Amazon Bows To US Censorship Pressure: Refuses To Host Wikileaks

from the ah,-whatever-ahppened-to-that-first-amendment dept

Wed, Dec 1st 2010 12:45pm — Mike Masnick

While the Feds are still trying to figure out if they can take legal action against Wikileaks and Julian Assange, in the short term it appears that the government is resorting to more traditional censorship methods: pressuring companies to silence Wikileaks. Wikileaks had just started using Amazon's S3 storage, after trying to deal with a constant denial of service attack that started this past weekend, but Amazon has now apparently dumped Wikileaks after getting pressure from Senator Joe Lieberman, who flat out called for censoring Wikileaks and then applauded Amazon for following through:

"(Amazon's) decision to cut off WikiLeaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material," he said in a statement. "I call on any other company or organization that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them."

Anyone have a copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that they can send to Lieberman? Or is that not allowed these days? I'll repeat my earlier comments: Look at who's complaining the most about Wikileaks and you realize that it's the people who benefit from not being held accountable for their actions.

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Filed Under: censorship, joe lieberman, wikileaks
Companies: amazon, wikileaks

270 Comments

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Nina Paley (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 12:50pm

Two words:
Archive.org.

Maybe that's one and a half words, since .org isn't quite a word.
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Roger, 1 Dec 2010 @ 12:53pm

"Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Is it censhorship to try to prevent the publication of documents and communications that were never intended to be made public? How would you feel if your phone conversations were posted online for all to see?

I think it is way improper to describe government efforts to protect sensitive and private communications as "censorship."
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el_segfaulto (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 12:57pm

No secrets
Long time lurker, first time poster... My phone conversations are private, however since my taxes go towards my government's actions which means I am somewhat responsible for everything they do. This means that as a citizen I demand access to all data (provided it doesn't put people in danger) and will refuse to deal with a government that doesn't strive for transparency.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 12:59pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Dictatorship starts with secrets, whispers, censorship, backroom deals.

Best we nip this shit in the bud, if you're one of the people who your government allegedly represents, then you should know what your government is doing.

Or, to put it another way:
[Citizen to Government] "Hey, you fucking work for me, not the other way around!"
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Free Capitalist (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 12:59pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Seems like censorship is an accurate term to me.

Are you or are you not a witch?
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Bas (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:05pm

Sorry, Americans, but I sincerely hope the US will lose its power and more sane governments will arise. I'm seriously losing hope that the US will turn around :(
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TPBer (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:06pm

Wikileaks Doc
Just to keep the doc in question available here is another copy of the 1.4GB insurance file.

https://www.demonoid.com/files/download/2466654/25902744
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:07pm

Since when does exposing stolen government and military documents for general public consumption including to the originating countries enemies constitute free speech? Since when was Julian Assange a US citizen guaranteed such a right?

If you answer anything other than "Never" to either question, you are just a troll. Including article's author.
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Richard Kulawiec, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:07pm

Re: Two words:
As I said some years ago (with apologies to Gil-Scott Heron), "The revolution will not be televised, it will be distributed freely over the Internet via peer-to-peer filesharing."
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Jon B., 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:11pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
How would I feel? I'd be angry at whoever leaked my private information and I would do my best to bring them to justice, but I could not rightly fault a press organization that chose to publish that information as news once it had been leaked. There have been many cases where celebrities have had photos taken illegally - while the photographer may get punished, the press that publishes the photos do not get punished.

Same goes for Wikileaks. You leak classified information? You get in trouble. But once the information is out there, there's no logical or moral reason to go after the free press.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:11pm

The truth revealed...
" Look at who's complaining the most about Wikileaks and you realize that it's the people who benefit from not being held accountable for their actions."

Lieberman's actual name L'ieber Man'Joe, and he is a Bothan, and Wikileaks is a whole mountain-sized storehouse filled with stuff he doesn't want revealed. At some point, Lieberman destroyed Caamas, and now he's trying to hide it....
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nonanonymous, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:12pm

Re:
It's nice how you ignored the minor fact of Amazon being a US company and it's being told what to do.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:12pm

Re:
Since when does exposing stolen government and military documents for general public consumption including to the originating countries enemies constitute free speech?

Oh, I don't know. Maybe since the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers?
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Designerfx (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:14pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
your question is the wrong one.

the question is, since when should the people not be informed, regardless of whether the intent is to be covert or public?

since when did our first amendment rights get trumped by security? Last I checked, that doesn't exist anywhere in the constitution.
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Jon B., 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:16pm

Re:
Since when does exposing stolen government and military documents for general public consumption including to the originating countries enemies constitute free speech?

Not free speech. Free press. Why are government documents exempt from the free press?

Since when was Julian Assange a US citizen guaranteed such a right?

He's in an EU nation, and the EU nations have press freedoms very similar to that in the US. And while we're pointing out that he's outside US jurisdiction, are you at the same time suggesting he should be prosecuted by the US for something?
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PRMan, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:18pm

Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
It's funny. It's as if people don't realize that the Constitutional framers were involved in a war with treasonous members of society.

There is NOTHING different about today. Those rules came out of situations exactly like today and because of the "bogeyman" of terrorism.
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Tim, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:21pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Yes, of course it's censorship.

Wikileaks releases things that are in the public's interest to know and are therefore entitled to the same protections that other journalists who publish leaked information get.
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Bill Pytlovany, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:25pm

Censorship
So... if an employee at the IRS downloaded all my tax and personal information and uploaded it to Wikileaks for the world to see, that's ok under the constitution?

Bill
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Anonymous Poster, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:26pm

This won't stop them. If they don't find another host, they'll certainly go to decentralized information sharing to get things out.

Looks like the Pirate Bay might be useful for something other than camrips of movies after all.
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Tim, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:27pm

Re:
Again, the fact that the documents were stolen or millitary is in itself unimportant. What IS important is that these documents were clearly in the public interest and were just begging to be leaked. Seriously, read up on protections for journalists.

As all of you anti-Wikileaks trolls (yes, YOU are the trolls) come out of the woodwork, two questions come to mind:

1. Where were you guys for the last 4 years? Wikileaks is not new. Just seems like you're rallying now because your rulers in the media and government are saying harsh things about them.

2. Why do you worship power? Ah, must be just like your name says: A coward.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:28pm

Re: Censorship
Ugh, WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT. No, it isn't "okay". You'd have the right to see the IRS employee meet justice. But if Wikileaks deemed your IRS info newsworthy and published it, they're protected by press laws in the Constitution. THEY WEREN'T THE ONES THAT LEAKED THE DAMNED DOCUMENTS!
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:29pm

I don't understand why you bring up the Bill of Rights. A non us-citizen does not enjoy our rights. By doing this, Wikileaks is, in a sense, a terrorist organization.
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:29pm

Re:
Since when does exposing stolen government and military documents for general public consumption including to the originating countries enemies constitute free speech?

When did it not?

Since when was Julian Assange a US citizen guaranteed such a right?

First, there's the philosophical argument that free speech is a right that all humankind shares (a thought shared by our very Declaration of Independence, mind you). Besides, would you suddenly be okay with this if it was a US citizen leaking the same info? I suspect not, which makes the question of Assange's citizenship nothing more than a distraction on your part.

Second, Amazon is a US company being pressured by the US government.
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TPBer (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:30pm

Re:
"Looks like the Pirate Bay might be useful for something other than camrips of movies after all"

Hope so cause TPB isn't a very good source for anything more than unwanted popups these days. They have caved to the spam industry.
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tamoustachecunetache, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:31pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
You compare the government to an individual. The government is not "someone" and it is not private.
If your employees were using your money to play in your back, you'd be very happy to know about it and you'd take proper actions.

The government is doing exactly this. They take your money and play in your back. You are the employer of the government so stop acting like an obeying slave and stand up and take your responsibilities for once.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:31pm

Re: Re:
No... but the US should fight any organization that comes against it... I applaud Amazon for being so patriotic.
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RikuoAmero (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:31pm

Hate to play Devil's Advocate
Mike, can you clarify a couple of things for us. Did the Senator in question actually give a specific order to Amazon, or was it simply a blanket REQUEST (which some may interpret as an order, but legally it is not an order).
Secondly, I recall you yourself stating on many occassions censorship only occurs when its the government doing it. If Amazon decide not to host Wikileaks, that's their business, it is not censorship and not a violation of the First Admendment.
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paperbag (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:32pm

more links
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5994583/cablegate.wikileaks.org_2010-11-28_220_total.zip

or just search Google, same thing. ;)
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:32pm

Re:
By doing this, Wikileaks is, in a sense, a terrorist organization.

If he was a citizen of the US, it wouldn't be terrorism? Terrorism depends on your country of origin and not the action? Timmy McVeigh can rest easy in his grave, I guess.

Also, what? Terrorism? Listen kid, terrorism doesn't mean "something the US government really hates", despite what the word has been twisted into by the past couple presidencies.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:33pm

A platform
The first amendment does not guarantee a platform for Wikileaks� free speech. If a private entity decides it is not worth while to provide them a platform, well tough.
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Richard Kulawiec, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:35pm

Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Excellent point
A further one: it's not the responsibility of journalists -- or anyone else for that matter -- to keep secrets because others wish they would. What's not being asked here (and of course it's not being asked because it would embarrass the wrong people) is why the hell the US set up this system so poorly that it was trivial for someone to stroll off with a bazillion dispatches. And as a followup question, also not being asked, I could add "what possible reason do we have to believe that Wikileaks is the only entity with this data?"

