Wikileaks releases US Cables

[Sionnach Glic]

Germany suffered some major embarressment not too long ago as well. As did, I believe, quite a few other countries in the EU.

Well, for better or for worse, the Brits have just arrested Assange. It'll be interesting to see where this all goes. I think we all agree here that Assange's arrest isn't going to do anything to Wikileaks itself, but they've been threatening to release some sort of major bit of information in the even that he was arrested.

[Tyyr]

That right there proves that this thing needs to end. Wikileaks isn't publishing whatever they get but holding onto things to release when it suits them. This dick knew he could get his ass in a sling so he saved some juicy secret in case he got in trouble. Totally counter to what Wikileaks was supposed to be and proves this guy isn't in it out of some do-gooder mentality.

[Deepcrush]

He's a terrorist, they have one place on this earth where they belong and that's in their graves.

[Captain Seafort]

He's a terrorist, they have one place on this earth where they belong and that's in their graves.

Why? Killing people only makes martyrs out of them. Having them stare at a cell wall for however many decades of life they've got left is a far better solution.

[Lighthawk]

You can still make a living martyr out of a guy "wrongfully" imprisoned. Not saying I agree that he deserves death, but keeping him alive is hardly a guaranteed method that no one is going to try and use him as a symbol for a cause.

[Sionnach Glic]

Any action taken against him that's percieved to be injust will only make matters worse. Not only would it piss a lot of people off, but it would pretty heavily damage the reputation of any country seen to be involved in any excesively long imprisonment / dissapearing / execution / whatever of this guy. Also, just what effect would removing Assange have? Absolutely none. Assange is the public face of Wikileaks. Nothing more. He probably has very little actual control over what goes on there, particularly given how often he keeps moving around. His removal would do absolutely nothing to Wikileaks. Except perhaps to make the guys who are actually running the show that little bit more careful about where they go and what they do in public. Additionaly, Assange's removal would simply result in someone else stepping up to take his place within a short period of time.

In short, removing Assange would only serve to "prove" he was right in the eyes of quite a lot of people, while doing nothing to stop the leaks themselves (remember - Wikileaks only publishes what other people give it, it doesn't go looking for stuff itself).

[Deepcrush]

He's a terrorist, they have one place on this earth where they belong and that's in their graves.

Why? Killing people only makes martyrs out of them. Having them stare at a cell wall for however many decades of life they've got left is a far better solution.

Everyone dies sooner or later. Fact is this guy is a terrorist and is inspiring others to be like him. There's one thing that you do with someone like that, you take them and their support base out. Prison does nothing but put one of his followers in charge or he leads from behind bars. Its only a better solution if you're trying to screw yourself over.

[Tsukiyumi]

I think this guy Jester has the right idea.

Don't worry about the people running this crap; just shut the sites down as often as possible.

Of course, the real issue, as SG pointed out, is that these assclowns have any information to publish at all. We need to plug those leaks.

Last time I checked, treason was an executable offense.

[SolkaTruesilver]

I think this guy Jester has the right idea.

Don't worry about the people running this crap; just shut the sites down as often as possible.

Of course, the real issue, as SG pointed out, is that these assclowns have any information to publish at all. We need to plug those leaks.

Last time I checked, treason was an executable offense.

I thought it was treason in a time of war. Or something like that. Aren't there multiple layers of treason?

[Sionnach Glic]

Getting back on track, AFAIK it's possible for US citizens to be executed for treason outside of wartime. Weren't the people who leaked info on the atomic bomb to the Soviets executed for treason? No state of war existed there.

Trying to shut down the Wikileaks site itself hits the same problem as trying to take out Assange. They're just the public face of something far larger and more abstract. If Assange disappears, someone else just steps up to his position within a few weeks. If Wikileaks is taken down, another site would appear within a few weeks. Short of locking up everyone who thinks Wikileaks has the right idea, such a tactic will never work. It's the exact same reason the "War On Terror" was always doomed to fail - it's an objective that, quite simply, can never be achieved.

Wikileaks is nothing more than the medium through which the leaks are distributed. Even if all Wikileaks style sites were outlawed (which would obviously never happen anyway), those leaking the classified information in question would simply resort to sending it to newspapers, one of which would eventually publish it.

If you want to stop this sort of thing, you have to go straight to the source of the information - the leakers themselves. And even that battle may well be an unwinnable one.

[Sionnach Glic]

The discussion on whether the US is at war has been split to here.

[Deepcrush]

SG, thats why I included his coworkers in the hit list...

Hitting him and leaving everyone else just does the same bit of good as arresting him and leaving everyone else... absolutely nothing.

[stitch626]

Or, you just hack the site and imbed thousands of viruses and spyware, so that everyone who logs onto the site gets overdose infections and then blame Wikileaks for their problems.

[Nickswitz]

That's really smart, and really devious...

[Sionnach Glic]

Then Wikileaks lets everyone know the site was hacked, and whichever government orchestrated it gets a massive PR blow for being seen to take action against them. Instant backfire.

Also, I'm pretty sure Wikileaks has been hit with shitloads of hacking attempts already. They're probably more than capable of completely removing and replacing the site with a back-up quite quickly.