WikiLeaks: Dodging Legal Strife, Winning Public's Trust?
WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing site founded by Julian Assange, continues to dodge legal complications.
Just last week, the Web site dumped its full archive of U.S. diplomatic cables, which now totald 251,287 documents from embassies around the world. And that the cables were unredacted, unlike in previous posts that refrained from including information that identified sources or other sensitive information.
In spite of this development, the Australian government announced Monday that it has no plans to prosecute WikiLeaks or Julian Assange, since the Australian Federal Police investigation in 2010 failed to establish that WikiLeaks violated any laws under Australian jurisdiction.
"At this stage we are not planning on launching any further investigations," said a spokesman for Attorney General Robert McClelland.
Apparently, WikiLeaks remains safe from legal repercussions for its actions. But one wonders what other "leaks" the site will come up with next, and what controversies it will face in the future.
Why WikiLeaks is Important
Founded in 2006, and launched under The Sunshine Press, WikiLeaks is an international non-profit media organization that publishes information, often state secrets, from anonymous whistleblowers, news sources and leaks.
"Our goal is to bring important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists (our electronic drop box). One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth. We are a young organisation that has grown very quickly, relying on a network of dedicated volunteers around the globe," said WikiLeaks in its site.
In its defence against attacks and efforts to silence the organization, WikiLeaks upholds its mission via the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly Article 19, which promotes everyone's right to freedom of opinion and expression. "This right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers," the Web site adds.
The more information available to the public, the more it is able to gauge whether what's happening is acceptable, or whether things should be changed or improved. WikiLeaks provides this type of information to the public. "We make the original documents available with our news stories. Readers can verify the truth of what we have reported themselves," said WikiLeaks.
It provides transparency on issues and realities that will otherwise be kept secret and unavailable for investigation by the people who will be greatly affected by these very information.
"International scandals -- such as the one precipitated by this week's WikiLeaks cable dump -- serve us by illustrating how our governments work. Better than any civics textbook, revisionist history, political speech, bumper sticker, or five-part investigative series, an international scandal unmasks presidents and kings, military commanders and buck privates, Cabinet secretaries and diplomats, corporate leaders and bankers, and arms-makers and arms-merchants as the bunglers, liars, and double-dealers they are," Jack Shafer wrote in Slate.
But mind you, it should always be noted that information is power, and any type of information should be approached with care. Both WikiLeaks and the public that consumes it should be take responsibility for how they treat information and their corresponding actions.