This weeks topic about the way President Obama's victory in 2008 introduced politics the internet age, shows how powerful the digital community can be. The Campaign was important because it was able to promote a wider participation of Americans, especially younger Americans. However, the internet also has a dangerous side for government. This New York Times Article discusses one of the more controversial sides of the internet, the leaking of sensitive materials.
Wikileaks is seen as a serious breach of security for the U.S. Government as it fights a war with terrorism and avoid conflict with Iran and North Korea. The founder of the website sees what he is doing as protecting freedom of Information and exposing misconduct. However, the White House believes that releasing such sensitive information will endanger not just American soldiers but lives of foreign civilians.
For years the government has been able to keep its secrets away from the public if it needed. Now, hackers and dissenters have a greater sense of anonymity from the law. Many of these people may see themselves as sort of outlaws, as if they will get some sort of fame from what they do. World Governments find themselves with an almost impossible task of protecting their secrets.
This definitely goes back to our discussion about privacy. It's sad to think that nothing on the Internet is sacred...not our photos, our personal information, our shopping history, not even our government's classified documents. Not only is WikiLeaks committing a crime by stealing these classified government documents, it is potentially jeopardizing the U.S.'s national security. I think Pfc. Manning, if responsible, should be held accountable for his actions and punished according to the law.
ReplyDeletePosted by Ande Gibbs
I think there are things in which need to be kept secret, for at least the short term. When people's lives are at stake and information can be used to harm them, these secrets need to be remain secret until the time of danger has passed. Much like documents from previous wars are slowly being released to the public. There is some information which the public has a right to know, but who choose whether it is safe for this information to be public is a debate I don't want to be involved in if it means a wrong decision could mean someone's life.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a serious downside of the Internet. Knowledge is a great tool, but can be misused so easily. People do not understand the difference between government oppression and national security. Sometimes I see what military secrets are being shared by the media and I am shocked.
ReplyDeleteI too believe that there is a line that we must be careful not to cross. I understand freedom of information and free speech, but as a retired service memeber, I am a bit concerned with the ammount of information being shared. Wikileaks, hot in the media and leading in sheer volume, isn't the only source of data we have to be concerned with. It's sad to say, but our own troops spread information around the web every day that has security risks. Posting blogs about what they are doing preparing for a deployment, when they are leaving country, or even flying home is all infromation that an internet savy enemy can use against us. Over the past several years the military has ramped up its securtiy and cyber awareness training. I'm just not sure they can keep up with the rapid changes in the virtual world.
ReplyDeleteSide note: there was a great discusion of this topic today on NPR's Talk of the Nation. You can listen to the show at the following website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/programs/talk-of-the-nation/