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Should the U.S. government shut down WikiLeaks?

Should the U.S. Government shut down WikiLeaks?

  • Total voters
    32
WI Crippler said:
For example, I held a top secret security clearance working with some electronics countermeasure gear and communications gear. Now I can't tell you who shot Kennedy, or anything cool.
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Bigfoot did it.



oh****iwasn'tsupposedtotellanyonethat
 
Kandahar said:
Yes, the US government should shut it down. It's one thing to leak government documents in order to expose wrongdoing or potential wrongdoing. It's a completely different situation when they're releasing documents just for the hell of it. That has a chilling effect on candor and openness in the future.

One of the things I am most astounded by is how good the State Department looks. In 300,000 documents, there are only a few minor instances of government officials behaving badly (like trying to steal Ban Ki-Moon's credit card numbers and biometric data). For the most part, I am very impressed by how honestly and openly our government seems to have behaved.
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frankly, i'm entertained by how they seem to reinforce a conservative, realist worldview. China - yes - is a bad guy. Everybody in the Middle East wants us to take out the Iranian nuclear program. Letting irresponsible regimes like North Korea develop nukes and the missiles to carry them does come with proliferation problems.
 
Would you shut down a pedophile site that could / does harm the young? HELL YES!!!!!!! Shut down a site that would / could harm ALL Americans???????? YES!!!!!!
 
The Giant Noodle said:
Would you shut down a pedophile site that could / does harm the young? HELL YES!!!!!!! Shut down a site that would / could harm ALL Americans???????? YES!!!!!!
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Wow, talk about going from one extreme to the other. I've yet to hear of anyone getting physically harmed due to these leaks. In anycase perhaps you should view post #2.
 
Kal'Stang said:
-- 2: Even if they were to shut wikileaks down all that they would have to do is switch to a different server. There are probably millions of servers available in the world so probably wouldn't do much good--
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According to the WSJ, Wikileaks has (in the US) been hosted on Amazon servers during the cyber attack on its main service.

Kal'Stang said:
-- The only thing that our government could do is to make their classified information security tougher and go after the people that leak the information to begin with. Taking out the secondary reporting agencies does nothing if you have not taking out the first cause of the leaks. Especially since those that are the first cause could just send the info to someone else
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I begin to think Manning has done you guys a favour -though it doesn't feel like it yet. What he's done is exposed the range of important as well as trite and gossip style information that may be cluttering up this network.

The whole purpose of Siprnet was originally to create a central store of classified that various security departments could use and share relevant information regarding pertinent security threats that the US had to know about and had to have everyone informed about.

By becoming diluted into a network for all sorts of Govt information since 2001 - including whether such irrelevant things like Prince Andrew being a bit grumpy or what certain ambassadors thought of other worl leaders they dealt with - hasn't the whole thing become tainted?
Wasn't such a thing as Wikileaks always going to happen then?

Storing relevant absolulty critical data that was about the integral safety of the US should be the prime mission aim of such a network, in such a case I doubt anyone (including Private Manning) would have ever thought of copying over and making public files really would harm the US's ability to keep an eye on terror groups and individuals trying to operate in the US.

N.B. to Kal'Stang - I simply quoted your post as you made some good points that I wanted to expand on or explore, I don't disagree the points you've made there.
 
WI Crippler said:
They should both shut it(and sites like it) down, and revamp their security clearance/access within the government. No reasonable government should allow classified documents to A) leak B) Get reported by someone when there is a leak.

For example, I held a top secret security clearance working with some electronics countermeasure gear and communications gear. Now I can't tell you who shot Kennedy, or anything cool. But if I was a source of a leak of IFF codes, frequencies, etc... and handed it to an outside agency to use, it would be the responsibility of my government to actively seek out and shut down the party that received the information, as well as find the leak and shut me down. Take out the supply and the demand.
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It wont shock you that during the first GW, since there was a shortage of IFF codes (and it was all pin/push loaded...not electrical) it was a common practice to open the code books, photocopy them, and tape them to HAS walls. We found spooks burning classified materials and just dumping them in big burn cans...problem was the heat would often just lift paper out of the fire and drift away. Classified 'red' cabling was just run across sand...no security...easy to tap. "vaults" in non-secure tents with open flaps.