Surely nobody is so pathetically naive as to think that a data system this amazingly weak has only been compromised once. I think it's far more likely that a much, MUCH larger corpus of documents has long since been in the hands of multiple governments -- who are no doubt privately amused that DC is wetting its pants over this trivial incident while much larger leaks go unremarked.

So in one sense, I look at it this way: if these dispatches are being read in Kabul and Moscow and Dublin and Havana and Minsk, then why not here? Hey, unlike all of those folks, I'm a US citizen: I paid for them.
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damit, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:35pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Cell phone is a private citizen who answers to laws, the government is supposed to answer to the citizens...you are a douche.
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dev, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:36pm

Re: Re:
What? amazon is an american company?!
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:36pm

A pity Amazon didn't stand their ground. I don't blame them for not wanting to hold onto a heavily targetted site like Wikileaks, but I'm curious as to how things would've gone if they had.
Would Amazon have been declared to be "supporting terrorists" and have their domains siezed? I would've loved to have seen the uproar from that.
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:36pm

Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
If Amazon decide not to host Wikileaks, that's their business, it is not censorship and not a violation of the First Admendment.

True enough, but I can imagine how noncompliance with a government "request" might be seen as an admission by Amazon that they were hosting "infringing content".

"Nice domain you got there . . . be a shame if anything were to happen to it."
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RikuoAmero (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:37pm

Re:
Your definition of a terrorist group must be extremely broad then. I thought a terrorist group used violence and propaganda to spread fear and terror.
Wikileaks merely releases documents. Whether such an act is legal or moral I won't argue with you, but what I am saying is that Wikileaks is NOT a terrorist organisation.
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dev, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:37pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Thats funny, isn't the government the ones recording our private phone calls making it available for rest of the government to see.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:38pm

Re:
You know of a more sane government? Funny, I was under the impression they were all pretty insane...
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Jon B. (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:39pm

Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
Even if it's not an order, but a veiled threat, a threat by a government official (even a Senator with no executive power) is still censorship.
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damit, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:39pm

Re: Re: Re:
It is people like you who speak constantly of patriotism and military greatness who never served and should have no right to an opinion on the matter. For those of us how DID server, we have every right to speak of it, and normally do not. Get out of MY country, I did fight for it after all.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:39pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Need I remind you that a government is not a human, and therefore has no human rights.

There's no one here to "feel" anything.
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paperbag (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:39pm

Re: more links
or from the horses mouth: http://file.wikileaks.org/torrent/cablegate/cablegate-201012011944.7z.torrent
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:40pm

Re: A platform
Depends on whether they did it because they were afraid they would lose customers (popular backlash) or because they were afraid of the government (legal backlash).

The first is a business decision, the second is the chilling effect of our government on free speech.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:44pm

Re: A platform
The problem doesn't lie in Amazon's decision; they aren't legally obliged to carry WikiLeaks.

The problem lies in Senator Lieberman acting in his official capacity as a U.S. senator to discourage Amazon from carrying WikiLeaks. From my understanding of the situation, Senator Lieberman did not legally force Amazon to drop WikiLeaks, and if Amazon were willing to push back they would have had at least one legal leg upon which to stand. Senator Lieberman did, however, apply pressure using the authority of his office, which I would construe as an attempt at censorship, though not the worst possible thing he could have done.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:45pm

Re:
How about since the creation of the country? Does it make me a troll to state a fact now?
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This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

hajdar, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:47pm

fucktard amazon
F.U.C.K. YOU AMAZON IVE BEEN SHOPPING WITH YOU ALOT . BUT NO MORE YOU TRAITORS, IS U.S. GOVERNMENT TAKING CARE OF YOUR $200 MILLION UNPAID TAX TO MEXICO. HMM FUCK YOU PEACE OF SHIT
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:47pm

Re: Censorship
Holy shit, the united states is a country not a person. God. Damn it. Why is this so hard for people to understand.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:48pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
The genie is out of the bottle. Good luck putting it back in.
The more the US is struggling against the release of these files the more attention they get.

By taking Wikipedia offline, like Joe "I hate freedom" Lieberman just demanded, he just used the US Constitution as toilet paper. I don't think the Founding Fathers had that use in mind when they wrote the damn thing.
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RadialSkid (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:50pm

Re:
I'm American, and I don't exactly disagree. Every time the subject crosses my mind, I keep arriving at the same conclusion: In order to protect American values, it's becoming increasingly necessary to subvert American government.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:51pm

Re:
By definition, the bill of rights laid out the fundamental rights of all human beings. The only reason their specific protections don't extend to foreigners is because that would be an OVER-extension of the US's sovereignty, and it's up to other sovereignties to apply those tenets themselves. It doesn't mean non-citizens don't have human rights. That's ridiculous.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:51pm

Re:
as defined by.....?

i'll wait for your answer.

who are wikileaks terrorizing?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:53pm

Re:
Is he advocating violence or an overthrow of the American (or any other) government? Not that I'm aware. Is he making threats to Americans (or anyone else)? Nope, besides letting them know he'll publish anything pertinent that's leaked to him.

Terrorists use *terror* to force people to do what they want. He's not doing anything like that, simply exposing information.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:55pm

Re: Re:
And since The Washington Post blew open the Watergate Scandal.
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darryl, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:55pm

DoS was self imposed
I doubt it was a DoS on Wikleaks, they were on every news station just about on the planet.

Im sure that would have resulted in an effective, self imposed DoS attack..

the same end result, but one is innocent and one is deliberate.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:56pm

amazon account deleted.
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Steven (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 1:57pm

Re:
Wow, you want to get the american public in an uproar? Take away amazon.com as we gear up for Christmas. That kind of backlash would be something not seen in decades.
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ronalds545 (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:00pm

Re: No secrets
Along the same lines, if you buy stock in a company, you're an owner and "am somewhat responsible for everything they do." Thus, your argument is that no company should be allowed trade secrets. We should all know the formula for Coke, Google's algorithms, and everyone's unlisted telephone number. And more directly to the point, since the government collects taxes via tax returns, let's post yours to this website.
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darryl, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:01pm

"thats alright, you should hear what we say about you"
Its also not a censorship issue, amazon and many news outlets are withholding the information not out of pressure but out of morals and ethics.

You are aware that it is mainly the NYtimes behind Wiki's promotion, most others are reporting on that fact. And are backing away from risking national security. and international security.

Also, the people involved, the people who were talked about, state that, that is part of the normal everyday diplomatic process. And that it is a two way street.

And very very few if any took any exception to the comments.

Its not going to start a new world war, but it is going to cost the US heaps of money relocating and re-establishing diplomats over the world..

Guess who pay for that ?? yes, you do..

Thats democracy for you.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:01pm

Re: fucktard amazon
Does "F.U.C.K." stand for anything in particular?
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:04pm

Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Same goes for Wikileaks. You leak classified information? You get in trouble. But once the information is out there, there's no logical or moral reason to go after the free press.

But this doesn't make sense.

Here's a sensitive analogy: let's say a movie was leaked long before it was due in theaters, and this happens occasionally. Now, in all fairness, let's say this movie was obtained via illegal means, and posted as a torrent for all to access.

Per your argument, is the original copy the only infringing (and illegal) copy? I would suspect not. Therefore, it makes sense for whoever might want their data/documents back to attack or as some here would call it "censor" any server or party that might be harboring the document. This is of course under the assumption that whatever was obtained and broadcast was in fact illegal.
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hajdar, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:06pm

fucktard amazon
F.U.C.K. YOU AMAZON IVE BEEN SHOPPING WITH YOU ALOT . BUT NO MORE YOU TRAITORS, IS U.S. GOVERNMENT TAKING CARE OF YOUR $200 MILLION UNPAID TAX TO MEXICO. HMM FUCK YOU PEACE OF SHIT
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:06pm

Re: Re: A platform
It's possible that Amazon didn't want ICE seizing their domain. After all, he's chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee...

Amazon can, in fact, do as they please with their business, but as a customer, I can also choose to stop shopping there as a result. There are a lot of choices available, just saying.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:06pm

Re: Re: Re:
Amazon just did the most cowardly and unpatriotic thing ever, and you congratulate them? You, sir, you are an idiot.

Instead of standing up for anyone's rights, they took a runner. And you call that patriotic.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:06pm

I can't really fault amazon here. If someone hosts information that causes enemies to target someone (informant, spy, military personnel) and that person dies, as a person I would feel responsible for that death.

Amazon turning a blind eye to someone who's crossed a line between whistle blowing and putting someone in harm's way is irresponsible in my opinion.

I don't agree with the government's response of deflection, because there was some whistleblowing that needed to happen, but when lives are at steak it's time to plug up the hole.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:06pm

Re: Re: No secrets
Great rebuttal.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:07pm

Re: Re: fucktard amazon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Unlawful_Carnal_Knowledge

Not sure how it relates to his comment though...
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:09pm

Re: "thats alright, you should hear what we say about you"
You are aware that it is mainly the NYtimes behind Wiki's promotion

Where are on earth did you hear this? Do you mean Wikipedia maybe? Wikileaks is completely independent from that. In fact, it's pretty much completely independent from everything, except maybe Icland who are heavy supporters of the site.
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R FRANKLIN, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:09pm

THIS IS NOT CENSORSHIP--IT IS FIGHTING ESPIONAGE!
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:10pm

Re:
What lives? Got some sources you care to share?
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:12pm

Re:
Go read them yourself and see how many lives are being put at stake. Agents' names are all redacted.

