Julian Assange Research Paper

Julian Assange Research Paper
Wikileaks has come under a lot of fire for what they have done over the last few years, with creator
Julian Assange taking most of the heat. He has been called everything from a "terrorist" by Vice
President Biden, to being praised by the common citizen and even certain political leaders such as
Vladimir Putin. Julian Assange himself claims that he is only trying to help people, and has no
hidden motive. To this day he resides at the Ecuadorian Embassy, facing extradition for sex crimes
that some supporters would argue were a clear smear campaign against his message and movement.
Some would say Assange has become a martyr for his cause. He would say it about himself as well:
"You are in a very beneficial position if you can be martyred without dying and we've had a little bit
of that over the past ten days, and if this goes on we'll have more." Others see him as a kingpin of
paranoia and misinformation, crying wolf about the dangers of the world while failing to ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Assange said of the information his organization releases: "None of it is dangerous. Vastly more
detailed things have been released by the United States government itself. By Congress, for
example, who a year and a half ago released a list of all US nuclear sites". Wikileaks also refuses to
claim responsibility for the actual information, saying they only act as a publisher of information,
never producing any themselves. They claim their only job is to ensure the information's legitimacy
and put it out there. Their legality is wholly debatable for most, but Assange says "Revealing illegal
behaviour is, in most countries, not illegal." Supporters also argue it should not be illegal at all. But
Wikileaks is a symbol now, and it is most likely the spirit of the nature of their work will live
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...

Wikileaks May Have Saved Tunisia from Political Disaster
Wikileaks main goal has been finding the truth of topics wanted to be hidden to the public, and in
this case their power was used to protect Tunisia. The procedure used to spread the truth may not be
the most appropriate. It is the truth, and it will always be better to hear the crude reality than some
beautiful lie. "The ends justify the means" –Niccolo Machiavelli.
In some societies such as Tunisia, wikileaks has been so helpful that their fight has gone from
virtual to physical. This is Wikileaks utopia, where a population gets together and embraces the fight
against their government in order to defend their rights as a country. In Tunisia people did go out to
protest and stand for their freedom of speech right, and all this began in the web.
Tunisians had enough in their plate already, this was just the drop that spilled the glass. In the past
weeks prior freedom of speech strikes, Tunisia was in a very bad shape. First of all food prices were
going up at the same time as the unemployment rate. Past two characteristics are red flags for any
government. On top of all this, corruption scandals were making the people even angrier. Officially,
Tunisia's case is the first time that wikileaks makes a population take actions in their own hands.
These protests are also about the country's utter lack of freedom of expression including when it
comes to WikiLeaks. The only way that a society would achieve the status of real democracy is
having freedom of

Essay about Wikileaks and Julian Assange
'I am the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder,
organizer, financier and all the rest. If you have a problem with me, piss off'
(Julian Assange, 2010, as cited in Poulsen & Zetter, 2010)
Introduction
In his article, The Mediatisation of Society Theory, Hjarvard (2008) deduces that media
simultaneously become an integrated part of society, not to mention the existence of new media like
the Internet. In fact, this integration of Internet into our daily life has made us live in the digital age
where information is shared in real time and in global context. Castells (2007) even argues that in
this digital age, people are able to expand their local communication activities to ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
377). Moreover, Assange's determination to "help whistleblowers that would expose wrongdoings of
government and private enterprises" (Gunnell, 2011, p. 32 ) is believed has transformed the ideas of
global communication process.
Related to that, this essay is written as an effort to comprehend the role of individual in globalized
world, especially by studying the case of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. This essay is divided in
three parts. The first part of this essay explains background as well as global controversy
surrounding Wikileaks and its spokesman, Julian Assange. The second part identifies the areas that
Assange have directly impacted, especially in terms of participation, journalism practice and
privacy. Finally, the last part of this essay reflects on Assange's role in the globalized media
economy, particularly drawing on his background as an Australian as well as the position of
Australia in global economy.
The Curios Case of Wikileaks and Julian Assange
Claimed by its founder to be a non–profit organization/website, Wikileaks was firstly launched in
2006. Some call it an open government group that enables public witnessing (Nayar, 2011; Rosewall
& Warren, 2010), while others see it as a representation of a new type of "sovereignty in the global
political and economy sphere" (Bodó, 2011, p. 3). The website uses the term "wiki" which was
followed after Wikipedia due to its anonymous contributors and

The Ethics Of The United States Army Essay
At 5pm eastern standard time on a Friday in late October, 2010, an independent website publisher
named wikilieaks.org released documents alleging government and corporate misconduct as told by
soldiers in the United States Army. This marked the single largest classified documentation leak that
the United States government has ever encountered. This leak included 391,832 classified
documents that covered a span of five years, from 2004–2009. I would like to take a second to dive
deep into the five ethical examinations that our textbook covers including the utilitarian perspective,
rights perspective, fairness or justice perspective, common good perspective and virtuous
perspective. The utilitarian perspective is a moral principle where the morally right course of action
in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone
affected. Our textbook defines utilitarian as doing the most good and the least harm. This is a
difficult situation to compare because there are conflicting issues to harm from the WikiLeaks
documentation release. The benefits that the impact of this informational leak had was that the
public was able to read an honest story directly from a soldier's perspective. This gives sympathy to
soldiers and what they had to deal with on a daily basis. The harm of this informational leak is that
anyone could have used this information to harm United States Army soldiers at that time whether it
be directly or indirectly.