I dont know who is getting what out these days. It is definitely an intentional leak or the case of the most incompetently run secure environment I have ever heard of. Simple solution for the dude...and arrest and prosection for anyone leaking the documents. i dont care what your motivation is. there are whistleblower safety measures in place if they think their government is acting corruptly. No mercy...let them join a few folks in Kansas (and I DONT mean TGND! Although i suspect she would probably deal with them in a little more harsh manner than would FtL guards!).
 
We have a Representative democracy, not a dictatorship.
 
The Giant Noodle said:
Would you shut down a pedophile site that could / does harm the young? HELL YES!!!!!!! Shut down a site that would / could harm ALL Americans???????? YES!!!!!!
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so you would think, but some have so wedded themselves to opposition to the state that they can'teven recognize that it must engage in its' necessary functions.
 
VanceMack said:
It wont shock you that during the first GW, since there was a shortage of IFF codes (and it was all pin/push loaded...not electrical) it was a common practice to open the code books, photocopy them, and tape them to HAS walls. We found spooks burning classified materials and just dumping them in big burn cans...problem was the heat would often just lift paper out of the fire and drift away. Classified 'red' cabling was just run across sand...no security...easy to tap. "vaults" in non-secure tents with open flaps.
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wtf? I used to burn classified documents all the time; even dumb infantry lance corporal me knew you stir and keep someone's eyes on that thing until it's ash.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
According to the WSJ, Wikileaks has (in the US) been hosted on Amazon servers during the cyber attack on its main service.



I begin to think Manning has done you guys a favour -though it doesn't feel like it yet. What he's done is exposed the range of important as well as trite and gossip style information that may be cluttering up this network.

The whole purpose of Siprnet was originally to create a central store of classified that various security departments could use and share relevant information regarding pertinent security threats that the US had to know about and had to have everyone informed about.

By becoming diluted into a network for all sorts of Govt information since 2001 - including whether such irrelevant things like Prince Andrew being a bit grumpy or what certain ambassadors thought of other worl leaders they dealt with - hasn't the whole thing become tainted?
Wasn't such a thing as Wikileaks always going to happen then?

Storing relevant absolulty critical data that was about the integral safety of the US should be the prime mission aim of such a network, in such a case I doubt anyone (including Private Manning) would have ever thought of copying over and making public files really would harm the US's ability to keep an eye on terror groups and individuals trying to operate in the US.

N.B. to Kal'Stang - I simply quoted your post as you made some good points that I wanted to expand on or explore, I don't disagree the points you've made there.
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That "trite and gossip style information" is a very important source of information for world diplomacy. And when ambassadors give their honest assessments of the world leaders they deal with, it's usually more than just venting. We need to remember that other world leaders are human beings with their own personality quirks, instead of just thinking of them as abstract entities. If we can understand what makes them tick, it makes dealing with them a lot easier.

In any case, the leaking of this information is in no way a good thing. It seems to have uncovered very little actual wrongdoing on the part of government officials. If the worst thing one can say about our government in 300,000 pages is that the State Department tried to steal the UN Secretary-General's credit cards, I can live with that. Mostly of this content is just embarrassing for everyone involved, and has a chilling effect on candor while providing no actual benefit to anyone in terms of openness.
 
cpwill said:
wtf? I used to burn classified documents all the time; even dumb infantry lance corporal me knew you stir and keep someone's eyes on that thing until it's ash.
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I kid you not...wholesale dumping...whole papers floating away. It was just a matter of complacency and I assure you...one that was addressed.
 
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