If you can find me one cable on Wikileaks where the name of a CIA operative is not redacted, I will be 100% on your side. All you need to do is find one. Go ahead, go try. It shouldn't be that hard, right? Just one. That's all. I couldn't make this easier.
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:14pm

Re: Re:
It's nice how you ignored the fact that you have no proof that Amazon was "ordered" to do a thing. Nor do they have to be. They could simply be doing the right thing or ticked that they are getting flack because WikiLeaks broke their terms of service. It doesn't matter because Amazon is a private company and can do whatever it is they want.
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CM, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:14pm

You and Me and yes even the government are entitled to have their secrets. Protecting them is not censorship.

Do we deserve to know? Maybe, that is a different question, but I'm quite certain the whole world doesn't need to know.
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Scary Times, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:18pm

Quite an entitlement mentality when anytime we don't get to see others secrets we call it censorship?

To quote the Princess Bride, "You are trying to take what I have rightfully stolen"

The information belongs to the US Government, so they are censoring themselves? No one is trying to keep Assange's opinion quiet, THAT would be censorship.

How immature...
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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:19pm

You lose Amazon!
Amazon.com has now lost my business (thousands of $$ / year) permanently because of this. To bow to political pressure from a bonehead like Lieberman is unconscionable! I'd like to see what Wikileaks has on Senator Joe. It might be interesting...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:19pm

Re: Re: No secrets
government = enforcement of what I may and may not do

private industry = what I can or can not produce or buy

notice the can / may difference.

ronald = logic fail.

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theskyrider, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:19pm

Re: Re: fucktard amazon
F.U.C.K. is an acronym. "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge."

Back when the world was more....enlightened...when you were caught having sex with somebody whom you weren't married to; they took you into the square, naked, put you in stocks, and hung a sign over your head. That sign said "F.U.C.K.," simply because ink was at a premium back then.
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:21pm

Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
You're a douche. Reread his quote. He states an opinion on what he thinks the companies should do. But again, they are a private company and HAVE to do nothing but what they want.
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Censorship?!?!, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:21pm

Hello.... Its STOLEN PRIVATE INFORMATION! How is it censorship to try to prevent its dissemination?!

What a narcissistic point of view...
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:23pm

Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
This is not a copyright issue. All documents are already in the public domain, so the problem is not copying but initial publication.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:24pm

Re:
Much like the US is a terrorist state then? Denying people from other nations their rights. The Internet isn't solely for US citizens. And I, as a Dutchman also have freedom of speech.
And so do the whistleblowers on sites like Wikileaks and Cryptome. REGARDLESS where they are from.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:25pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
you have no idea whether or not I served... what an idiotic thing to say.
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:25pm

Re: Re:
Yea, even I agree with this one.
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:26pm

Re: No secrets
Agreed. NOTHING should be secret. It allows the government to get away with things like assassinations, setting up people as 'terrorist' patsies, etc.

Government only needs secrecy for VERY short periods in order to keep ONGOING operations from being exposed.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:27pm

Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
Mike, can you clarify a couple of things for us. Did the Senator in question actually give a specific order to Amazon, or was it simply a blanket REQUEST (which some may interpret as an order, but legally it is not an order).
Secondly, I recall you yourself stating on many occassions censorship only occurs when its the government doing it. If Amazon decide not to host Wikileaks, that's their business, it is not censorship and not a violation of the First Admendment.

A sternly worded request from a powerful Senator is not an order, but close enough. Putting political pressure on an organization to silence speech is censorship in my book. Playing games and saying since it was just a request and not an "order" is playing games with reality.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:28pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Some people believe patriotism means standing up for what is right regarding a country and their citizens. Amazon didn't have to do what they did. They chose to. I appluad that. You people who think this country can remain safe without secrecy are living in a fantasy world... you know.. the one where global warming is real.
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The eejit (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:28pm

Re: "thats alright, you should hear what we say about you"
First off, Amazon has a German arm that the US has no jurisdiction over.

Second, you're a moron if you think this isn't a form of censorship.

Thirdly, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find that then DHS has used Wikileaks before in aiding an investigation. Way to shoot yourself in the foot, dude.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:29pm

Re:
Why not?
The government want the right to spy on their own citizens to be able to gather "important" intel but the public don't need to know anything that goes on inside?

Are you saying you will follow anything your government says you have to do blindly?
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:30pm

Re: Re:
Actually, I think that we are honestly getting close to the point where we are going to have the second American Civil War, where it will be people who think the corporatocracy we have today is good against the people who think that a more socialistic leaning government (not totally communist, but a balance between capitalism and communism) is better.

Basically, conservative vs. liberal. Contrary to popular belief, those two groups are about equal in the US today.
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:32pm

Re: Re: Re:
snaxmaster, are you IMPEDED! READ THE DAMNED ARTICLE!
It's very clear that Amazon was either coerced or bluntly THREATENED into dropping Wikileaks.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:32pm

Re: Re:
I like how you called me kid... By doing so, you think positioned yourself above me. Instead, you simply look like an idiot for thinking you know my age. It's a lame argument trick used by lame people on the internet.

Get back to work grandma.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:34pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
I was not aware one could steal goods, physical or virtual, and simply provide it to another party, and that qualifies as passing it to the public domain.

Could I steal a Picasso, pass it off to someone, and then claim the owner no longer has rights to it since it's now public?
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:38pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
NO, you are living in a fantasy world where you think that secrecy (i.e. lies to the public) needs to exist. It doesn't, never has needed to exist except for VERY SHORT PERIODS, and never will need to exist except for VERY SHORT PERIODS!

Basically, everything should be DE-classified after, at most, 3 months to a year.

Maybe with some NAMES marked out, but nothing else.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:39pm

Re: Re: No secrets
Considering the government (IRS) is keeping these for you, please feel free to forward me over your SSN and latest W2. After all, it's my right to know exactly how much you make, and I'll do my own digging once I get your SSN.

Thanks!
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:40pm

Re: Re:
No, they haven't. They are just doing what OTHER ad-supported sites are doing today.
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:41pm

Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
Thank you, Rikuo! Finally someone seems to get it!
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Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:41pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
I was not aware that Wikileaks had been charged with theft or larceny. Here I thought folks were talking of charging them with espionage, which would render your entire point moot.

If you ain't going to charge the publishers of the Pentagon Papers, you can't charge Wikileaks. They're doing essentially the same thing. The only difference is scale....
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Chris in Utah (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:43pm

To answer your first question Mike. Make sure the copy isn't copyrighted and secondly make sure its under one lb. because I highly doubt he'll give you his SS#.
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Ron, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:44pm

Re:
fuck you
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:45pm

Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
Censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body The censorship would be when the U.S. government steps into the offices of Amazon with a warrant and shuts them down for not complying. A request is not censorship. Its just like me asking you to be quiet and not tell the world about the time I screwed your mom on the living room coffee table. Its not censorship till I tape your mouth closed.
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:46pm

Re: Re:
Actually, it is LEGAL to call for the overthrow of the American government. The Founding Fathers said many many times that if a majority of the American people had a problem with the government, then overthrow WAS a legitimate, sane and acceptable solution to their problems.
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:47pm

Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
BINGO! That is why I am very suspicious that Amazon was pressured into this decision, much like with the much-ballyhooed pedophiles/pedosexuals guide that was on there a few months ago.
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ron, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:48pm

Re: You lose Amazon!
your full of shit, you will be shopping with them tomorrow. They hear this bullshit threat all the time. Take your $20 and shove it up your ass.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:48pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Your taxdollars paid for those cables, so they are public property.
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:48pm

Re: Re: Re: A platform
Not if you want the best prices. The fact is that anyone who would stop shopping with Amazon over this is an idiot who doesn't believe in our freedom of press and numerous other rights.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:49pm

Re: Re: Re: No secrets
And audit the Federal Reserve while you're at it!
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:49pm

Re: Re: No secrets
Not quite the same. It's more like "no company should be allowed to dump harmful waste in the ocean and be allowed to keep it secret". Also, there's what I call the conscientious investor's dilemma: "would you invest in a company that you know dumps harmful waste in the ocean?".

At the end of the day, governments are organisations of which we are shareholders by default, and it's our responsibility to keep them sane and moral. Unlike private companies, countries are based on ideals which governments need to respect and preserve. If they lose sight of those ideals, and we find out, we as the people of the country need to do something about it. If governments keep secrets too many secrets from their people, their people become their soldiers rather than their shareholders.
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:52pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
How bout I just quote the good senator...

"(Amazon's) decision to cut off WikiLeaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material," he said in a statement. "I call on any other company or organization that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them."

Read that quote and tell me where he orders anyone to do anything? And tell me where they were threatened? Because its not clear to me nor many people on here. And if anyone was going to "order" someone do you think it would be Joe Lieberman? Seriously? He's as imposing as my 90 year old grandmother and she's in a coma.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:52pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Here I thought folks were talking of charging them with espionage, which would render your entire point moot.

I suspect they are simply charging him with the crime that would procure the longest sentencing.

