Your opinion please.

[killaimdie]

Any enemy to the truth is an enemy to freedom. This guy definitely isn't a hero but neither is he a villain, he's just a face for wikileaks, which is the most popular of this type of website. A whole lot of 'important' people are butthurt because they were stupid enough to say this shit on record.

[DRKWNG]

A whole lot of 'important' people are butthurt because they were stupid enough to say this shit on record.

The issue is SO much more complicated than that.  But hey, you're welcome to your opinion. 

[il d00d]

Who's butthurt?
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/03/131778764/foreign-policy-diplomats-secretly-love-wikileaks
Most cables are sent anonymously - if you see a name attached one, it is typically the diplomat or chief of mission or Secretary of State, who is not necessarily the author.

There's truth and disclosure.  As far as I know these leaks didn't expose blatant (and let's say specific) lies on the part of the administrations, just revealed what we didn't see before.  If you want to say those two things are the same, that would be a pretty interesting debate.

I'd say Assange is not just the face of wikileaks, he's more or less the backbone. Check out the New Yorker Article I posted before.  If your point was more like he's the lightning rod, then yes, I would say that's about right.  But he constructed a pretty big lightning-attracting tower for himself.

[derby]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/ron-paul-what-wikileaks/

[ducatiz]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/ron-paul-what-wikileaks/

"What we need is more WikiLeaks about the Federal Reserve," he said. "Can you imagine what it'd be like if we had every conversation in the last 10 years with our Federal Reserve people, the Federal Reserve chairman, with all the central bankers of the world and every agreement or quid-pro-quo they have? It would be massive. People would be so outraged."

THAT i can agree with

but of course, this is bordering on pool-of-ticks

[gojira]

Leaks can be both beneficial in many ways and damaging in many ways, so he's neither a hero nor a villain.

Personally, I think he's stupid to be spitting out teasers of pending releases. Just release the information without fanfare. By teasing he's taunting, which raises questions about his motivations and therefore his credibility. This never ends well, especially when the website may be useful as these articles suggest at the L.A. Times and Huffington Post.

Also, he could hugely help his standing IMO if he now released information on other governments in the world stage such as China and Russia that may offset what he did with U.S. information. However, based on what I've read, I'd have to say the published details in of themselves have amounted to no surprise. It may not have been truly public, but I wouldn't doubt the numerous players involved on both sides of the fences already knew all this now and in future leaks anyway.

And, if you really want to shut down the voice of Wikileaks, what's to stop governments and corporations from "leaking" information to Wikileaks thats nothing more than disinformation to counteract the shocking revelations of other leaked details? The result of this information / disinformation back and forth will get to the point of OK, so now what is there to believe? In the end Wikileaks will become mute anyway.

[ducatiz]

Also, he could hugely help his standing IMO if he now released information on other governments in the world stage such as China and Russia that may offset what he did with U.S. information.

They would be in Chinese and Russian.  No one would read them.   

Well, more to the point, he would have to broaden his talent base and provide translation services..

[gojira]

They would be in Chinese and Russian.  No one would read them.   

Well, more to the point, he would have to broaden his talent base and provide translation services..

Sounds like he's already worldwide in "staffing" so this is probably covered.

[ducatiz]

Sounds like he's already worldwide in "staffing" so this is probably covered.

Well, he screw that up (no pun intended) in Sweden.. twice..

[DRKWNG]

Well, the simple fact that he stated a while back that he was actively trying to damage America kind of shows that his intentions are not to support transparency.  Plus, he probably knows that his days would quickly become numbered if he started doing something like this to the Russians, as their way of dealing with him would most likely be much more direct.

[derby]

Respected media outlets collaborate with WikiLeaks

[ducatiz]

And the NY Times famously buried the story of Stalin's Ukrainian famine, refusing to print photos and stories from reporters.  News media serve their own purposes.

[DRKWNG]

News media serve their own purposes.

Exactly

[ungeheuer]

They would be in Chinese and Russian.  No one would read them.   

Well, more to the point, he would have to broaden his talent base and provide translation services..

Точное замечено. Он верояÑ,но не подумал Ñ,ого. Удачно я Ñ...иÑ,ро лингуисÑ,ка!!

[mitt]

Sounds like he is in the gray bar hotel in London today.

mitt