Edward Snowden and Wikileaks
Since the beginning of modern technology people have worried about being looked upon or spied
on without their knowing. Even before the internet was invented some people worried about their
phone calls being recorded or listened in on without their knowledge. In 1997 when the internet was
common in most households this made this idea of people being spied on much easier and on a
wider scale. The first proven threat of internet surveillance was in 2001 when the NSA(National
Security Agency) did a Large scale "warrantless surveillance"(Risen 'Bush Lets U.S Spy') of internet
traffic and data streams. This surveillance program was a way to gather data and prevent terrorist
attacks. However some speculated that this was not just to monitor the activities of suspected
terrorists. In 2013 when Edward Snowden released data that proved that the NSA was using their
surveillance on everyone it turned speculation into fact and fears of this were brought to the surface.
In the summer of 2013 one of the biggest leaks of classified documents was carried out by a man
named Edward Snowden (E. McAskill) . Edward Snowden worked as an sysamin (System
Administrator) for a security company that did contract work for the NSA. During his time working
at this company he released an estimated two hundred thousand classified documents. Within these
documents was evidence that the United States was performing a large scale surveillance operation
of its people (B. Denson). It is estimated that

Advantages Of Wikileaks And Whistleblowers
Introduction When the words "Wikileaks" and "Whistleblowers" are said out loud, all heads in the
room will surely turn around. Secret organizations have for long been an interest to many people
and a fatal threat to others. Whistleblowers are those who secretly speak of underlying mysteries
and secrets of colossal organizations and important people. The ambiguity surrounding the true
identity of those whistleblowers and the people operating Wikileaks succeeds in grasping the
curiosity of people all over the world. Of course it can be completely understood and comprehended
why some people will defend whistleblowers with every way possible. Nevertheless, we should
never underestimate or overlook the disadvantages and the danger of leaving whistleblowers ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
As intricate as it may sound, democracy is not easy to either understand or apply. The best way the
public can be provoked, is through convincing them that they are not free citizens and that is what
Wikileaks does. Proponents of Wikileaks always advocate the news website by saying that it
practices democracy and freedom of speech and at the same time they deform the figure of Wikileak
opponents by calling them freedom–hating and dictators. However, that is one of the aims of
Wikileaks. If Wikileaks succeeded in distorting the true identity of democracy, it can proceed
functioning without getting penalized or at risk of closing. Thomaß, B. (2011) asserted that
Wikileaks are present until today for the sake of freedom of speech and the situation should change
because media ethics and democracy support the fact that people should know who is responsible
for leaking the information and the extent of the information's truthfulness. Yes, someone has to be
held responsible for re–defining democracy and freedom in the minds of people. Some people might
believe that if the country is truly free, then it should free publish documents from government,
military and ambassador

Hillary Clinton Email Summary
Many of the views and actions of society and politics today are centered around the media, which
keeps the public well informed on current events so that the public can make educated decisions
based on the information they have accrued to make change in the functions of our society, whether
small or large. However, misinterpreted bias in mass media causes the creation and spread of
misinformation to the public, which causes members of society to have a skewed vision of what is
fact and what isn't. This can cause members of society to make decisions based on incorrect
information, which affects the running of our society as a whole. WikiLeaks, a media organization
that supposedly hacks into servers and websites to find material that they then ... Show more content
on Helpwriting.net ...
His audience, who seems to be the news programs and American government, is encouraged to be
honest about their reportings and dealings with each other, as the reporting of honest information
that is not misleading will undermine the plan of the Russians. Bias is heavily inserted into this
article, as the author uses loaded and persuasive language to appeal to American sentiment. The very
first sentence in the article states, "You sure have to hand it to the Russians." This sentence
introduces the informal and sarcastic tone that is used throughout the article, as well as informs the
reader that this is not an informational piece. The reader knows all of this when they read the first
sentence, and must then decide whether or not they should continue. Often, ignorant readers will
continue to read the entirety of the piece, even though they know that the presented information will
be biased and might not even be correct. As the article continues, the author follows a slippery slope
of claims, connecting each effect back to the hypothetical cause before it. All of these events hyFor
this reason, the reader is mostly at fault, as their failure to educate themselves properly on the topic

Wikileaks Case Study Essay
Case Facts: WikiLeaks is an international, online, self–proclaimed not–for–profit organisation that
publishes submissions of undisclosed and secret information, news leaks, and highly classified
media from anonymous sources and whistleblowers. The head of the online organisation, which was
founded in 2006, is Australian born, Julian Assange. Its purpose is to provide whistleblowers with a
domain to publish their case to the public and preserve their identity (Lennon 2010). Exposes
various government and privately owned organisations. First major act of exposure was the
publication of Republican vice–presidential candidate Sarah Palin's emails by WikiLeaks (DeFraia
2012). Another act of exposure released on its website ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
o Receive ongoing criticism and scrutiny from affected parties – short/long term o Continued
support from whistleblowers – long term General public o Will continue to be informed about
unethical practices by certain companies and organisations – long term o Increased scepticism of
large organisations and governments – long term Whistleblowers o Continued support of WikiLeaks
as a medium for publication of classified information – long term o Easy and anonymous alternative
to traditional whistleblowing – short term Targeted organisations o Loss of reputation because of the
revelation of unethical practices – short/long term o Mistrust from the public in the organisation
because of unethical practices – short/long term o Loss of productivity – short/long term Employees
of targeted organisations o Affected through downturn of productivity, which may result in them
being made redundant/sacked – short/long term WikiLeaks employees o Retain employment – long
term Not to release classified information to the general public Julian Assange o No information to
release – long term o Cease in funding – long term o Termination of WikiLeaks as an organisation
General public o Won't be made aware of unethical practices – long term Whistleblowers o Lose the
medium to anonymously expose organisations partaking in unethical acts – long term Targeted
organisations o Confidential information remains classified – long term o Maintain positive

