do you support wikileaks?

[KnittedBreast]

yes or no?

yes

No. I do not believe in an unlimited right to information or unlimited freedom of the press. There are other more fundamental things that need to be protected sometimes.

Occasionally. Some things are genuinely worth leaking and it's been good to have them in the public domain. Most, however, seems to be petty tittle-tattle designed to embarrass a few people but of no real consequence to anyone else. And some things simply ought to be kept secret for all our sakes. Freedom of speech comes with big responsibilities.

Have suspicions Assange is the type that would see you were about to watch Sixth Sense and whisper 'Bruce Willis is a ghost, you know'...

yes.

not knowing about all this stuff doesn't mean it's not happening or that it's being hidden from us in our best interests.

The powerful do not work for the good of mankind. normally things are hidden so that those with power and money keep both and the pesky little people are kept ignorant and in their place.

I bet if we knew even one tenth of what governments, big businesses and the generally powerful get up to, we'd, well ... viva la revolution!

Certain ones, but like Chil, a lot seem to be gossip and tittle tattle for the sake of it.

oh, I mean things of actual importance, not silly gossip etc.

No. Firstly, I agree with GooseyLoosey. Secondly, I resent the way that it is essentially managed as a stick to beat western governments with, seemingly without making any effort to challenge the governments of countries in which suppression of human rights is the norm.

Not saying for one moment that any western government is perfect - obviously not the case - but give me the UK or the USA ahead of China, N Korea, Iran etc etc. any day of the week. Sadly the presentation and media presence of Wikileaks often paints a 'west = baddies, everyone else = goodies' picture. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

I'm also intrigued by the fact that so many of Assange's supporters are so quick to accept that the accusations made against him are a government conspiracy without considering for one moment that he is possibly guilty of sex-crimes and should go through the appropriate process to determine his innocence or guilt.

In theory I do, in a perfect world where we didn't have awful dictators likely to have tantrums when they find out that another leader has mentioned they are "a womaniser" or something behind their backs. I think that if someone is professional in their job, comments they make privately should not be broadcast and I hated that about wikileaks.

However I don't agree with the method of Wikileaks, I think it has become too much of an ego trip for Lassange and that if he really cared about freedom of information he would be doing more to support the guy who leaked the documents in the first place. I also do not think we currently have a press that can be trusted to report things properly.

Yes and no. The problem with the leaks is they are all taken out of context so people jump to conclusions about the information that may not be true. I think Assange is amazingly irresponsible in the way in which he has everything public.

Not really. Taking documents out of context and publishing them is unhelpful.

Posters using MN get het up when journalists (and others) come on here and use this site as a source to print cherry picked postings.

Assange (or however you spell it) is a dangerous man IMO. Where he doing it for the good of the people then I'd applaud him, but he's not, he's doing it to make a name (and a shed load of money) for himself and his business.

The main problem is, the information is taken out of context and used against the governments/ruling bodies it 'outs'. Who do the terrorists use this against? The politicians or the general public? When they carry out a bombing in the name of information that has been leaked (it will happen eventually) it will be Joe Bloggs that pays for Assanges personal vendetta, not Barrack Obama or David Cameron.

I agree we shouldn't be kept in the dark, I think however that Wikileaks is abusing its knowledge and media puppetry abilities.

Well, on the evidence, he certainly seems to be dangerous to women at least...

Good question. At first yes... now a rather woolly no.

Some of the information coming out of the cables (and all of the information is only the subjective point of view of American diplomats, remember - not gospel truth any more than anything you read in a newspaper is. It is, however, very likely to be true).

I directly know people who have been imprisoned by a terrible regime as a result of being name-dropped in leaked cables. Good, innocent people who spoke to American diplomats in confidence and never expected their words to be broadcast around the world, and to be read by the repressive regime they live under.

Undoubtedly people have already died as a direct result of Wikileaks.

Assange and his people have been careless in how they have done this, and we have to look at human consequences like those I mentioned and wonder if it is worth it, for the 'greater good'.

wiki leaks is interesting in its way.

Yes and no. Yes - because I'm all for more transparency and accountability in a variety of areas (partly for selfish reasons, it makes my job much easier). Also, some of the diplomatic cables are very interesting, and well written.
No - because of the way it's being done, out of context and irresponsibly, and I do strongly believe that old Assange is doing a lot of it for an ego trip. I also don't think it's necessarily being done in the most responsible way, and I do wonder about the agenda behind some of the leaks. Some of them were definitely done to manipulate rather delicate and explosive situations or done in a cack-handed way that could result in deaths (e.g. the Zimbabwe files - like Tsvaringai doesn't have enough on his plate without people releasing originally candid comments about that lunatic Mugabe).

Agree with Larkin.

Assange seems to be a man who revels in the power he has. Creepy James Bond type villan (the description he would probably enjoy).

He has shown no regret at the repercussions that the leaks have had. It is not governments who are being punished.

I "liked" wikileaks on FB during the kerfuffle a couple of months ago (when the website kept on being closed down) to keep on getting information on it.

I am now fed up with them. It's so self-righteous, "swinging dick"-y. They were outraged that Mark Zuckerberg was designated most influential person in 2010 by Time magazine rather than Assange, and now they're all "he's going to win a Nobel Prize!". Yeah. Very arrogant, very dangerous

Yes, and I believe the case against him is a load of shite. Not because I support him but because from the facts it all seems all very strange.

Yes