Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Here is yet another optimistic report on the potential for the Internet to aid those living and working in oppressive regimes (TechDirt - Can A Wiki Force Transparency On Oppressive Regimes?):
In 1971, when Pentagon employee Daniel Ellsberg leaked classified documents to The New York Times detailing US aggression during the Vietnam War, he had to find a way to quietly photocopy thousands of pages. Today, he could just put everything up on a wiki. A new site called Wikileaks is offering a way for dissident government employees working under oppressive regimes to anonymously leak information on their government's behavior. The site, which is backed by proponents of ethical leaking, is chiefly targeting countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Use a wiki, by all means, use all the tools that the Internet provides, but also understand that repressive governments will do everything in their power to turn this technology back on the user.