The Importance Of Wikileaks And Its Effect On The...
Whistleblowers can highlight and prosecute wrongdoers within a company by releasing and
discussion information only very few have access to within an organization. When observing the
common model of whistleblowing, the process of whistleblowing is composed of five stages
(Henik, 2008): "the occurrence of the triggering event, recognition of the event and decision of
actions to take, conduct of action, organizational reaction to whistle–blowing, and whistle–blower's
assessment to the organizational response". The second stage is critical in that the decision to blow
the whistle is made in that stage. Many people who want to come forth about information regarding
an organization that they work for are usually too afraid to do so because of certain limitations.
These limitations can include losing your job, lose of benefits, media locked on to you, and the
organization itself can come after you. President Obama emphasized the importance of
whistleblowing by saying, "Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in
government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak
out" (CBC News, 2013). Sometimes, people interchangeably use the terms "whistleblowing and
voice". Earlier, Hirschman (1970) listed four ways to respond to dissatisfaction: "exit, voice, loyalty,
and neglect". "Dissatisfied employees adopt "voice" when they decide to stay in the organization
and seek to improve current conditions (Zhou & George,

Wikileaks Research Paper
Effects of WikiLeaks on Political Campaigns Does someone campaigning for a political office tell
the truth during, his/her political campaign? A politician campaigns to make the public aware of
what his/her political views are on our country, and what/how they will change things in our
country. Some politicians tell the public everything they want to hear, but when they get elected into
office nothing changes, or they do not do, what they promised to do during their campaign. Thus, a
new organization called, WikiLeaks has brought to light documents of politicians campaigning for
public office. With the addition of Wikileaks into society, this had made citizens more aware of not
only the politicians views, but also their lies. Although most ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
To start from the beginning, there was a discrepancy with Hillary Clinton emails while she was
Secretary of State of the United States, beings she sent work related and personal emails through the
same server. Hillary Clinton did had about 55,000 emails to the State department, she deemed work
related, but around 15,000 emails were not turn in. Thus, while Hillary Clinton was campaigning in
this past years Presidential election, WikiLeaks divulged many of those emails that she did not turn
in, to the public. Such as, one email was leaked by WikiLeaks, that claimed Hillary Clinton was
being paid around 225,000 for speeches, she had made about Wall Street Executives. While all the
time Hillary was proclaiming in her campaign for President, she would be harder on executives.
Also, in another one of Hillary's emails leaked, she had prior knowledge of a question she would be
asked at a town hall regarding the death penalty, while campaigning. In another email of Hillary
Clinton's which was leaked claimed to state how she would govern the United States. In this email
she stated, she did not plan to release anything publicly, so no posting online or anything public–
facing, just to the committee. Also, she was considering placing a friendly story which would, lay
this out before the majority on the committee has a chance to realize what they have and

Julian Assange: The Mystery Behind Wikileaks Essay
The doctrine of human rights is one of the concepts which have played a role in the civilization of
several countries. These inalienable rights were created to protect and preserve the dignity of all
humans regardless of race, sex, nationality and religion. Also, they were design to secure everyone's
right to liberty, property and happiness. They are meant to create and establish a brotherly
relationship among all nations. However, according to Article six of the Declaration of Human
Rights, "everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law" (UDHR). By
way of explanation this article clarifies that one's expression of human rights must be in accordance
with the law of whatever land one resides. These rights do ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
It is the release of such information that causes U.S. politicians to format an attack against the
nonprofit, calling for the arrest and trial of its spokesman, Julian Assange. The question is this: If
U.S. politicians regard Wikileaks' information as a 'chit–chat,' why are they in an uproar against the
organization? Bill Moyers, an American journalist and commentator once said that "War, except in
self–defense, is a failure of moral imagination" (Moyers). In other words, the attack on Wikileaks
and its operators is unjustified. After all, the U.S. is a country who believes in the right to free
speech and individuality, for that reason, Assange shouldn't be punished simply because he knows
and exercises his human rights more that the average person.
Furthermore, Wikileaks is an organization devoted to educating people specifically about their
country's foreign relations. It can also be seen as a mouth piece for citizens who are afraid to oppose
the government's wrong doings. Such is the case of Bradley Manning, a 23 year old Oklahoman and
U.S soldier who released some classified materials which included the "video of a July 2007
helicopter airstrike in Baghdad, which WikiLeaks published...calling it the 'Collateral Murder'
video" (Wikipedia). The footage consists of American soldiers murdering civilians and some
journalists. According to an article

