Julian Assange - the Robin Hood of our time

The post below is a guest blog post by Kwaku Kyei Manu who blogs at lemonlifelemonade.blogspot.com

Wikileaks, the sujet du jour, grabbing headline banners on every form of printed and digital media one can see. The tabloids, local authorities, even the white house has been rocked by the revelations of this site. Some call them cyber terrorists, others label them as anarchists. Personally, I see them as modern day Merry Men led by the modern version of Robin Hood aka Julian Assange. They have once again taken the steps so many revolutionaries have and opened the floodgates and gotten people to question the authorities.

The twittersphere is ablaze with Wikileaks fever. Questions and theories are aplenty, and many are celebrating. Many question the validity of the information. All I can say, however is, the validity of the information is irrelevant, for this group of free thinkers, who volunteer their time to keep this site running have started a tide of change and indeed have stuck true to their mission statement;

"To radically shift regime behaviour we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not."[39][40][41] In his blog he wrote, "the more secretive or unjust an organisation is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. ...”

Their exposés have left all organisations quaking in their boots, as rightly stated, in the short time they have been operating, they have shed light on more factual information than all the world press combined. In the midst of corporation-owned press only interested in shifting newspapers and making profit, they have gone back to the basics of journalism to report cold hard facts. No more speculation, no more murky details. This threat has been registered and all attempts are being made to blow out this beacon of truth. Wikileaks is the antihero in this media run world we live in. Viva la résistance, I say!

Whether they like it or not Wikileaks is here to stay, and should they shut it down, another incarnation is sure to rise. The sheer notorietythis site has earned itself will ensure it has supporters. I for one look forward to its future releases with glee.

Who will watch the watchman?

The Wikileaks Paradox

In the past couple of weeks Wikileaks has been in the news, I am still wondering why it is not trending on twitter anyway. I guess it is not the most important thing on the minds of the online citizens. I have read widely on this matter with one objective - to find out if Wikileaks is right or wrong. I must admit I haven't gotten to that conclusion yet. I however came by one major point I found interesting and wouldn't mind sharing with you.

For a media organisation that is based on the principles of the defence of freedom of speech and media publishing, the improvement of our common historical record and the support of the rights of all people to create new history, I would have expected them to be open with their information as well. Wikileaks accepts (but does not solicit for) documents from anyone who would wants to leak information. The documents are then taken through a thorough process of verification before released into the public domain.

My only problem is that Wikileaks sees it fit to keep the source of all leaked information anonymous and till date it has kept the security details of its electronic drop box secret. If Wikileaks believes for the sake of continuity of its process and the safety of its partners such information should be kept secret, why are they publishing the documents of other organisations then. The question is who has the right to tell what parts of documents should be kept secret or otherwise? If Wikileaks believes in Freedom of Information, I would challenge them to live by this pillar. Sources of documents and other media resources received should be revealed, together with a full description of its security algorithm behind the existence of it electronic drop box. If they find this difficult to do, I dare say then that Wikileaks has no moral right to reveal or publish what others have kept secret.