that. He witnesses a war crime and he wanted to make it public. He used his access to find out more about it and other crimes. He probably wanted the responsible for these crimes to be stopped and judged.
Terrorism and spying apply to getting illegal access to information in order to commit crimes, acts of violence or obtain power for yourself or a group. This man should not be in jail, he was denouncing crimes and lies that interest not only the american people, but the entire world.
Laws are being ignored in order to punish and silence these people. Countries and companies are ignoring procedures and depriving people of their rights and assets.
As for being "underground" their goal is not to be "cool" and have a few people read the website regularly. The goal is to get people's attention.
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Morally, of course there is no crime in fact it is a virtue what they are doing. But from an existing legal standpoint, to solicit people to commit a crime is a crime, and further it is in poor taste to solicit people to commit potentially capital crimes in then sell out for the mainstream, that puts a lot of people in vulnerable positions. So you think they only arrested this dude on that trumped up sex crime (of which he has yet to be formally charged with by the way) or is it just subterfuge to allow the system the opportunity to put the heat on this guy and his organization to give up they black book?
The system is nervous, that is for sure, and according to the system to steal secret and sensitive material is indeed a crime, which many people are currently incarcerated for, including the military renegade who initially sent wikileaks this material in the first place! I do not support it being a crime, but since it is, I can only logically promote a pirate approach.
Should it be a crime, of course not, but it thus remains one, and potentially a capital crime at that. So should wikileaks have NOT distributed the material in fear of the laws, no, but they should have been a bit more cautious, that is all. Going mainstream from a DIY platform was a mistake, and that is clear and obvious in light of the current situations.
Kudos for wikileaks for having some balls, but unfortunately I must criticise their abandonment of DIY/pirate integrity.
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Originally Posted by knox
Suchfriends, you don't seem to understand that this was the goal. They're not "being bitten in the ass", this is the plan.
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what plan was that? To get villified while also getting arrested and potentially putting all their sources at risk of also getting arrested in having gone so public? Just because wikileaks can keep releasing material on shadow servers and mirror links does not mean the system is not putting the heat on them, we do not know what is happening behind closed doors, or what has happened with wikileaks black book.