Friday 15 April 2011

Week 7: Wikileaks

This week my team was given the task of debating the argument that Wikileaks is acting responsibly through their work. I had do to much background research on the topic, as I didn't now much about Wikileaks at all. When issues surrounding Wikileaks came onto the news I tended to ignore them, because I  did not see what all the fuss was all about.

After some research, I realised the large impact which Wikileaks was having on society. I now think that the question of whether they are acting responsibly or not is way too hard to conclude, as their are both positive and negative aspects about what they are doing.

Wikileaks is all about freedom, speech, and equality; which reflects the values among many societies. They strive to achieve this by informing citizens about news which Governments intend to wrongly hide from them. Wikileaks holds the power of exposure on governments, corporations and individuals. This forces these players to abide by established rules, follow guidelines, and act in a proper manner.

So, ultimately, Wikileaks enforces responsible governing and decision making, reflecting the responsible nature of the site itself. Bradley Manning, a US soldier who was arrested for leaking information to Wikileaks correctly stated that "without information you cannot make informed decisions as a public".

Though in saying this, I think that it all comes down to trust. The fact of is, if the work of Governments and corporations can not be kept secret and therefore kept safe, then how do citizens of the Government expect to be kept safe? In an article written by public relations worker Paul Seaman, he states that "at the end of the day, society has more right to keep its secrets secret, than does Wikileaks have a right to wreak havoc, and keep its sources hidden while doing so".

So, the question still stands... is Wikileaks acting responsibly?

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