Holy crap: Wikileaks just unleashed the Afghan War motherlode

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I couldn’t just not do anything, knowing lives were in danger. It’s classified information, and when you play Russian roulette, how do you know there’s not a bullet in the next chamber?
Hacker Adrian Lamo • Discussing his decision to tell federal agents that he suspected Bradley Manning was leaking information to WikiLeaks. Since then, it’s been anything but fun and games for Lamo, nicknamed the “homeless hacker” for his fairly transient lifestyle. He’s gotten death threats. People have been ordering pizzas under his name. He’s reviled in the hacker community. And before this, he was simply famous for being the guy who hacked into the New York Times. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

09 Jun 2010 10:05

If he really had access to these cables, we’ve got a terrible situation on our hands. We’re still trying to figure out what he had access to. A lot of my colleagues overseas are sweating this out, given what those cables may contain.
An American diplomat • Discussing the potential awfulness of Wikileaks releasing 260,000 diplomatic cables that jailed Specialist Bradley Manning reportedly gave to the site. Manning had a fairly high level of access; there might be some fairly sensitive information in the wires. Manning, by the way, is the dude that leaked the 2007 clip that showed a bunch of Iraqi citizens getting killed, along with two Reuters employees. Why couldn’t Bradley have just gotten into quarterbacking football games like his old brothers Peyton and Eli? source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Hillary Clinton, and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format, to the public.
SPC Bradley Manning • Regarding some of the documents he sent to Wikileaks. Manning was arrested two weeks ago for reportedly leaking a number of documents to the site, most notably this video, in which a number of innocent civilians are killed in a helicopter attack. Manning was turned in by a hacker, and has not been charged yet. But holy crap. This guy gave Julian Assange and his boys a lot of classified info. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

In this interview with the founder of Wikileaks, Stephen Colbert rips into the guy pretty hard around the 3 minute mark. He notes that the clip was called “Collateral Murder,” which offers a political angle to something he’s trying to push objectively. Colbert quickly drops back into his persona, but the effect is pretty impressive.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

We take care of the source and act as a neutral intermediary and then we also take care of the publication of the material whilst the journalist that has been communicated with takes care of the verification.
Wikileaks director Julian Assange • Explaining the site’s role in providing information to the world. Essentially, they’re not pretending to be journalists. But they also realize that sensitive information often can’t pass directly between a source’s hands and a journalist’s, due to its sensitive nature. So, they find it, host it anonymously, and break it to the world (and take the crap that comes along with it, including contacts from the U.S. government). It’s great for the free flow of information, as has been proven by the just-released video of two Reuters staffers getting killed. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink