Mistakes made in wikileaks case

If anyone thinks that the newspapers of the world aren't going to print embarrassing secrets and that disgruntled observers of dishonourable behaviour won't be compelled to reveal it then stop reading now.

The danger that is greater is that the US and US financial institutions will reveal their lack of cyber defenses over a horse that has bolted. Wikileaks was also being attacked by whatever means possible. US interests also used more advanced tools used to take out jihadi sites. Whether direct from the US government, or not, the response would be predictable. The sort of tools someone used against wikileaks are also available to it's supporters and as any smart tech can tell you, no system in the US can withstand the right sort of attack, as these amateurs have demonstrated against arguably the most prepared and highest capacity infrastructure on the planet. Goading a group of young people into further action may just cause a few big brothers of their own to upgrade those tools. Does anyone think we really need a cyber war over wikileaks or is there something much greater they are afraid of? It would seem reckless to risk it all just over a horse that has well and truly bolted 100,000 times.

It's pretty clear that some people have done very wrong in some other people's names and some people have been embarassed, but petulance, revenge or any other thing won't change the truth. It will still be there whether Julian Assange is in prison or not and we'll all still have to deal with it.

Those who have only made mistakes should find it easy to 'man up' and make amends. The others may need some help.

Take this as a unique opportunity to reassess what sort of world you want your children to grow up in. That is the real issue.

Remember the passion of youth. Others may also. If you can't then I suppose it's no use appealing to your sense of morality.

PS. The final indignity is that the State Department had the cables publicly accessable on their site and you can use your Mastercard & Visa to buy US cables on Amazon or donate to Bradley Manning's Defence or the Klu Klux Klan but not #wikileaks.

Try expaining that to your kids.