The Treatment of Whistleblowers Essay
It used to be that whistleblowers were applauded, and they still are in the private sector, but it seems
as if government whistleblowers are criticized and many are even criminally charged. There is
certainly a different take on their activities. In fact, some advocates counsel federal employees not to
come forward with information because if they do, their lives will be destroyed (Shulman, 2007).
What often happens is that they will never be able to work in their careers again in the same
capacity (Shulman, 2007). Many whistleblowers not only lose their jobs, but they lose their families
and friends, and much of their money ends up going to attorneys (Shulman, 2007). Indeed, in
today's day and age, there is a surge of whistleblowers ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
It can take awhile for someone to speak up, and the hesitancy is largely due to a corporate culture
that does not support the practice. It should be noted that there are "whistle blowing" statutes in
many jurisdictions where an employee is allowed to report illegal activity and will be protected
from being fired (Larson, 2003). Indeed, whistle blowing is largely encouraged in society in general
as the government wants people to come forward when the giants of Corporate America are doing
something bad. Of course, when it comes to leaking government secrets that is a different matter
entirely. The National Whistleblowers Center says that under Section 403 of the Intelligence
Authorization Act, the head of an employee's agency may accuse a whistleblower of leaking
classified information (Burghardt, 2011). If this were to occur, the simple accusation could lead to
the individual's blocking of access to federal pensions, and this is true even if they are in retirement
(Burghardt, 2011). One case that involves a whistleblower who has been ostracized is Thomas
Drake. Drake is a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee (Bishop, 2011). The
government pursued him for years, and eventually he would plead guilty to just one misdemeanor in
that he used a computer without authorization (Bishop, 2011). What did Drake do exactly? Why is
he considered to be a whistleblower and why has he been persecuted by the government? Drake
warned the

Wikileaks : A Perfect Record Forever
analyses." They get their sources from anonymous people and groups all over the world, which led
to the publication of over 10 million documents and associated analyses. It is stated that, "Although
no organization can hope to have a perfect record forever, thus far WikiLeaks has a perfect in
document authentication and resistance to all censorship attempts." Moreover, WikiLeaks won
numerous of awards for many years now, which proves that they are really credible sources and they
deliver the truth that everyone deserves to know. "We publish without fear or favor, bringing
transparency to powerful factions and secretive institutions, not taking any sides except that of the
truth. We believe in the democratization of information and the power that knowledge gives to
people to further peace, accountability and self–determination." A recent news is about the
thousands of deleted emails of Hillary Clinton when she was the Secretary of State and went against
the law by using her own private server. These email leaks may have affected the last presidential
election since citizens discovered something that they do not like. It is indicated that, "WikiLeaks
has contractual relationships and secure communications paths to more than 100 major media
organizations from around the world. This gives WikiLeaks sources negotiating power, impact and
technical protections that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to achieve." Almost everyone
in this world pretty sure knows by heart the

Wikileaks: The Power Of The Anonymous Group
WikiLeaks is an organization dedicated to the publication of secret documents . In 2010, WikiLeaks
released over 250,000 classified cables from the US DOS . The US government viewed this as a
threat to public security as confidential information about the Afghanistan and Iraq war was released
to the public. As a result, MasterCard and Visa blocked money transfers to WikiLeaks due to
violated corporate policies concerning business with parties who threaten State security.
Anonymous would go on to lead the first cyber battle between non–state actors . Anonymous is a
hacker collective who believes that all information should be free; if not, Anonymous will attack to
pressure the release of information . Anonymous harnessed the collective power ... Show more
Anonymous' primary cause is disruption of the public atmosphere in order to maintain Internet
freedom. The idea of public disruption is not new; it has been used countless times throughout
history. An early case was in January of 2001, to oust Pilipino President Joseph Estrada . Citizens
became so enraged over corruption that they self–coordinated over one million people to protest the
government's decision to conceal incriminating evidence against the President . To the dismay of
many, it was a loosely organized group of people who initiated this protest which generated high
levels of participation . This directly supports Shirky's claims that groups do not need managerial
oversight if members have similar beliefs and the message can be easily shared with other people to
further drive the movement. The Estrada case shows the power of the Internet due to its ease of use,
rapid speed, and ability to attract many users for a common cause.
Anonymous capitalizes on strengths of the Internet. In cyberspace, Anonymous' informal structure
allows individuals and small groups to wield their power disproportionately to their numbers . In
this way, Anonymous can pronounce their strength against other groups, and have the capability to
launch virtually any attack with relative ease. While MasterCard and Visa did not reverse their
policy, this action brought attention

Julian Assange; Hero or Villain?
Julian Assange Hero or Villain?
The question of whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose organization can be credited
with releasing thousands of classified documents from various countries, is a hero or a villain
depends entirely on one's political opinions. Those who believe in transparent government and
freedom of speech/publishing would call Assange a hero. Those who believe governments must
have some secrecy from citizens would call him a villain. As a believer in the ideals America was
founded on it is clear that Assange's actions are heroic. He is fighting to keep the average citizen
informed of any corruption within their government, fighting for the mainstream press to stop
supporting the government's views on ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
What will the revolution of the 2000's be? Governments have already been de–stabilized in Tunisia,
Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Who says that the protests won't continue over to the United States?
Protests in other countries happened because the systems were outdated and corruption was
suspected. This is certainly true in the U.S., where the government's inefficiency is being blamed on
outdated technology. Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget admitted
that the gap between the public and private sectors results in "billions of dollars in waste, slow and
inadequate customer service and a lack of transparency about how dollars are spent," this "lack of
transparency" is exactly what Assange is fighting against. (3) WikiLeaks forces the United States
government to think about the extreme secrecy it operates under and whether this is the best for its
citizens. Without Assange the "lack of transparency" would only grow, making him a hero.
Julian Assange has been called many names; traitor, anarchist and even a high–tech terrorist, but the
proper name for him is hero. WikiLeaks is an organization that truly works for the people. Keeping
people informed with the inner workings of government, putting pressure on the press to
acknowledge the truth and forcing change within government. WikiLeaks is driving journalism into
the future and Assange is the driver.
Sources:
1) Jackson, William E., Jr. "A Liberated

Whistleblowing Case
The Whistleblowing Case Studies There are various cases about whistleblowing, one of them is the
case of Motorola CFO, Paul Liska.1 He has been fired after giving a presentation. In the
presentation, Liska pointed out to Motorola directors that the cell phone unit, Mobile Devices,
missed its sales projection for the preceding three months. Liska intended to attack Sanjay Jha, the
head of Motorola's cell phone division, by doing the presentation at the board meeting. The
whistleblowing occurred because Liska and Jha did not get along well, and Liska tried to save the
situation with an attack on Jha. Liska objected to Jha's hiring, his compensation package and the co–
CEO agreement. Liska's behavior markedly deteriorated after Jha's hiring, ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
In my opinion, this is not just a personality clash and more of different views towards the
development of the company in the future. He could just keep quiet but his professionalism made
him to do the other way round. Circumstances of When Whistleblowing Is Ethically Justifiable
When we talk about whistleblowing and loyalty to a firm, we need to ask a number of questions: Do
engineers have a duty of loyalty to their organizations? If so, engineers have a duty to act to the best
interest of the firm, then is whistleblowing ever ethically justifiable? Always, people treat loyalty as
a virtue. We were taught from young to be loyal to our friends, family and our country. However, in
the case of loyalty to a firm, it could be a little different. Loyalty to a corporation is more on
dedication and devotion to the development of the firm. Based on that, we can say that if the
whistle–blowing is for the good cause to the company's future, we may not say it is ethically wrong
or the person is not loyal. For example, if your boss ask you to ignore some flaws or wrongdoings in
a company project, you know the severe consequences for not solving those problems, then it is
your duty to whistle–blowing, because you are responsible to the company's future and the society,
you are loyal to the objective of the company not to a wrongdoing person. Another thing about
ethically justifiable whistle–blowing is safety. We need to admit that safety is an incontrovertible

Why Do Wikileaks Support The First Amendment
In a country that supports freedom of speech, expressing one's thought is important. An article
called Wikileaks, by Nozomi Hayase explains how wikileaks supports the first amendment.
Wikileaks is a website created by Julian Assange, his purpose was to show people what the
government was hiding from its citizens. It's important for us to to witness evidence and hear the
truth from an actual resource rather than media's lies. The first amendment states, " individual's
rights of freedom of religion, speech, and the press" (Congress 1999). Wikileaks published many
enlightening information to the people resulting in hatred from the government. The fear of people
knowing the truth and causing controversies scared the government. Although, wikileaks was
supporting the first amendment with freedom of press and speech, the government tried to control it.
Wikileaks gave the world the power of first amendment and that power scared the government, and
caused a small chaos. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
America was build around the idea of the first amendment. People understand this laws and policies
yet they don't realize that the government and large corporations control us. By controlling our
surroundings we lose the ability to use the first amendment. Wikileaks goal was to, "Open–sourced
the principle of free speech, making it possible for silenced and oppressed voices to find their
expression" (Hayase 5). The website provided people with unedited documents, therefore allowing
them to make any judgements on their own. Analyzing and understanding documents gave a voice
to people. In a country where our voices are silenced a website gave us that voice back. People had
their own opinions and thoughts and it wasn't influenced by the

Speech On Julian Assange
Who is Julian Assange? Julian Assange is an Australian computer programmer who's mostly known
for founding WikiLeaks. Assange was born on the 3rd of July 1971 in Townsville in Queensland
Australia to parents who were in the theater business, this resulted in him being in 37 different
schools or homeschooled most of his childhood. He was known to always fight for the "underdog",
a trait he believes that he still possesses. From a young age, Julian showed a strong ability with
computers and his mother bought him is first computer at the age of 16. Julian later enrolled in
Central Queensland University and the University of Melbourne to study mathematics,
programming and physics. He later dropped out for "moral reasons" because he disagreed with ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Conclusion Overall, what Julian Assange did was Illegal in many ways and in many countries,
freedom of expression is important and a good act if it expresses legal information and can be used
for the benefit of the world. It all comes down to determining and differentiating Julian's acts, he did
express his views which counts as freedom of expression, but his means do not justify the end, the
way he got a hold of the information is not legal or ethical because he stole, used someone to steal
it, or hacked it. If the information wasn't stolen then it would count as freedom of expression and he
wouldn't be a bad figure, because his motives were to share information hidden from the world and
show the cruel side of politics. Julian Assange should have found a better legal and more ethical
way to gather his information because his motives didn't match his actions. Assange sees himself as
a journalist, and if he was truly a journalist, a different set of consequences would've ensued but
could've have changed his fate and he wouldn't face as many legal

