Title: Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It's your choice Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Dec 7, 2010 Author:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/ Post Date:2010-12-07 20:48:17 by tom007 Keywords:None Views:310 Comments:20
Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It's your choice
Western political elites obfuscate, lie and bluster – and when the veil of secrecy is lifted, they try to kill the messenger
I am not totally buying into that thesis. It may well be that the cables were "salted" with a proponderance of notes detrimental to Iran, but it seems clear to me that the US poobahs are genuinely upset by the exposure.
That Interpol has put Assange on their Most Wanted List nearly proves this - for having sex without a condom, against the law in Sweden. Who would have thought.
And note that to date only several hundred cables have been released, apparently after being vetted by several large US news agencies, out of the 250000 they claim to have.
but it seems clear to me that the US poobahs are genuinely upset by the exposure.
The ones that are talked about are upset of course, but overall it was CIA policy to let the leaks on that site or it would have never happened. US intelligence is still the best in the world despite what they said on 9/11 and about Iraq's WMD.
Calling it a thesis is being highly charitable. Telecom companies have spent hundreds of billion of dollar building the Internet infrastructure. E-commerce accounted for 3.704 trillion dollars in sales in 2008. That doesn't even take into consideration the tens of millions of people who habitually use the internet for socialization.
The idea that businesses and individuals are going to allow the government to "shut down the internet" is laughable.