Even me, a sort of radical Anarcho-Libertarian, am left a bit dazed and
confused by the whole WikiLeaks thing.
I'm very much in favor of the general principle of WikiLeaks, though I
can't say I've assessed the implications carefully enough to be a
blind-faith supporter. I hope there will be more discussion on the
topic here. I'm very surprised there's been less discussion of
WikiLeaks before today (let the mail flurries begin!) than there has been.
I'm right there with Doug, feeling motivated to read most anything
someone as big and pug-ugly as Big Brother tries to prohibit me from
reading. On the other hand when I worked for the Government (through a
DOE Contract to UC, then Bloody Bechtel), I understood that accessing
such information on my US Gov't owned equipment was inappropriate and
likely actionable. I also understood when I held various security
clearances that I had agreed to protect anything declared to be
classified from disclosure, so why try to obtain access to stuff for
which I supposedly had no "need to know", and certainly why would I
corrupt my own computers, etc. with such information by downloading it
to read? The whole structure of government secrets is questionable, but
not trivial in any case, and I'm glad to be free of all that entanglement.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I give Amazon the right to decide
they don't want to get embroiled in this. I might want to call them
chickens but I don't think I get to decide for them what are good
business practices. And in particular, what their legal and practical
liabilities might be for hosting something as acutely controversial as
this.
In reading Ellsberg here, "aspire to China's control of information"
seems hyperbolic. I do agree that WikiLeaks could provide an important
resource for Whistleblowers, but comparing it to China's attempts seems
overstated.
A better boycott, if we are 100% in support of WikiLeaks would be to
boycott anyone who *won't* host them... anyone in the business of web
hosting who *won't* provide service to them.... dial up your ISP and
tell them you want to mirror WikiLeaks on their infrastructure and then
fire them if they say no. Amazon (and PayPal and ???) have tried to
provide them service and the heat got too much. It will be various
minor (and major?) heroes who will ultimately step up. Has WikiLeaks
tried to get Google into the fray with Big Brother?
I've not looked closely enough at WikiLeaks, their goals, methods, and
what they've got of leaks to know how much I trust them or even how
interested I am in their information. What is the level of experience
with them amongst this group ? Reasoned ideas and opinions about just
where the line is drawn (if anywhere) on freedom of information and the
right of governments to try to keep secrets?
Nick> This would be like boycotting oxygen for me, but I think it
should be considered.
While I don't support the boycott (yet), it might be a good opportunity
to look at the implications of becoming this dependent on Amazon (or
Google or Microsoft or Apple or Yahoo or ...) and the implications of
what you will do if they go weird on you.
At 17.8 years old I'd had to contemplate the strong possibility that I
would have to forsake (leave and not return to) the country where I'd
been born and bred to avoid the ethical conundrums of signing up for
selective service when I was not sure I could allow myself to be
selected and then if selected, not sure I could serve, and then if I
served, not sure I could serve wholeheartedly.
Maybe we need to look as closely at our "addictions" to various
corporations as many did at the Vietnam War (and other equally critical
causes of yore). I'm not saying "boycott", just evaluate and act
accordingly?
If I had a document disclosing how anyone with a HS grasp of biology
could obtain, culture and dispense extra-deadly and virulent strains of
the Ebola virus... maybe the entire DNA sequence of same... should I
offer them to WikiLeaks? Should they accept and publish them? Should
you read them?
If I had a document outing every "spy" and informant for the US
government (or the whole western world), what then? What would Valerie
Plame (lives here in Santa Fe, pushes high end real-estate I think) say?
I like the idea of no official state secrets, but It is a tangled web,
and it is hard to "unstir" the cream once poured into the Earl Grey...
Maybe with elements like WikiLeaks out there, maybe just beyond the
reach of any Government (or multinational?) the dependence on state
secrets and the inherent abuse of power they support will wane?
Carry on!
- Steve
Daniel Ellsberg Says Boycott Amazon
Posted By _Daniel Ellsberg_ On December 2, 2010 @ 10:23 pm In _News_ |
_394 Comments
<http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2010/12/02/daniel-ellsberg-says-boycott-amazon/print/#comments_controls>_
*Open letter to Amazon.com Customer Service:*
December 2, 2010
I'm disgusted by Amazon's cowardice and servility in abruptly
terminating today its hosting of the Wikileaks website, in the face of
threats from Senator Joe Lieberman and other Congressional
right-wingers. I want no further association with any company that
encourages legislative and executive officials to aspire to China's
control of information and deterrence of whistle-blowing.
For the last several years, I've been spending over $100 a month on
new and used books from Amazon. That's over. I ask Amazon to terminate
immediately my membership in Amazon Prime and my Amazon credit card
and account, to delete my contact and credit information from their
files and to send me no more notices.
I understand that many other regular customers feel as I do and are
responding the same way. Good: the broader and more immediate the
boycott, the better. I hope that these others encourage their contact
lists to do likewise and to let Amazon know exactly why they're
shifting their business. I've asked friends today to suggest
alternatives, and I'll be exploring service from Powell's Books,
Half-Price Books, Biblio and others.
So far Amazon has spared itself the further embarrassment of trying to
explain its action openly. This would be a good time for Amazon
insiders who know and perhaps can document the political pressures
that were brought to bear--and the details of the hasty kowtowing by
their bosses--to leak that information. They can send it to Wikileaks
(now on servers outside the US), to mainstream journalists or
bloggers, or perhaps to sites like antiwar.com <http://antiwar.com>
^[1] that have now appropriately ended their book-purchasing
association with Amazon.
Yours (no longer),
Daniel Ellsberg
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article printed from Antiwar.com Blog: *http://www.antiwar.com/blog*
URL to article:
*http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2010/12/02/daniel-ellsberg-says-boycott-amazon/*
URLs in this post:
[1] antiwar.com: *http://antiwar.com*
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