If you ain't going to charge the publishers of the Pentagon Papers

Um, they did. It went to the Supreme Court...Moreover, Ellsburg and his accomplice were charged with the Espionage Act of 1917. However it was declared a mistrial given some illegal evidence gathering by the government's prosecution.
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:52pm

Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Are you confusing personal privacy with government secrets, by any chance?
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:53pm

Re:
Our government has no right to secrets, and that includes the people who WORK for our government while they are on the job. In their private lives? Fine, they can have secrecy, but not when they are working on MY DIME!
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Ron Rezendes (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:53pm

Re: Re: fucktard amazon
Fornication Under Consent of the King is the origin of the word from what I understand.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:55pm

Re:
Isn't it more narcissistic to pretend that the information is private? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we pay taxes so that these people can go around being assholes? That makes us their employer, doesn't it.

Huh. I wonder what employers would say about an "information leak" if the content was non-work related text messages being sent on a company phone by an employee? Or info about an employee using the company car to pick up hookers? Or some supervisor deliberately mismanaging her department for her own personal benefit? I wonder if, instead of firing those employees, the employer would go, "wow I can't believe this was leaked, we should put that whistleblower in jail for this! My employees' activities on company time are private, regardless of what they do, even if it loses me money!"

Sounds like an incompetent employer to me.
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Christopher (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:55pm

Re:
It is NOT stolen private information. It is 'stolen' (if you believe that leaks are stealing) government information. Which means that I as an American citizen and taxpayer, have a right to see it.

Our Founding Fathers would be ROLLING OVER IN THEIR GRAVES with idiots like you who mistake public information (done on the government dime), though classified, for private information.
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:56pm

Re: Re: Re: A platform
Yes you can. The beauty of America!
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 2:56pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
My tax dollars paid for the creation of your SSN. Please fork that over ASAP.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:00pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
"Um, they did. It went to the Supreme Court...Moreover, Ellsburg and his accomplice were charged with the Espionage Act of 1917. However it was declared a mistrial given some illegal evidence gathering by the government's prosecution."

Okay, I'm going to assume that I wasn't clear when I said the PUBLISHERS of the Pentagon Papers. Wikileaks is the publisher, the person who actually leaked the documents is the leaker. In the Pentagon Papers case, Ellsburg is the LEAKER, and the publisher was first the NY Times, and then the Washington Post. THEY WERE NOT CHARGED. Nixon tried to get an injunction barring publication, but the Supreme Court said the case didn't warrant prior restraint....
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snaxmaster (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:00pm

For everyone on here: I'm not arguing that it's freedom of the press for Wikileaks to do what they have. I'm not arguing that its moral either. All I'm saying is that having one U.S. Senator pressure, coerce or request other companies to follow int he footsteps of Amazon is not amount to governmental censorship. That is all. ;)
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:03pm

Re: Re: Re: fucktard amazon
That's the folk origin. The word actually predates acronyms, so it can't itself be an acronym. Here's some cool info about "fuck": http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fuck

Didn't know about the Van Halen connection though :P
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:03pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Probably, I just don't agree with the absolutist notion that government should not have ANY secrets.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:04pm

Re: Re: Re: fucktard amazon
heh, see below ;)
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:06pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
No, they didn't. His tax dollars did (duh!).

Plus, read my response below to the exact same asinine argument.
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ltlw0lf (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:10pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
I was not aware one could steal goods, physical or virtual, and simply provide it to another party, and that qualifies as passing it to the public domain.

Not a good analogy at all. Nobody is suggesting that stealing something and passing it through another party means passing it to the public domain.

Anything produced by the US Government (until recently, when they started giving it to contractors,) is by its very nature, public domain. Your tax dollars paid for its creation, so you should have every benefit of its use.

Nobody, Government or otherwise, can claim copyright on works produced by the US Government. However, if the US Government hires a third-party to produce the work, then the jury is still out on whether the work is public domain or not.
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:10pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Some secrets are necessary, I agree, but too many secrets means democracy stops working.
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Dazza, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:11pm

US & Aust running scared!
The U.S., Australian and no doubt other governments are trying to hide the atrocities they have been involved in. The information SHOULD be public. If a government has nothing to hide then there is nothing to fear!
The US should look at their own security and where access to such a vast array of so-called "Secret" documents can easily be given to wikileaks or anyone else in the first place.
I commend wikileaks for at least trying to open the worlds eyes to what is REALLY going on!
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:14pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Ok, we're splitting hairs here again. A court case was brought about against the NYT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._United_States

Call it an injunction, or call it the minor step before being charged with the Espionage Act, either way the gov't tried to stop what was happening. Your previous comment seemed to offer the notion that nothing was ever lodged against the folks behind the PP (publisher or leaker). However, this is not true, both were attacked for generally the same reasons.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:16pm

I have to question what kind of person would trust using Amazon's S3 now... Apparently your stuff could get taken down at any time for no reason.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:16pm

Re: Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
So let's say the government did something outrageous like, i don't know, shutting down a bunch of domains on a whim. And then someone a site playing host to a group the government doesn't like sees that and decides to not host that group anymore. Let's even say they do this without and direct threat. Let's say they just saw how those other sites were shut down without due process and got scared.

So, according to you, that doesn't count as censorship, right? That's perfectly okay and nobody's doing anything wrong at all apparently?
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:16pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Anything produced by the US Government (until recently, when they started giving it to contractors,) is by its very nature, public domain.

So, when do I get to hop in a Stealth Bomber for a quick jaunt?. After all, I apparently own 1/300,000,000th of it.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:18pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
You are assigned a SSN at birth...how on Earth could he have paid for this from the womb?
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:18pm

Re: Two words:
Well, wikileaks has servers all over the world - some in reenforced bunkers. I don't think this will be much of a blow. It's just disappointing that Amazon would back down, really.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:19pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Agreed.
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:22pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Consider it a loan.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:25pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Zing!
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:25pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
IIRC it was found that the press had a first amendment right to publish the documents, so they went after the leakers with the Espionage Act.
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:26pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Indeed. From your link: "The Supreme Court ruled that First Amendment did protect the New York Times' right to print said materials."
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Eric, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:28pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
If my phone bill was paid for by a group of people under the pretext that I was accountable to them and my salary was paid for by them, then yes, they would be justified in snooping in on my phone conversations, and even publishing them.

Don't be ridiculous. We have a right to know. This is OUR country.
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BigKeithO (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:30pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
As soon as you join the Air Force and get trained up on it.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:32pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Wait, so I don't understand. Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing? Because DH seems to be arguing from the standpoint that you're defending these actions, while you seem to be arguing from some neutral standpoint.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:35pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
lol, you ARE free to do that...as long as you go through the proper training, get the proper clearance, and gain the proper qualifications... :p

Anyway, if we're being literally, then technically you'd only be allowed to fly 1/300,000,000th of it as well.
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Known Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:35pm

"Censorship"
Julian Assange is an Australian, not an American, and Wikileaks is not an American site. How does the US Constitution apply? How long would they last if they targeted Vladimir Putin or Israel. Just asking.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:36pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Umm - thats what your government has already done. I'm fairly sure your country was populated before you got there, you know, that Native Americans?

Congratulations you just proved my point
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:39pm

Re:
Quite an entitlement mentality when anytime we don't get to see others secrets we call it censorship?

To quote the Princess Bride, "You are trying to take what I have rightfully stolen"

The information belongs to the US Government, so they are censoring themselves? No one is trying to keep Assange's opinion quiet, THAT would be censorship.

To quote the Princess Bride, "You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."
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BigKeithO (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:41pm

Re: Re:
It is harder to kill people without everyone getting upset if you can't start screaming "terrorist!!" though. Enough with the rational thought! Back in line, terrorist organization it is.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:44pm

Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Yes, because equating the illegal actions of governments to corporate trade secrets makes so much sense
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:47pm

So is the government going to take down CNN and other news outlets? I just read all kinds of stuff from those documents on the CNN site. If the government is going to censor the first website and not care about freedom of speech shouldn't they also censor everybody who's reprinting it?
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:50pm

Re: Re: You lose Amazon!
your full of shit, you will be shopping with them tomorrow. They hear this bullshit threat all the time. Take your $20 and shove it up your ass.

What an insightful comment. Thank you for your contribution to the community. In the future you may want to take a moment to proof read your comments so your poor grammer and spelling doesn't make you look foolish.
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:50pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I can't help but feel there's an implicit ", or else!" at the end, which was left unsaid because, well, this is politics.

It's quite clear that if Amazon sides with Wikileaks, they'll regret it down the line when the government starts piling on extra taxes and signing contracts with rival companies. It's not like Amazon or any other company or organization has any choice on this matter..
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:52pm

Re: Re: Re:
Wow, really? That's a thing you're gonna say and stand by? Really? You're proud of that?
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Screeley, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:55pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
"Your previous comment seemed to offer the notion that nothing was ever lodged against the folks behind the PP (publisher or leaker)"

Ummm... No, his previous comment did not offer that notion.

It may have "seemed" (to you) to offer that notion, but your inability to parse prose should be no replacement for what he actually said.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:56pm

Re:
Their servers have actually be decentralized for a long time. The Amazon servers were really just an extra buffer to help when the DDoS (or possibly just extreme traffic due to popularity) knocked them offline for a short time. So don't worry about wikileaks going down because of this, it's no big deal in the long run.

Just disappointing that Amazon would cave. That's all.
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jabo, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:56pm

Cloud Computing at its finest
Your provider dumps you as soon as someone makes a complaint.
Good luck selling that service to anyone in the future.
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:58pm

Re: "Censorship"
How long would they last if they targeted Vladimir Putin or Israel.

