To transparency. To truth. To hacking.
Touching on the topic hacking always reminds me of Steig Larsson's saga - Millennium trilogy - where Lisbeth Salander, the main character, is an extreme genius hacker which slips into the laptops of prominent political figures to determine truth.
She's looks like a teenage punk, weak and vulnerable; truth is, she is nowhere near that at all. She's smart, she's dangerous and she can any info she wants at all. What's worse, she's got an international network of anonymous hackers who does the same thing too. And a terrific journalist, Blomkvist to top it off.
Okay, I probably should stop my narration about the books, but through the books, hacking showed me a whole new light, it's not necessarily the bad guys (hackers) versus the good guys, but nowadays, it's the good guys (hackers) versus the bad guys. Similarly, the books sort of reflects to the case of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Hence, this week's reflection would be on Raffi Khatchadourian's 'No Secrets: Julian Assange's mission for total transparency'.
"WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices." - http://wikileaks.org/
With that said, who really is the mastermind behind WikiLeaks? The answer, is the tall mysterious Australian man, Julian Paul Assange. His mop of silvery white hair does remind me of Anderson Cooper, right? Point is, Julian and his team has shaken the world with their discovery on truth. On hard, raw truth of prominent parties, figures and organizations. Truth we didn't know but needed to.
Freedom of Information Act is no longer to be taken lightly when WikiLeaks, with bravado stood up and broadcast and expose to the world on dark evil things done behind everyone's back by the big boys. Of course I'm talking about the infamous case, 'Collateral Murder'. Take a look at the documentary done by WikiLeaks in publishing the truth about what happened in Iraq.
What do you think?
I think if it wasn't for this, I would be kept in the dark from things that I should know, from the things the society should know. If criminals were put to court and then pleaded guilty to jail, why shouldn't others as well who has done something wrong? Despite any statuses, what is wrong is wrong. There ought to be no secrets, the conclusion is just.
WikiLeaks receives about 30 submission a day and only posts the ones that is the most credible in its raw and unedited state. Imagine this, 30 submissions a day, from all over the world. This goes to say that, 'Collateral Murder' is merely the beginning, there are still a lot of behind the scenes that we're not aware of.
Hacking. Hacking was the only tool that made all of these possible. So have you changed your judgement towards hacking? Hacking doesn't necessarily means damaging or taking control of someone's computer and the information. Hacking can be just going into the system, extracting valuable information and then going back out without harming anything. At times these good hackers might just leave you a house visit gift by upgrading your system.
What do you guys think of WikiLeaks? Is it a breach of privacy? Think about the private and confidential information, is it really ethical to expose them? But think again, if these information are clouded with dark intentions and selfish purposes that concerns people, will it be more ethical to expose them? Which one is the real sin?
Well, we certainly do know what Julian Assange's pick is. But what about yours? Do you know what's behind the real scenes?
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My take is that what really concerns the benefit and welfare of people really should be taken into account for. Why let someone who has done wrong remain in the shadows and continue to exploit more and more? If a criminal gets caught for an offense, why must it be different for other wrong doers as well, albeit any status and class? An eye for an eye.
Alas, if these pricks aren't caught, ah well, Karma will do its work and come back and do its magic. (:
Hi Michelle!
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you started the post with story reference from the book. I've seen a movie similar to this (can't remember the name aiks) and it really impressed me with a whole new definition of hacking. I agree with you that the role of hackers today is almost a total opposite with their roles in the past. We tend to perceive hackers as the "system-destroyer" because they cause our computer networks & systems to malfunction. But today, we see that as a necessity for everything to be balanced out.
Irony, isn't it? Especially the part where good & evil shift between each other.
True that there aren't suppose to have any secrets organizations/government has to conceal from the public. Furthermore, with such huge control & responsibilities on their shoulders, they ought to earn the trust from the public to ensure that they can balance the nature of the society. But from what we can see today, it seems that there are more hidden truth than we expected. And this is where WikiLeaks came into place, as the "peacemaker".
I would not say that it is wrong for WikiLeaks to reveal any hidden secrets. The public has the right to know because they are part of the society. But we have to also remember that WikiLeaks does not solely reveal dark secrets, but also not-so-dark secrets that makes no space for the public to know. In my opinion, I think the main trigger that can actually shake the society is the essence of the "secrets" being revealed. Not necessary dark secrets, even secrets which have no mentioning purpose can mean differently to different individuals as well.
The main point is, WikiLeaks expose us to more "news". Just because they did not make it to the public's light it's not necessarily means that those are secrets. But again, this kind of news & the sources are very subjective. We have to also look at the reason why these "news" or "secrets" are being concealed in the first place first before we start accusing anyone.
So are we ready to reveal more secrets? Heeee.
Hai Michelle...a very well written article on hacking and the famous association of it with wiki leaks. I agree with su wern in the context that wikileaks very much exposes the actual truth and happening which is the most important part. However again as Su Wern said, some issues are very much subjective. Obviously we do not want any enemy country to get access to any of our government secrets. I suppose there should be a rational consorship board that might look into the contents on which is not advisable to put upon and vise versa.
ReplyDeleteHey Su Wern! Nicely said! Kudos for that! I'm glad that you agree WikiLeaks isn't all that bad because as a citizen, it is crucial to know the truth on issues that can affect humanity and our welfare. After all, we are all given rights, no matter how belittle one person is.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact on how you pointed out that WikiLeaks plays the role of a peacemaker to patch things up by releasing to us information we have never seen before but should be exposed to. With every truth presents solutions. When we know what's lies beneath the water, we can analyze and then make our judgments about the information WikiLeaks present to us.
Think of it this way, we need to know who the rulers are so we don't remain blindly jailed under their leadership. Of course what you've pointed out on the need to really understand the objective of such leaks at the first place before jumping on a wagon and pointing fingers.
Everything happens for a reason. If WikiLeaks were to air out a footage, there must be a reason why. From the 'Collateral Murder' video, I can see a lot of YouTube users going out of control starting a war by their comments. They mentioned the acts were justice but they don't see the whole picture of the murders being inhuman and ridiculous.
Thanks for the feedback Su Wern! I really appreciate your thoughts about WikiLeaks!
Hey there Kiru! I somehow disagree with your point that there should be a censor board to shun certain information out to the citizens. The whole point of WikiLeaks is to bypass all that rules and bias censorship to unleash and publish the real raw truth.
ReplyDeleteHaving censorship is like tainting meat. The outcome won't be seen as real anymore, but rather people will see the information as being meddled and edited. Then there's no purpose of releasing real hard data.
Also usually when talking about censor board, it usually involves politics, money and bribery of governments or big companies. The goal of WikiLeaks is to expose the wrongdoings of these parties, so it's better to distinguish and stay away from the censorship board as more dirty tricks will just repeat behind the scenes again.
WikiLeaks in my opinion, doesn't jeopardize a country or a organization's status, yes it will bring them down but there's a reason for that. Why let go people who have done wrong despite their status only? The people have been playing citizens like puppets and it's only fair that WikiLeaks is there to show how terrible power can be at times. And in doing so, contribute back to the society even more.
This is of course my two cents but thank you Kiru for dropping by with your opinion! Much appreciated!
Hi Michelle.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it awesome to have WikiLeaks, which reveals top secrets even in the United States and the government can't do anything about it.
In my opinion. I think that it is definitely crucial to such sites to reveal things that have been hidden by the public.
It is with this site that we actually get to know the truth without any covers or any sensors.
Sharmila