Technology & Innovation — December 15, 2010

Why WikiLeaks Matters

It’s not just MasterCard and Visa cutting off WikiLeaks’ access to donations, it’s the government and corporate intervention, unsupervised, into the rights of people.

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

While we debate freedom on the Internet and the possibility for fighting back on the Web, we often move away from the bigger point: the destabilization we should be concerned about is the destabilizing effect of US policy around the world, as revealed by the leaked cables. Covert wars in Yemen, Pakistan, the Middle East. Pro-corporate intervention to scuttle climate talks. . . it’s not just MasterCard and Visa cutting off WikiLeaks’ access to donations, it’s the government and corporate intervention, unsupervised, into the freedoms and rights of people around the world.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Culture & Religion

Edward Snowden Called Out WikiLeaks Over Meddling in U.S. Election

Through a series of election-related email dumps, WikiLeaks played a major role in the U.S. elections.

Technology & Innovation

Profiting from WikiLeaks

Deep in the lush undergrowth of corporate America, security, consulting and PR companies see lucrative business opportunities in helping WikiLeaks targets get their retaliation in first.

Technology & Innovation

WikiLeaks’ Successors

An entire new generation of WikiLeaks-inspired services, enabling anonymous, secure submissions of leaked documents, is springing up around the world.

Technology & Innovation

How WikiLeaks Is Like Terrorism

As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears in court in London today in connection with sexual assault charges, Nobel prize-winning economist Michael Spence discusses the real costs that WikiLeaks could inflict on society.

Technology & Innovation

Capital Versus WikiLeaks

Can the leak phenonomen WikiLeaks sustain the continued assault by the corporate sector to prevail in the first ever cyber-war? Mark LeVine says capital will likely win out.

Up Next

Culture & Religion

Defenders of copyright law often talk about how copyright is a ‘right’ for artists but ignore that at the same time it often takes away the rights of users.