Along these same lines I've thought it odd that most of what gets headlines on Wikileaks is when something embarasses the US government. How come I never hear of them leaking China or Russian secrets? Or even Panamanian or Peruvian secrets? Don't know if it's because their secrets aren't leaked, or the media just doesn't report on it. I guess someday I should actually read Wikileaks. On someone else's computer though so I don't get put on a watchlist.
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:59pm

Re: Re: Re:
I don't think they said that, but you're right - publishing a call-to-arms to overthrow the US government is not illegal. Actually attempting it...well...now you're no longer protected by the 1st amendment so I can't help you.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 3:59pm

Re: Re: "Censorship"
You should read it because they don't just print leaked things on the US they do it to other countries too.
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dustbunny44, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:07pm

boycott amazon
boycott amazon
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Howard the Duck (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:15pm

It will spread
There will be a global wikileaks phenomenon. I see revolutions starting with huge leaks of information.
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cc (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:20pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Your government is not your country. If you find out that your government is doing despicable things, then the patriotic thing to do is to protect your country from your government.

So goes the rhetoric, anyway.
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a citizen, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:22pm

another proof..
This is another proof of what I have discovered for myself no so long ago after being a US citizen for 10 years. Yeah I am slow I know, but for the slower ones: Freedom, Democracy etc -- all BS for consumers to cheer about. Nothing has changed much on the planet for centuries. There are people in power and there are others. The 1st group always wants to control the second. In USSR/China it was probably quite direct: you challenge Government - you go to jail. In West/US the control is more sophisticated but just as effective: you challenge People in Power -- you'll be silenced quickly as well. The toolset is more versatile though: money, court-jail, public reputation if you are popular, tragic accident if nothing else helps.. Examples?

Public reputation. Quite many Hollywood celebrities were immediately against the Iraq war. Madonna for example. Yet in a few weeks almost all got silenced somehow. How? You think you will remain popular when branded as terrorist/communist/rapist? People controlling media channels are able to launch an effective campaign against individuals.

Money. Amazon today. Yes you're free to run your business but.. the Govt may brand you as harboring enemy of the state, do you dare to lose xx% of your "patriotic" customers before XMas?

Court-jail: Rape charges against Assange..

Tragic accident: Death of David Kelly, UN weapons of mass destruction inspector

Free exchange of information (e.g. Internet) is the only hope for mankind to built just(ier) societies IMO..
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\r (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:23pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: A platform
I, my good sir, am an admitted idiot.

You, my good sir, are less than capable. Amazon, far and away, has average prices and hideous shipping fees.

There now, having typed that, I'm not getting how you equate not believing in freedom of the press etc with choosing not to shop at Amazon because one may disagree with their action.
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letherial (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:26pm

Re:
Free speech also includes the ability to read things; true the government wanted to hide it, and they did...for awhile, but once it out, they cannot make it a crime to be read....that being said, its amazons stupidity for falling for this, the blame is on them, the government did not order them to shut it down, therefore, there was no censorship.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:28pm

you cant cencor my black dick
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:29pm

Re:
i agree
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:29pm

Re: Re:
That is offensive and racist. Go to hell.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:30pm

Re: Re: Re:
suck it suck-o
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:30pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
i agree
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letherial (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:30pm

Re:
This is how the government is getting around free speech, instead of saying its a crime, they claim that all these people will die and the country is at stake now. While no censorship realy happens from the goverment companys like amazon panic and dont look at the facts.

Doesn't really matter, wikileaks could put it on a P2P site and it will get around as long as the media is making a big deal about it, good or bad. all that is lost is business for amazon.
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me, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:37pm

why only leaks about US?
Because you only hear US news. Wikileaks released plenty of info about Russia, China, Korea etc too and will be releasing more. It is embarrassing as well. They release what they have I believe. Perhaps shutting down Amazon server doesn't help here. :) Or maybe it is US Govt plan: instead of you reading the Wikileaks directly you can get a nice FOX/CNN summary instead! Feeling free and protected now?
BTW, why t** f**k someone defends my freedom in Afghanistan/Iraq??? I live here. I walk in my Walmart and see no Afghans/Iraqis trying to keep me in captivity. Anyone cares to explain with sense?
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Howard the Duck (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:47pm

To bad
Will these wikileaks push the world's secrets further underground? Will this be an excuse for a cyber arms race?
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:47pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
head's up: your icon is assigned to your IP. We can see when you talk to yourself here ;)
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Eugene (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:52pm

Re: To bad
There was an interesting article the other day about this (in a magazine I whose name I sadly can't recall). How leaks sort of exist outside the bounds of technology. No matter how sophisticated your security is, you can't effectively protect against the people who are legitimately allowed access to that information.

Granted, the *best* way around this is to just run a government or organization that is open, honest, and stands by its principles. But that of course involves no fun tech gadgets, nor does it involve realistic expectations ;p
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 4:57pm

Re: Re:
Panties in a twist? As a REAL American who pays attention to the mechanics of our plutocratic government, I would sincerely hope people (including yourself) find that the faults of our government are grounds for it's dismissal. The opportunity of a truly democratic body should be enough motivation for people to stand up and fight for it. However, it seems you prefer the status-quo.

Welp, congratulations - They have you right where they want you, Dumbass.
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Ivan Awfulitch, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:03pm

Alleged Censorship
There is no First Amendment right to a platform in private media, no First Amendment right for an Australian who is not in the US, nor for foreign based websites.
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TDR, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:14pm

There wouldn't be a need for government secrets if all US intelligence ops were immediately shut down and all military and intelligence personnel recalled to the States and the CIA itself shut down along with the TSA and much of the DHS and FBI. Add to that implementation of an earthly version of the prime directive - complete noninterference in the internal affairs of other nations.

As well as a dramatic change in how the US treats other nations, dropping the bully tactics and honestly working with other countries for the common good. There's a reason the US has always been such a target for extremists (well, more than one), and part of it lies in how it's treated other countries. That has to change if the US is ever going to truly move forward.

But I suppose it's unlikely to happen in reality, at least not without another armed revolution or two here in the States to forcibly strip the elite of their power. Because I think that's the only way they ever will.
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Rob, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:15pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
If these documents had been leaked to the Washington Post, or the New York Times would the papers be forced to not publish the cables?
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Fritz Schenk, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:20pm

Censorship
is disgraceful and dangerous.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:20pm

Re: Alleged Censorship
There is no First Amendment right to a platform in private media, no First Amendment right for an Australian who is not in the US, nor for foreign based websites.

The US government stepping in and pressuring an American company not to publish certain content?

Uh, yeah, that's censorship.
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sean, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:28pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Its not the same thing. None of these cables and document invade of these people's private conversations. These are what they did at work. Do you expect your employer to record and listen in to your conversations while you are at working, supposedly conducting work related tasks? The line we citizens always get from the government regarding illegal wiretaps and patriot act is "If you are not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to hide." This is the same thing. Why do they get to do business in secret, backstab friends and allies to get favorable deals and such. This is the public's right to know. Did you feel this way when you found out what Nixon was up to? Did you feel that you were invading his privacy when you heard the tapes that were made while he sat in the oval office, conducting business when he was elected by Americans? Citizens of all countries that have elected leaders should have transparency and obligation to be open with their constituents. Plain and Simple.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:35pm

Re: DoS was self imposed
I'm pretty skeptical of that. It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between legitimate traffic and malicious traffic, but it can be done, and I would expect the technically apt wikileaks staff to be very good at telling the difference.

One can analyze traffic patterns to determine that traffic from nighttime timezones is, despite scattered, 5000% above normal. Probably an attack. One can see that 30% of their requests are specifically malformed to exploit a minor bug in their webserver that consumes an inordinate amount of computing resources. Not a coincidence. They can analyze the IPs that traffic is coming from and realize that many of the blocks are leased to firms that sell bandwidth and computing time (like CDNs), and thus are not unlikely to have any actual humans driving the traffic.

I'm actually looking forward to when they post more about this DoS after they thoroughly analyze it.
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Howard the Duck (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:38pm

Re:
The Saudi leaders wanted us to bomb Iran, we didn't do this. That doesn't sound like a bully. Give me some examples of bullying in the released cables.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:41pm

Re:
Where do you even draw the line? You say they're "entitled to have their secrets" without qualification. So you must believe that the government is justified in keeping anything and everything secret from you and everyone else.

How you can have such a naive trust in a government is beyond me. A cursory study of the history of any government, over any period of time, will show that any government is capable of shocking amounts of evil.

What would constitute a secret you think should be justly kept, and what would constitute a secret that should be revealed?

If you think governments should be able to keep all their secrets, then what other mechanism do you think will ensure that the governed can continue to keep their rights? Can you think of any?
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Howard the Duck (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:46pm

Re: Re: Alleged Censorship
Do you think that the majority of Americans are against what Amazon did? It might be that Amazon thinks the opposite. Where are the polls?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:47pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
The Pentagon Papers called, they want their conspiracy back.
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Daemon_ZOGG (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:48pm

"Amazon Bows To US Censorship Pressure: Refuses To Host Wikileaks"
Lieberman's tiny, idiot brain died years ago.. his head just hasn't realized it yet. As for amazon not hosting wikileaks.. There's no need. The CableGate Docs are already on the torrent networks. Plus, there are a lot of NON-US hosting sites that would be willing to host WikiLeaks. I really enjoyed the last sentence: "Look at who's complaining the most about Wikileaks and you realize that it's the people who benefit from not being held accountable for their actions." Well Said! ;) Long Live WikiLeaks. ;D
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 5:52pm

Re:
Let's speak hypothetically:

Let's say someone obtained evidence of a nation's soldiers indiscriminately killing dozens of innocent civilians and nearby reporters, gunning them down without mercy, and then doing the same for the civilians who tried to rescue the wounded. Information about the incident had been requested by the media, and the military was legally obligated to provide it, but had stonewalled the matter indefinitely. The only knowledge obtained was through the leak.

