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[Scatty]

The massive campaign of intimidation against WikiLeaks is sending a chill through free press advocates everywhere.

Legal experts say WikiLeaks has likely broken no laws. Yet top US politicians have called it a terrorist group and commentators have urged assassination of its staff. The organization has come under massive government and corporate attack, but WikiLeaks is only publishing information provided by a whistleblower. And it has partnered with the world's leading newspapers (NYT, Guardian, Spiegel etc) to carefully vet the information it publishes.

The massive extra-judicial intimidation of WikiLeaks is an attack on democracy. We urgently need a public outcry for freedom of the press and expression. Sign the petition to stop the crackdown and forward this email to everyone -- let's get to 1 million voices and take out full page ads in US newspapers this week!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks_petition/?vl

WikiLeaks isn't acting alone -- it's partnered with the top newspapers in the world (New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, etc) to carefully review 250,000 US diplomatic cables and remove any information that it is irresponsible to publish. Only 800 cables have been published so far. Past WikiLeaks publications have exposed government-backed torture, the murder of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and corporate corruption.

The US government is currently pursuing all legal avenues to stop WikiLeaks from publishing more cables, but the laws of democracies protect freedom of the press. The US and other governments may not like the laws that protect our freedom of expression, but that's exactly why it's so important that we have them, and why only a democratic process can change them.

Reasonable people can disagree on whether WikiLeaks and the leading newspapers it's partnered with are releasing more information than the public should see. Whether the releases undermine diplomatic confidentiality and whether that's a good thing. Whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the personal character of a hero or a villain. But none of this justifies a vicious campaign of intimidation to silence a legal media outlet by governments and corporations. Click below to join the call to stop the crackdown:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks_petition/?vl

Ever wonder why the media so rarely gives the full story of what happens behind the scenes? This is why - because when they do, governments can be vicious in their response. And when that happens, it's up to the public to stand up for our democratic rights to a free press and freedom of expression. Never has there been a more vital time for us to do so.

With hope,
Ricken, Emma, Alex, Alice, Maria Paz and the rest of the Avaaz team.

Ever since USA got their dirty secrets being revealed to the world they're determined to use any means, even if illegal, to destroy the WikiLeaks, despite that they didn't even really break any laws. I think it's outrageous what the politicians allow themselves.

Here're some more sources to read:

Law experts say WikiLeaks in the clear (ABC)
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/con...0/s3086781.htm

WikiLeaks are a bunch of terrorists, says leading U.S. congressman (Mail Online)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...eter-King.html

Cyber guerrillas can help US (Financial Times)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d3dd7c40-f...#axzz17QvQ4Ht5

Amazon drops WikiLeaks under political pressure (Yahoo)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101201...congressamazon

"WikiLeaks avenged by hacktivists" (PC World):
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...cktivists.html

US Gov shows true control over Internet with WikiLeaks containment (Tippett.org)
http://www.tippett.org/2010/12/us-go...s-containment/

US embassy cables culprit should be executed, says Mike Huckabee (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...-mike-huckabee

WikiLeaks ditched by MasterCard, Visa. Who's next? (The Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/...sa.-Who-s-next

Assange's Interpol Warrant Is for Having Sex Without a Condom (The Slatest)
http://slatest.slate.com/id/2276690/

[ayoeness]

The first real war on information is apparently on.

Somehow a really huge amount of people seems to think it is good and right to nonchalantly throw around the word terrorist and allow censorship of the internet in their country or even death penalty for sharing information.

I can't say I care much for the leaks themselves, but I find it scary that they are used to impose further on our freedom, and even more scary many people, once again, seem to find it ok.

This will definitely play a big part in shaping our future. I hope we have at least a tiny say in it.

[dosraider]

Originally Posted by ayoeness

The first real war on information is apparently on.

.... First one .....? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, not really, or better said: really not.

[Geezer]

C'mon. Just because you can do something does not mean you should do something. The wikileak assholes have put innocent people's lives in danger everywhere and have given aid to terrorist groups worldwide.

Terrorist websites are already discussing amongst themselves how to leverage the information that wikileaks has provided.

The wikileaks leader was and is a notorious hacker and now people should feel outraged when people and groups use whatever means they can to discredit and put a stop to what he has done? He is a slime ball.