Freedom Of Speech In The United States
Freedom of speech is an essential right and freedom guaranteed to the citizens of the United States
by the first amendment of the United States Constitution. The right to exercise this freedom, and to
what extent, is a debate that has generated considerable discussion between governments, the press,
and many international organizations such as WikiLeaks worldwide. In this current technological
age of digital information and global social media, there is a growing need to maintain access to
sensitive data and to control the release of classified information in relation to National Security,
political and cultural affairs between the United States, NATO and NATO allies, and the protection
of United States military personnel overseas.
The function ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The effects of WikiLeaks' successive disclosures of classified United States documents in 2010,
such as the Afghan War Diary, has directly impacted US policy, military security protocols, and
heightened the threat of harm to US military personnel and operations. The reports, described lethal
military actions involving the United States military, also include intelligence information, reports
of meetings with political figures, and related details of United States involvement in Afghanistan,
including mission operations and names of key leaders (WikiLeaks, 2010) jeopardizing missions
and making them possible targets for enemy insurgents. One such log from April 12, 2008 states
that the Afghan National Security Force was planning an operation in specified districts to arrest
Rahmatullah Khan in his home in Elmon village. The following log dated 13 April, 2008, states the
Afghan National Security Force was not able to arrest Rahmatullah Khan. The Afghan War Diary
postings on WikiLeaks ,as open source data, contributes to a call for an increase in secrecy
legislation, and an interest in having secrecy regulated by law in the context of intelligence

In “Assessing The First Amendment As A Defense For Wikileaks
In "Assessing the First Amendment as a Defense for WikiLeaks and Other Publishers of Previously
Undisclosed Government Information," Janelle Allen explores whether WikiLeaks should be
entitled to the same protections that traditional media outlets are given when they publish classified
information. In her work, she goes over two possible avenues that the government can take if it
wants to silence WikiLeaks; the two options are: prior restraint (censorship) and the Espionage Act.
Allen, in order to bolster her argument that WikiLeaks should be entitled to the same protections
given to traditional media outlets, goes over cases that fall under what is known as the Daily Mail
Principle. This principle allows publications to publish material ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
"A Helping Hand: Addressing New Implications of the Espionage Act on Freedom of the Press," by
Laura Barandes, details how Section 793 of the Espionage Act could potentially be used against
members of the press. She goes over the prosecution of two AIPAC employees who were relayed
information by a Pentagon official to make her case that this section could potentially spill over to
members of the press who report on/receive classified information. Also, in her work, an overview
of the jurisprudence related to national security and the Espionage Act is provided. Richard D.
Epstein's paper, "Balancing National Security and Free Speech Rights: Why Congress Should
Revise the Espionage Act," goes over the arguments about why the Espionage Act should be
revised. In his work, Epstein goes over the origins of the Act and the various Supreme Court cases
related to its constitutionality. After giving an overview of what the court has said in the past about
the Espionage Act, Epstein then focuses on a more contemporary case called, United States v Rosen.
This case revolves around two lobbyists, Steven Rosen and Keith Weismann, who were charged
with violating Section 793 of the Espionage Act for receiving classified information by a Pentagon
official. The author then goes over the legal arguments employed by the pair in regards to Section
793. Some of the arguments they use is that the section is

Wikileaks : A Non Profit International Organization Essay
WikiLeaks, is a non–profit international organization. The objective of this organization is to
publish private information and new to the public and also categorize the information from
anonymous origin. It has been over a decade now that the website WikiLeaks has published online a
huge number of classified documents and other materials and that have uncovered the internal
information of the major country agencies like National Security Agency, the U.S. military and State
Department and even the Democratic National Committee. We all know that their founder, Julian
Assange WikiLeaks has possessed the capacity to keep posting classified material from U.S. and
also the other countries ' diplomats and authorities regardless of various cyber assaults against the
Websites and the abandonment of key service providers is a touch of Internet cunning ordinarily
conveyed by legitimate and criminal online organizations to shield themselves from activity spikes
and from being closed down. Such is the steadiness of information in the Internet Age. 1. How does
the First Amendment protect WikiLeaks from prosecution? With over 250,000 classified documents
of U.S diplomatic published on their site. Especially, diplomats used to gather individual data, for
example, account number, email, charge card number and it additionally publish lot of U.S armed
force secrets. The U.S government attempted to indict WikiLeaks to stop news leak in future. But,
the first amendment law of United States is