Would you use your same excuse that it is "stolen private information" to justify keeping that information secret? Do you think that preventing dissemination of this information would not be censorship?

What if a known recording system in the office of the president of a nation were to record conversations by that president that revealed presidential authorization of criminal activity against his political opponents? What if this information were so heinous that it would have forced this president to resign or face certain impeachment?

Is keeping that secret the right thing to do because it is "stolen private information"? Can you explain how it is narcissistic to want that information known?

I guess it wasn't so hypothetical after all. Sorry...
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RandomGuy (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:14pm

Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
The constitution? Didn't the Patriot Act replace that?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:18pm

Re: Alleged Censorship
It's funny how people keep repeating the same flawed arguments that were already debunked.
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Alex, 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:24pm

Closed my amazon account
Amazon, sorry, but this is a wrong move, I quit!
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The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:27pm

Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
I'm not a witch! They dressed me up like this. And this isn't my nose, it's a false one!
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The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:35pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
As an indian myself (can't stand the term Native American), I have this to say: We got over it. It's about time you bleeding hearts did too.
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:37pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Great addition to the discussion. Seriously. I love folks who's only joy is commenting on other folks' posts while simultaneously bringing nothing insightful to the conversation. Bravo!
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:39pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Totally right, government corruption and private sector trade secrets rarely cross paths.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101121/21414311956/president-obama-after-traveling-with-naked -scanner-ceo-defends-naked-scans.shtml
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lux (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:47pm

Re: Re:
Here you go:

http://www.aclu.org/national-security/us-pressured-germany-not-prosecute-cia-officers-torture -and-rendition
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 6:48pm

I'll just leave this here...
I can think of nothing that frames the issue more elegantly and completely that this classic:

The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailors, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden man can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens.

Others - as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and officeholders - serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the Devil, without intending it, as God.

A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.

-Henry David Thoreau
Civil Disobedience
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grimatongueworm, 1 Dec 2010 @ 7:14pm

Free Enterprise
The hypocrisy stinks for miles. Our pols, willing to fellate big business, who'll sacrifice the common man every time, who crow and crow about free markets, free enterprise, the evil of government intervention lean on Amazon like the fucking mob.

Sometimes this country makes me really sad when we don't live up to our potential
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 7:32pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Seems to have been a reading failure on your part (where he specifically had said 'publishers' and you missed or chose to ignore it), actually. Please, save your vitriol.
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an anon, 1 Dec 2010 @ 7:41pm

am i the only one who sees the irony of a us senator congradulating a company that sells material created by and for pedofiles ????
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 7:52pm

Bill of Rights apply to everyone
The rights of the government are enumerated, not the rights of the people. The people are everyone, not just citizens. When it means citizens it says CITIZENS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:03pm

Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
A sternly worded request from a powerful Senator is not an order, but close enough. Putting political pressure on an organization to silence speech is censorship in my book. Playing games and saying since it was just a request and not an "order" is playing games with reality.

And trying to read too much into a particular situation is trying to fit a story within the framework of a particular agenda. Perhaps you should stop crying "wolf."
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:21pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
no planes are finite, so owning a small piece doesnt matter
info is infinite(almost but that tiny bit can be payed by ad`s) so owning a small piece of infinite is at lest worth one read
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monkyyy, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:35pm

Re: Re: Re:
for a minute there i thought u said "real americans pay attention to the mechanics of our plutocratic government"

non-americans would probably agree if u left out the plutocratic part, and most americans would hate america more and more each day
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B, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:40pm

Re: Re: "thats alright, you should hear what we say about you"
About Amazon.de, you are right, formally�but the US can put pressure on Amazon management to have them ask to their German branch. As far as I can tell, this was done outside of jurisdiction, and is far more related to a possible backlash (from American customers who oppose the leak).
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:41pm

Re: Re: Two words:
How are bunkers relevant for DDoS?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:48pm

What if the documents dumped were copyrighted?
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monkyyy, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:50pm

Re: Re:
no terrorism is any act causing terror
so in every way this is terrorism as the people with stuff to hide are very afraid
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Roger, 1 Dec 2010 @ 8:54pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Except the info "stolen" had little to do with government doing "despicable things" and more to do with how governments conduct diplomacy between friends and foes. Often, candor cannot be made public if one party or another is to save face. Saving face is a real need, as when two individuals have to say unpleasant things to one another and yet want to maintain some level of positivity in the relationship. Like, continuing to talk to each other & work together. Like, in a marriage or co-workers, neither of whom wants to quit the relationship.
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monkyyy, 1 Dec 2010 @ 9:04pm

Re: Re:
people with stuff to hide
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Karl (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 9:13pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
So, when do I get to hop in a Stealth Bomber for a quick jaunt?

When the U.S. Government specifically says that Stealth Bombers are not property. They haven't yet, but they have done that for government documents:

Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government

- 17 USC P.105
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Karl (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 9:19pm

Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
why the hell the US set up this system so poorly that it was trivial for someone to stroll off with a bazillion dispatches.

I believe that the leaked documents usually came from dissenters within the government, the same place most leaked documents come from. In other words, from people who actually had clearance to view them in the first place.

I think it's far more likely that a much, MUCH larger corpus of documents has long since been in the hands of multiple governments

That's very likely true. But the point of keeping these things secret has nothing to do with hiding information from, say, North Korea. It's all about hiding it from the press and public.
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Russell Lundberg, 1 Dec 2010 @ 9:19pm

More than one issue
Thanks Mike. I agree Lieberman's intervention was out of line and possibly criminal. When he took office didn't Joe swear to uphold the constitution? About the actual publishing of the docs, I can understand the breadth of opinion. Myself, my default position is that more transparency is better, and those advocating secrecy bear the burden of proof. The amount of press the doc release has gotten has been impressive, as has been the restrained diplomatic responses. Since pretty much every Diplomatic Corps has been implicated, they all seem to be treading softly. Hence, little downside. It seems like a big win all around.
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G Thompson (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 10:42pm

Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
But you are a witch. You turned me into a newt,

But I got better.... ;)

I'm sorry. Cannot resist Pythonesque references..

Well, do carry on..
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RikuoAmero (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 11:18pm

Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
While I do respect you a lot Masnick, I'm gonna have to say show me some proof that there was pressure. From what I've read about here about Amazon and Wikileaks, the Amazon management saw that someone was DDOS'ing Wikileaks, and didn't want such a blatant target affecting their servers. All I can see is a business decision, pure and simple.
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SJ, 1 Dec 2010 @ 11:36pm

Re: Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
You mean like this

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/how_lieberman_got_amazon_to_drop_wikileaks .php
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BearGriz72 (profile), 1 Dec 2010 @ 11:46pm

Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
"Is it censhorship to try to prevent the publication of documents and communications that were never intended to be made public?"
Yes, Yes it is, especially when the government is covering up it's own misconduct.

"How would you feel if your phone conversations were posted online for all to see?"
Annoyed? Maybe irritated, depending on who did it I might have grounds to sue. (You know what that is right? a CIVIL proceeding.) Of course there are wiretap laws for that aren't there? Lose the straw man argument please.

"I think it is way improper to describe government efforts to protect sensitive and private communications as "censorship.""
So what, I think it is improper to describe government communications as sensitive and private. Next?
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Known Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 12:05am

Wikileaks
Wikileaks puts its political stamp on its releases. Publish the documents when you believe governments have done wrong, and don't be so selective about the nations you target. Please dispense with the commentary.

Some of you on here want to have it both ways. You want the US Bill of Rights to apply to the international internet, but you don't want the US or any other government reaching across borders after certain people are caught with their pants down (Assange and Polanski come to mind).
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RikuoAmero (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 1:04am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
That still isn't direct proof. All it says is that Lieberman congratulated Amazon after it kicked Wikileaks off its servers. It says nothing of Lieberman contacting Amazon beforehand.
If such an email were leaked, grand, then it would be proof of a US Senator co-ercing a business into censorship. However, all the evidence I have seen is simply a Senator grand-standing and of a company making a business decision.

And for what it's worth, I support Wikileaks and their whistleblowing operation. I however do not believe that it is censorship for one US company to decide not to host the site.
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marak (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 1:52am

Wow... Just wow...

I hope anon steps up and has a go at amazon now. ;)
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Eric, 2 Dec 2010 @ 2:09am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Roger,

You didn't even address the point I made. Keep living in your deluded world.

I think the whole situation is hilarious. Good on Assange.

These bureaucrats are tactless and vile. These "public servants" deserve the humility WikiLeaks has called on them. Horrible, horrible, violent, disgusting people - and you'd support them. Your nationalism is blinding your logic here, and if you aren't mentally retarded you know it, but will probably never acknowledge it.
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cc (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 2:11am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
We've only seen a tiny fraction of documents this far. Most of the dirt is on foreign governments, and has mostly been about overall impressions of foreign leaders in the eyes of US diplomats. I'm sure there's less gossipy stuff to come.
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darryl, 2 Dec 2010 @ 2:30am

Study the constitution.
And report back with a short paper regarding free speech in the US.

As per the first amendment.

Then you might want to consider the US considers itself constitutionly at WAR.