[angry axe]

The Taliban have said they are trawling through the information looking for names. Julian Assange is an ass, its people like him that will hasten the fall of Western Civilization.

[Panthro]

I found it rather interesting that Hilary Clinton said a while back that Chinese citizens would be able to get around restrictions on information in their country because of how liberating the internet is.

Now though, she dislikes such freedom of information because it is embarrassing to the USA.

Personally, I'm glad these cables have been released. It gives a real insight into how government works, and confirms many things we have long suspected.

We should not fear the terrorists, and we should not run our countries' governments in secret in fear of terrorism.

It is also important to remember that it was an American with proper access to such files (of which apparently 3 million people could access!) who leaked them, Wikileaks is just the method by which they were distributed.

[Kugerfang]

What I really hate now is those anon 4chan "hacktivist" a-holes thinking they're though by doing DDoS attacks on websites that have distanced themselves from Wikileaks.

[Geezer]

Originally Posted by Panthro

I found it rather interesting that Hilary Clinton said a while back that Chinese citizens would be able to get around restrictions on information in their country because of how liberating the internet is.

Now though, she dislikes such freedom of information because it is embarrassing to the USA.

Personally, I'm glad these cables have been released. It gives a real insight into how government works, and confirms many things we have long suspected.

We should not fear the terrorists, and we should not run our countries' governments in secret in fear of terrorism.

It is also important to remember that it was an American with proper access to such files (of which apparently 3 million people could access!) who leaked them, Wikileaks is just the method by which they were distributed.

There is a difference between freedom of information and freedom of speech. That information was classified for a reason and the man that illegally distributed it (yes, the American) is going to spend the rest of his life in prison (or worse) for it.

Ask the families of the 2,975 people killed on 9/11 if we should fear terrorism. There was a big stink in the U.S. a few years back about the Patriot Act and the liberties it gave the government in collecting information about criminals and potential terrorists. Now, since the world has had a real taste of the dangers we face from radical terrorism, nobody really complains about what methods are being used. They just want to be safe.

Yes, some of the things being released in the cables are slimy. However, I have no problem with the need to keep intelligence and sensitive information that has to do with our safety a secret since there is no way of keeping it from falling into the wrong hands any other way.

[_r.u.s.s.]

Originally Posted by Geezer

C'mon. Just because you can do something does not mean you should do something. The wikileak assholes have put innocent people's lives in danger everywhere and have given aid to terrorist groups worldwide.

Terrorist websites are already discussing amongst themselves how to leverage the information that wikileaks has provided.

The wikileaks leader was and is a notorious hacker and now people should feel outraged when people and groups use whatever means they can to discredit and put a stop to what he has done? He is a slime ball.

watching fox news much?

also, note how the u.s. participants of the discussions are really influenced by government controlled media and despise wikileaks, while majority of the rest of the world supports it

kids, wikileaks has been in here for years. they have published any whistleblowing facts, exposed frauds and lies. now they got this massive leak from an insider in the u.s. and released it too. even some of the u.s. politicans cheerished the website before for leaks that have been "good" for them in the past. now that they managed to reveal something about the u.s. it is all of a sudden a terrorist organization. boo-hoo, Q-Q more

and that ridiculous claim about "EXPOSANG DANGERAS PLACES TO TERRARISTS!!!" is a single u.s. government argument that they are grinding over and over and persuading sheeple of america that that is all they do: release this document and destroy america!
jesus christ. what a really lame excuse. that document, by the way has been handled by journalists and edited before released, erasing any information about the names and places. plus, it is now really old, some of the underwater cables mentioned in the document have already been closed for 2 years now. in contrary, have you ever saw the actual interesting whistleblowing leaks in the past? no, fox news most probably doesn't cover that.

PS. mentioning 9/11 in any discussion should be the new godwin's law or something

[DarthHelmet86]

I was going to keep out of this one, but I agree with R.u.s.s mentioning 11/9 should be the new Godwins law.

I can see how some of the leaks could hurt people, or at least lead to them being hurt...but hey you know that they know, so change what you are doing.

What I don't get is people have been doing dodgy things, they got caught, normally we would cheer for the person bringing it to light (Watergate much) instead we are calling the light bringing a terrorist and laying no blame on the people who did the dodgy in the first place.

Still after all of that, I doubt Wikileaks will change much in the world, it's todays big news once its blown over the world will move on to the next threat that it gets told about by the news channel they love.