Free Speech And Information Policy Paper
Free Speech and Information Policy As the digital age is rapidly growing, freedom of speech and
information policy is beginning to play a significant and complicated role in our society. Jack Balkin
states, "knowledge and information policy is at the heart of government today" (Balkin,2013,
p.104). Our government was built on knowledge and an information policy. It is important that
citizens are have access to various services and benefits. When it comes to freedom of speech and
information policy, it is important to understand the positions both the government and social
medias plays. As times are changing, we are beginning to see the controversial debate on free
speech and whether or not our government and social media platforms are slowly ... Show more
Social Media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are allowing us to be able to communicate
and share information with a click of a button. These platforms play an important "watchdog role"
in our society by allowing users to speak freely to those in power and bring important issues to light,
such as human rights and the corruption in the government (Mijatovic, 2014). While Facebook and
Twitter believe in the importance of free speech, they also do not tolerate hate speech. Censorship
on these platforms are there for a reason and that is why the debate on free speech and the
information policy is such a complicated topic. As online abuse cases are becoming more common,
Facebook and Twitter are having to change their policies on a regular basis in order to protect their
users and the community. Both Facebook and Twitter forbid their their users from using unidentified
names, in the case where they would need to contact them on their abuse on their platforms. Lisa
Nakamura's article, Glitch Racism: Networks as Actors within Vernacular Internet Theory, explains
how users are taking advantage of the platform community rules and are making anonymous
accounts to spread online abuse (Nakamura,

Taking a Look at WikiLeaks
Founded by Julian Assange, in 2006, WikiLeaks is a non–profit, online, journalistic organization
that reveals confidential documents and governmental secrets and leaks. Wiki Leaks is struggling
against secrecy, and against a world that is trying to shut it down. It has released documents about
US military operationsin Iraq and Afghanistan, unreported civilian causalitiesembarrassing Obama's
administration's diplomatic actions, and many other documents. Although Wiki Leaks may be
considered a threat to our social security system, it remains immensely valuable to the society and
shouldn't be banned since it is credible and it promotes democracy. First of all, wikiLeaks is a
credible source of classified documents. In fact, the information provided is authentic. It obtains
facts from reliable sources and publishes them as received without any manipulations making them
available for everybody to read and analyze. To put it in another way, the documents released by
WikiLeaks contain confidential political information that is supposed to be hidden from the people.
As to prove this: "the WikiLeaks materials have been likened to the Pentagon Papers, an
exaggeration but not an entirely inapt comparison."(WikiLeaks wasn't wrong, 2010). This proves
that WikiLeaks isn't fooling its readers instead; it is providing them with trustworthy authentic
information. It is doing its job to the fullest as any fifth estate. Since credibility is an outcome of
authenticity WikiLeaks shouldn't be

Wikileaks Ethics
Wikileaks 2006 saw the formation of what would soon become a world player in journalism. Julian
Assange created Wikileaks as a whistle–blower's resource, a place where those with something
important to share could do so without retribution and with full anonymity. Information dumps from
the United States government, corporations, and even private groups and individuals drew mixed
results and painted a strange picture of this organization. Its proponents tout it as returning to
journalism's roots, a second Pentagon Papers. Its opponents cite damaged international relations and
mass invasions of privacy as grounds to declare this organization anathema. This paper will explore
the impact that Mr. Assange has had on the last decade of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
Security of all personnel in–theater was threatened when Wikileaks elected to reveal such things as
security measures for bases and contacts in the local communities. The release of this information
brought about a change, to be sure, but it was not the change that the whistle–blowers were
expecting. It hindered our efforts in the war as new methods to combat our information gathering
abilities and reinvent communications methods that the US military was not readily equipped to
handle sprung up in the area. Entire security regimens had to be changed immediately as soldiers,
sailors, airmen, and marines, along with countless DoD civilians, now faced imminent threat from
any number of exploitation. These leaks are excellent examples of secrets that are truly deserving to
be kept. Not everyone has a right to know everything, no matter what they think. Lives being put in
danger to assure oneself of their self–proclaimed inherent rights is a full breach of ethical behavior.
In the words of former embassy worker Steve, "If people are afraid to talk to me, and if I'm afraid
to. . . be honest in my assessment of the information I send back to Washington, it effectively blinds

Wikileaks Exposed The Corruption And Unethical Behavior...
Valdimir Putin through Wikileaks exposed the corruption and unethical behavior within the
Democratic Party. The arrogance of Clinton's campaign thought they could just blame the Russians
without addressing the content of any of the documents leaked. They strongly believed NOT
confirming the authenticity of the documents would be enough for the American People. The
establishment in the Democratic Party helped Hillary Clinton win the nomination over Bernie
Sanders, which they should blame themselves for the strongest repudiation by the American People
after losing all three branches of government.
The Obama's Legacy
President and First Lady Obama, who are well–loved and respected, bet their legacy on Hillary
Clinton and now it's tarnished. The American People felt the President and First Lady was trying to
convince them to vote for someone who was corrupt and deserve to be in jail. Therefore, it was a
hard sell even for the Obamas.
If President Obama had the courage to speak out against his own party for the blatant favor of
Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, he would have saved the country from a Trump's Presidency.
Moreover, he should have asked Hillary to step aside during the nomination process for the good of
the country because of the FBI investigation into her emails. The polls showed that the American
People thought Bernie Sanders was a stronger candidate, who didn't have scandals and corruption
attached to his name. President Obama and the Democratic Party ignored