Then look up what sedition means, and treason.

that is without even looking at the patriot act, or the military secrets act.

Then find out what happens to someone in the military, in a state of war, who provides information to its enemies !

and if you think the US cannot play the same game as Assange, you wuold be mistaken.

I wonder if wikileaks would post some leaked information about Julian Asange ?

Im sure it would not, Julian would censor it, he would make a determination on your behalf regarding if he felt that information was valuable for you (or more importantly to him).

He would not last 5 minutes in Russia, where they take a dim view of media critical of the government, you can be beaten to death, your fingers cut off, as a warning not to write. And you can rest assured that the government will never find out who did it.. (officially)..

its also not constructive whistleblowing at all, its all just sensational stuff, diplomatic communications have to be frank and honest. They also have to be private.

But wikileaks is getting more and more on the nose to more and more people.. and governments..

He has no first amendment free speech rights, he's not in the US, he's not from the US, therefore he is a foreign agent, or combatant.. actively working to subvert the US Government.. and US economy, and international relations.

and for what ? what is the payoff ? Que Bono
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 5:04am

WTF?! Is Foxnews sending their hordes to this place?!

Exposing some government gossip - death penalty.
Exposing a CIA agent - free pass, coke and popcorn.
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Richard (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 5:41am

Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Per your argument, is the original copy the only infringing (and illegal) copy? I would suspect not. Therefore, it makes sense for whoever might want their data/documents back to attack or as some here would call it "censor" any server or party that might be harboring the document. This is of course under the assumption that whatever was obtained and broadcast was in fact illegal.

Anything that came from the US federal Government is (as far as copyright is concerned) in the public domain.

Even for those things that weren't produced by the US government one or all of the following are likely to apply.

1. The work - not being a creative work - is not covered by copyright.

2. The information in question could be re-expressed totally avoiding copyright - and would still do as much damage

3. Wherever 2) wouldn't work, quotation (with attribution) of what was said or written - as a means of making that information public would constitute fair use.

.

Copyright is therefore irrelevent.
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Howard the Duck (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 5:50am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Move out of your mom's basement.
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Howard the Duck (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 6:00am

Re: Re:
So the only way to figure out who said what is a name? I don't think so.
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hegemon13, 2 Dec 2010 @ 6:04am

Re: Re: Re:
Huh? Corporatist vs. socialist? How about freedom vs. everything we have now? Anyone who believes MORE government power (socialism) will solve the problems of too much government power is a freaking idiot and deserves whatever oppressive dictatorship they get.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 6:43am

Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
So you support government officials threatening private companies with legal action which would be entirely at odds with their constitutional rights?

Perhaps the douche you see is you.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 6:50am

Re: Re: No secrets
You ignored the "provided it doesn't put people in danger"

I don't think any sane person would argue that EVERYTHING the government does should be immediately visible to everyone. After all, military operations wouldn't be very successful if you published them in advance.

However, why should a military operation be kept secret a month, or a year, or a decade after it happened? And certainly the vast majority of what was leaked is not nearly as "dangerous" to the government as giving away the formula for Coke would be to Coca-Cola. What was leaked is more like the private e-mails of the CEO of Coca-Cola, which I bet most investors believe the should have the right to, considering that they are "co-owners" of the company.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 6:52am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Did you pass 8th grade reading comprehension?

Government only needs secrecy for VERY short periods in order to keep ONGOING operations from being exposed.
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Hephaestus (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 6:55am

Re: Re: Re:
You really need to move to europe with beliefs like that. What we need is less government not some pipe dream entitled socialist nanny state. What you fail to realize is anything the governmnet touches turns to crap.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 6:56am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Maybe you need to read some additional articles. Lieberman goes on to say that he will be pushing for an "... investigation of the relationship between Amazon and WikiLeaks ..." Do you think any company wants trouble from the government when it comes to "state secrets"?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 7:03am

Re: Re: Censorship
DH, you're wasting your fingers. Educating people like Bill Pytlovany is a near impossibility.

Sometimes (in my darker moments) I wonder if the quality of education in American public schools is intentionally being allowed to stagnate so that the American populace can be better manipulated ... After all, how can someone defend their rights or the rights of others if they don't understand what those rights are?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2010 @ 7:40am

Once Amazon learned that its servers were holding copies of the documents it had no choice but to close the account lest Amazon be subject to a criminal indictment. Amazon is, after all, not a journalistic endeavor for which First Amendment considerations would necessarily apply.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 7:49am

Re: Re: Re: Two words:
A large distributed network is relevant for DDoS. A bunker is relevant for storms, floods, bombs and the like. I don't think the military is quite to the point of attempting to bomb wikileaks, and maybe if the mirrors are widly publicized enough they'll realize it wouldn't work. So I'm hoping the bunkers are irrelevant.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:03am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
"Socialism" doesn't mean "more government power". It is possible to have a socialist economy with a liberal (meaning extensively protecting its citizens' liberties) government. The problem now is not socialism (IMO) but facism (the merging of government and corporate power). The solution is also not socialism or libertarianism (IMO) but democracy (or republicanism if you prefer).
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:06am

Re: Re: Re:
If we get to that point, I think the war will be between facists and democrats (small d), not liberals and conservatives. The facists will have a great deal of power, but will be unwilling to fight themselves. They will hire mercenaries to fight for them, or compel military and police forces to fight against their own citizens. This would be the democrats' advantage: the enemy soldiers would not be committed to their cause.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:09am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Screw that noise. Thanks for serving, honestly, but to suggest that the rest of us have no right to patriotism is... well it strikes me as unamerican.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:12am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
If they were taking a moral stand against Wikileaks, they would have refused their business in the first place rather than waiting for government threats to reverse course.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:19am

Re: Re: Re:
I like how you totally ignored his rebuttal and focused on the personal slight instead.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:25am

Re: Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
Why do you interpret "suppression" to mean only court orders? If the government can suppress information merely by making threats, that is no less censorship than if they do it with warrants or bullets. And it's perhaps even more dangerous.
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hegemon13, 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:34am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I agree that returning to a proper republic is ideal. What I fail to understand is how that differs from libertarianism? I can see how it clashes with the mythical libertarian beliefs (i.e. that libertarians want anarchy), but not the real beliefs. Real libertarian beliefs state that the governments role is to protect life and property and liberty by protecting it's citizens against the use of force and fraud. Libertarianism does not mean no government. It means a focused government that is very good at a much narrower scope of duties. That is, we basically want a return to the original plan of the US Republic.

I also disagree that socialism does not mean more government power. The more services or entitlements the government is responsible for providing, the more power they have, automatically. That is, until they go bankrupt.
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Denise, 2 Dec 2010 @ 10:40am

Censorship or protection
I read these comments of people supporting wikileaks and I am terrified. You people, the press and this author don't care one iota for "the truth". The press, wikileaks and this author only care about profit and making names for themselves. They, nor do you ignorant buffoons who say "we have the right to know" don't get it. This isn't just reporting "the truth" this isn't just any old classified documents about 'what the government is up to' these documents can very well get people killed. People who's job it is to protect pathetic sheep like you and this "writer". They can be used by enemies as propaganda to try and stir another attack on this country. But you don't care do you.
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 11:30am

Re: Censorship or protection
And you obviously don't care about civil liberties like free speech and freedom of the press. You also apparently don't care to hold our government accountable in any way. That's very sad.
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Roger, 2 Dec 2010 @ 1:47pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
How colorful. Another intelligent rejoinder.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 2:57pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
A democracy or republic would not necessarily vote for libertarian policies.

I also disagree that socialism does not mean more government power. The more services or entitlements the government is responsible for providing, the more power they have, automatically.

That's a good point, but I think it's smearing the issue to say they're the same thing. Certainly you can have a totalitarian government that's not socialistic at all, so it's just useful to keep the distinction in mind.
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:09pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
which is a nice solid sign of bad government and the need for change. (real change, not obama's 'yeah, we're just going to continue the status quo with a less moronic face on it' bullshit)

news flash: the smaller the nation, the less screwed up the government and the easier it is to fix (for given values and scales of all terms.)

of the USA's problems, the one that makes it Hard to Fix is the fact that it's most of a bloody continent.

the EU is nicely headed the same way.

for the village, democracy and Communism (for want of a better word). for the city region, republicanism and protectionism. for the nation-state, monarchy and capitalism. for the empire (and make no mistake, the USA is in this category) only two systems work: facsim(for what of a better word) or feudalism. anything large enough will devolve into one or the other. the USA is very much the former. the economic element here is basically the wwhole 'if it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving, regulate it, and if it stops moving, subsidize it' thing... with the element of 'but only if the appropriate bribes are submitted'

a note here: Representative democracy is no democracy at all. It is simply the elite having found an alternative to assassinating each other to decide who gets to run things for the moment, with the added bonus of keeping the people happy by making them Think they control some part of the system.

