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WikiLeaks: a pause for thought about transparency vs. privacy

Wl249 There has been much furore over the past few weeks about the release of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks. A number of revelations have been released by the site, most recently, information about defence infrastructure sites that the US considered prone to terrorist attack. The British Government condemned this release earlier today, on the grounds that it is a threat to national security.

Comment seems to be split on this issue. On the one hand, does this level of transparency, or at least the threat of it, finally allow citizens to truly hold governments to account? Alternatively, is privacy necessary with this level of negotiations and do these leaks jeopardise frank discussion?

In David Allen Green’s blog for the New Statesman, he makes an intriguing point that may have resonance for those interested in civil liberties. He suggests that though transparency is an important liberal value, so is privacy and the balancing act between them should not be taken lightly. 

Click here to read his blog.

By Amy Wevill

If you would be interested in writing a guest post, please e-mail [email protected]

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Home
  • http://profile.typepad.com/daveatherton Dave Atherton

    I find it ironic Amy that the government spits outrage that we have knowledge of their secrets but when it comes to ours they seem to think that is ok.

  • Purlieu

    Dear Governments,
    If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear.
    Yours,

  • Richard Calhoun

    I wouldn’t expect anything else from the New Statesman, socialists always preach freedom as long as it is on their terms, ie. they control it!!
    We should be supporting wikileaks !!

  • Amy Wevill

    No conclusions were drawn in the post; it simply raised an argument for consideration. The point was about acknowledging that privacy is something of great value, a view I’m sure most Big Brother Watch readers would share. The question to be asked is whether, in very specific circumstances, where privacy becomes a necessity, the State may not also demand this right. I would only suggest that one does not say no without some consideration.

  • Richard Craven

    Wikileaks has exacerbated the difficulties of conducting diplomacy, and endangered us all as a result. Hilary Clinton is right. Julian Assange should be hunted down and held to account for his irresponsible criminality.

  • Purlieu

    Doesn’t the existence of diplomacy itself endanger us all. After all if governments were honest and open with each other and with us in the first place …
    Also there’s a jaw-dropping amount of extraterritoriality going on over this affair at the moment.
    Also Wikileaks became the first victim of a DDOS attack to be kicked out because it somehow contravened their TOS – bet they would,’t have kicked out Amazon or Sony

  • john malpas

    if wikileaks had revealed stuff about film stars everybody would be licking their lips.
    For that is what they did in that they received information ‘in a brown envelope’ and gave to to a journalist.

  • fr

    Technology is not a thread.
    But maybe this is a good thing….
    We need proper steering mechanism to survive the global society we created with technology.
    Whould we have gone to Iraq over Weapons of mass destruction is we were part of the diplomatic cable discussion ? more upcomming leader ego’s/shortvision ? Better of with more transparency ? CreditCrises / Cable gate shows government is not so much in control of the global society. Wasn’t it work of the press to tell us the truth ?
    At least the cork out of the bottle. Fact is that secrets are harder to keep anno 2010. post-it-all 1-to:world. Shutting down is naive. Discuss it is the only option.. common free press, were are you?

  • http://tjrouill.wordpress.com/ Tyler Rouillard

    A distinction must be drawn between the privacy of the individual citizen and the public official. For democracy to work, if that is the goal anyway, the doings of the public official must be made known to the private citizen. How else could democracy possibly work, if not through transparency?
    Privacy for private citizens, transparency for supposedly public officials.

  • Richard Calhoun

    The phenomena that is Wikileaks I believe will prove to be a defining moment in our democracies.
    Governments have hidden behind secrecy to our cost too often, take Blair and his 45 minutes nonsense, if he had known that these papers had to be seen by the electorate before any action was taken, our history would have taken a very different turn.
    As for the new statesman, they are socialists and only believe in ‘freedom’ if they control it!!

  • Richard Craven

    @Purlieu. No. I think you’ll find diplomacy goes best when it’s at least partly, well, diplomatic.
    Dunno what you mean by your talk about extraterritoriality. Could you explain?
    Lastly, if someone is putting the clamps on the Wikileaks operation, which I think is what you’re suggesting … that’s a good thing. It suggests that effort is being made to limit the damage Wikileaks is doing.