Russia is also an empire. the British empire at it's peak went the feudal rout (note that the commonwealth monarchies still have governors as a result of this).
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:12pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
plutocratic basically means rule by the rich, as opposed to aristocratic, rule by the aristocracy.

or at least, that's my understanding.

pretty accurate description of the USA if it's an accurate definition of the word.
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:16pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
i hereby declare that anyone going on about 'patriotism' or 'unamericanism' shall be shot in the face before further stupidity ensues, reguardless of their actual position. likwise anyone who argues with them, for feeding trolls.

it would make discussion of actual issues reguarding American politics a Lot easier.
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:20pm

Re: Re: Re: Censorship
that, or it's just a lot of incompetence all around.

personally, given that this issue is present in places outside the USA, I'd say an unfortunate mix of the two.
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:22pm

Re: Re: Censorship
maybe because they are Americans and have to contend with the fact that you have such a bizarre definition of 'person' that it is necessary to specify that you are speaking of a 'Real Person' when the law is only meant to apply to, errr... actual people?

then you have your corporations, who are Schroedinger's persons... or something. both and neither until you open the box... only the box keeps flickering between one and the other anyway...
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:23pm

Re: Re: Re:
caving to the spam industry? :D
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:29pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
the entire reason that citizens of the USA have the right (and responsibility, no less) to keep and bear arms, and something about maintaining a functional militia, is so they have the capacity to overthrow their government in the event that it stuffs up as badly as the British government did leading up to the American war of independence. (or revolutionary war. or rebellion. take your pick based on favoured pov.
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:32pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Hate to play Devil's Advocate
technically not censorship.
on the other hand, it is not perfectly ok, and Far from lacking in wrong doing.
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Chargone (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 3:44pm

Re: Re: Re: Alleged Censorship
nevermind that any poll short of the complete 'everyone votes' level of compulsorily elections is inherently inaccurate, and ANY poll can be made to say anything you like with properly worded questions.

polls are Not evidence. they cannot be used as evidence for Anything, because in that capacity they are pure spin.

they are useful information gathering tools for the people who conduct them if their goal is to gather actual information and they are careful about their questions and sample selection process, mind you.
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Charlotte Everett, 2 Dec 2010 @ 5:33pm

Wikileaks, Constitution, 1st Amendment
Dear Sir,
I totally agree with you. The people that are elected have to be accountable for their actions. We, the people, need to know what they are doing. The First Amendment of our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. My American History teacher gave each student a booklet entitled The Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of California published by THE SENATE 1993-94, California State Senate. It says under Amendment 1, [Section 1] Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Proposed September 25, 1789; ratified December 15, 1791.
This amendment is in our Bill of Rights. These are our rights guaranteed to us. I stand in support of these rights. Charlotte Everett
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:12pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Shooting people in the face for expressing their views is unamerican! We only shoot people in the face for turning up where we expect a quail instead.
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teka, 2 Dec 2010 @ 8:38pm

Re: Study the constitution.
wow.
Just wow.

Thanks for providing the bizarro world/faux news/wacky-fun opinion.

I hardly know where to start! its exciting!

Lets see..
Then you might want to consider the US considers itself constitutionly at WAR.

false.

Then look up what sedition means, and treason.

that is without even looking at the patriot act, or the military secrets act.

Then find out what happens to someone in the military, in a state of war, who provides information to its enemies !

Hysterics and bad understanding of the law aside, Mr Assange is not a member of the military, much less one that is at war. He has never leaked data or information.

There may be legal recourse, actions to be taken against the actual personel responsible for these actions, but as the Publisher of this information he is protected, or should be under the law.

and then you go of into some sort of rant about people getting fingers cut off in russia.. which is not really relevant.
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Vanessa, 2 Dec 2010 @ 9:02pm

Wikileaks Access
Hi - I have been reading some of the information on Wikileaks, that was about 3 hrs ago and now I cannot access the website. I keep getting the standard Internet Explorer "cannot display web page" error. Anyone else having this problem? I don't have access to another computer to try there. It wouldn't surprise me if it's down.
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marak (profile), 2 Dec 2010 @ 10:49pm

Ok to those who keep insisting that this is risking lives. Get off your high horse, READ the damn documents, you show me where any of these risks someones life?

Not maybe, definatly, as in has put them in danger. Not "if it angers a country we could goto war", thats not valid reasoning, thats a failure on your diplomats to actually do their job.

Until then, try something new, get a real argument.

And as for charging him, ive seen the trumped up charges that were released today, arrest him, ill step up, many of us will, we will host everywhere, ill put my name to it.

Scare tactics wont bow us, you cannot stop us.

So grow up, grow a pair of balls, whatever it takes but learn to live with your own system. Dont blame us for showing it for what it is.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 12:57am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Just about every country throughout history has gone through the same thing. Get over yourself, already.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 1:01am

Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
The Constitutional framers WERE the 'treasonous members of society.' Those rules came about because their government was doing what? Oh, right. Passing unfair laws and taxes. Congratulations, the US government has become the British Parliament of the 1700's.
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Lee, 3 Dec 2010 @ 2:45am

lieberman and wikileaks
Lieberman's first concern is of course Israel and how any information release could potentially discredit Israel. Lieberman has an organic inability to understand or support the Anglo-Saxon urge to fight tyranny. Fortunately, in the internet age, there is no way that Lieberman, the U.S., Israel, or even the mighty amazon.com or other big corporations can suppress information. The computer system that was designed to withstand nuclear war will withstand any censorship attempt, including that by the little man Lieberman.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 3 Dec 2010 @ 3:34am

Re: Re: Re: "Censorship" of Wikileaks???
Oh I'm a douche?
And the politicians who are defaming a website that doesn't even do anything illegal according to US law aren't?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 9:49am

Re: Censorship or protection
These are not military documents. These are mostly banal routine communications between diplomats. Even as far as that goes, a large portion was redacted by wikileaks editors themselves before releasing the information.

Have you even read the contents of the cables? Do you have even the smallest notion of what is in them? If you did, I have no idea how you could make the claim that the information is going to "get people killed".

Look, go read them. Or at LEAST go read 10 good summaries of the highlights. Then come back with some specific examples of information that you think will get people "killed". Until then your rhetoric is baseless.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 10:43am

Re: Censorship or protection
Here, I'll even help you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cablegate#Contents

Here's a representative snippet:

A new rail link between Pakistan and Iran would be delayed for the time being, owing to poor conditions, low freight-carrying capacity and unrest from Baloch insurgents in the Balochistan region of both countries.[108] Likewise, a natural gas pipeline agreement was also not expected to be fruitful because "the Pakistanis don't have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas".[108]

I challenge you to find even one credible instance of any of this information presenting a clear and direct danger to anyone's life. If you can't find it, you should realize your position is purely reactionary, and based on ignorance.
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hegemon13, 3 Dec 2010 @ 11:00am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
True, but you cannot have a socialist government that is not authoritarian. Socialism is authoritarian by it's very definition. So there is no real distinction to be made. In other words, socialism is always authoritarian, but authoritarian governments are not always socialist.
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hegemon13, 3 Dec 2010 @ 11:04am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"news flash: the smaller the nation, the less screwed up the government and the easier it is to fix (for given values and scales of all terms.)

of the USA's problems, the one that makes it Hard to Fix is the fact that it's most of a bloody continent. "

Precisely, which is why the Constitution gives much more power to states than to the federal government. Unfortunately, that has been completely reversed, and then some.
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hegemon13, 3 Dec 2010 @ 11:17am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"A democracy or republic would not necessarily vote for libertarian policies."

I think we are looking at two different definitions of Libertarianism. Libertarian is not the equal or opposite of conservatism. It lies nowhere in the liberal/conservative scale. Libertarianism is the opposite of authoritarianism, and you can be liberal or conservative within Libertarianism.

A republic is the ideal form of government, as a democracy allows the majority to abuse the minority. Current Libertarian philosophy espouses a return to a proper republic, and I don't see how the two are separable. You can't have a functional republic without Libertarian philosophies. A republic, by definition, assigns higher power to the state or local levels, who then have representatives at the federal level. The federal government is supposed to serve the states, who in turn serve the people.

You simply cannot have a true republic that is authoritarian because the moment you concentrate power at the federal level, it ceases to be a real republic. A powerful federal government that can ignore state representatives (as we have now in our dramatically overpowered executive branch) means that the republic is broken. A government in which laws restrict liberty to the point that individuals and local governments are effectively powerless (which is where we're headed if we're no already there) is also no longer a republic. Like the US, a country can call their government a republic. But if local representation is just for show, they are lying.
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nasch (profile), 3 Dec 2010 @ 1:09pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You're saying if a democratic republic enacted socialistic policies (either at a federal or state level) it would no longer be a republic? I don't get it. Basically you're saying it's not possible for the actual will of the people to be a socialist state. I don't think that makes sense.

What if there were a country small enough not to need to function as a republic because a single national government is small enough to serve everyone effectively. If it's a representative democracy, and they elect representatives who favor socialism, are you saying that would then make it not a democracy?
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Eugene (profile), 3 Dec 2010 @ 2:34pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No secrets
Which is an unfortunate reality. Doesn't mean it makes sense to me, though. I'm also opposed to the government's decision to consider corporations people. They'll still be considered people, no matter how much I disagree. :\
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Michael Maguire, 4 Dec 2010 @ 3:44am

Re: US Constitution and non-citizens
Actually, you raise an interesting point -- are you so sure that the US Constitution's rights weren't meant to apply to all people, regardless of citizenship? Sure that's what the Founders intended?
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hegemon13, 9 Dec 2010 @ 6:20am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I'm saying that the will of the people can create a socialist state, but the moment they do, it ceases to be ruled by the will of the people. Why? Because a socialist state requires the use of force. Those who do not want to be a part of the socialist state must be coerced by the state to participate.

On the other hand, the people can certainly create a voluntary socialist system within a free republic. In that case, the system is far more likely to succeed, as it would contain those people who most passionately want to work for it's success. A voluntary socialist system can exist within a republic. A socialist "state" cannot.
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