The Debate About Information Freedom
Pros and cons of WikiLeak The debate about information freedom has become fiercely contested
with the advent of WikiLeaks. Wikileaks is a non–profit organization which collects original
resources and publishes on the website. It provides a secure platform for whistleblowers. Some
people consider Julian Assange (leader of WikiLeaks) as a hero who has provided a platform to
uncover the truth. This essay discusses the pros and cons for the issue. In 1971, The NewYork Times
and Washington Post newspapers convened hundreds of people from the politics, press, law and
academia, spending 20 days, in order to expose a secret document with 47 volumes and 7000 pages
to the public (Douglas 2011). However, 39 years later, on 28th November 2010, according to its
official website, WikiLeaks released 251,287 United States embassy cables, including 15,652 secret
classified cables in one night. It claims that it is the largest activity ever to publish large–scale
documents(Wikileaks, 2010). It is acknowledged that internet strengthens the power of a single
group to spread an idea and reveal the truth. Based on the open platform, small groups or
individuals, like Wikileaks, play greater roles in the information freedom. The Association for
Progressive Communications (APC) announces an official statement on its website which declares
that Wikileaks is crucial to assist keeping government and corporations transparent (APC, 2010). As
is stated on its website, the goal of WikiLeaks is to bring

The Weight Of The Word By Chris Berg
"The weight of the word" is an argumentative piece written by Chris Berg that appeared in The
Sunday Age on the 12th of December, 2010, and on The Age's website. This argumentative piece
was written in response to the harsh criticism following major leaks released by the website
WikiLeaks. This argumentative piece is written in support of WikiLeaks. An evaluation of the
argument overall has indicated that this argument is relatively strong.
The core argument presented in this argumentative piece is that the political attempts by the
government in the United States of America to shut down WikiLeaks are a fundamental breach of
both free speech and the freedom of the press. This is known to be the case because Chris Berg
restates this conclusion in different ways four times throughout the article. The subheading to this
piece is the strongest example located within the argumentative piece of stating the conclusion: "to
oppose WikiLeaks is to be against press freedom and free speech". As this is the subheading, it will
likely be among the first thing readers will see when reading this article. It makes sense to put the
main conclusion there so that the readers of the piece will know what the article is about. This main
conclusion is stated again in the article later on with "to oppose WikiLeaks is to oppose freedom of
the press and, more critically, free speech," which is located at the beginning of the 9th paragraph,
and repeated again in the 13th paragraph with "but these

Wikileaks: Corruption In The Government
Wikileaks
Wikileaks. Are they a friend or foe. That certainly depends on what side you're on. Wikileaks has
been out in the world, exposing the corruption in the government and bringing sensitive topics in the
light. They do this by publishing document in the media about unethical, questionable, and even
illegal behaviors in important matters. For instance on December 2007, Wikileaks posted the U.S
army manual for soldiers and how they deal with prisoners at the camps. That camp being camp
Guantanamo Bay. This leak stirred the people of the United States up and brought up many
questions. It'll be up to you, the readers to decide if they are doing something beneficial or
something wrong and unneeded.
In this time of our generation privacy is important for anyone and everyone. In an article from CNN
News I've found information about how Wikileaks works and what they work towards to expose. It
states that, " April 24, 2011 – Nearly 800 classified U.S. military documents obtained by WikiLeaks
reveal details about the alleged ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
They want to promote the transparency of the government and to show the people how much the
government isn't telling us. They have gotten much attention from government officials and cause a
commotion threw out the government. A quote from an article named, " Wikileaks: Guide to critical
analysis", says " Wikileaks has drawn significant criticism from governments and corporations fear
the ability of such whistle blowing to expose their embarrassing secrets." This comes to show how
people such as the government are concerned about them. They have gotten lots of attention from
them and also from the media. Unlike other exposing sources, Wikileaks has gotten quite famous. I
believe that is good because the more they are out there in the media the better. More people will
find out about the subjects and stay

Taking a Look at Wikileaks
Wikileaks, cofounded in 2006 by editor in chief Julian Assange, is a site designed to announce and
publicize sensitive information. The goal of Wikileaks is to provide protection for journalists,
citizens, and anyone who might need to be protected from the free based or sensitive information
they upload to the site. Wikileaks is protected by a network of software, anonymous postal drops,
and lawyers, operating on a policy of secrecy to keep all of its posters safe from possible reprisals.
I believe Wikileaks is in the right, as it allows its users to expose sensitive information and secrets
that citizens need to know about. Governments have been criticizing some of the content posted,
however, there is little legally that they can do. Wikileaks is essentially another branch or avenue of
the public press, and there is no "official secrets act" to stop information from being posted. There
are people doing pre–publication reviews of articles posted; people who have a vested interest in
ensuring the accuracy of the material.
In recent years, Wikileaks has acquired mixed public reception, receiving numerous awards and
appraisal, as well as harsh criticism. In 2008 and 2009, Wikileaks received the New Media Award,
and in 2010, it was listed as a website that could change the way the news works. It was praised as a
tool to empower citizens to voice their opinions and report the truth. However, the site received
criticism for defacing the value of a journalist. "Journalists

Essay on WikiLeaks: Changing the World
Just as United States has the freedom of speech, they also have the freedom of information; it is not
exactly the same type of meaning. The Freedom of Information Act was established in 1966 and
signed by President Johnson and in 1996 a more modern act was constructed, the Electronic
Freedom of Information Act. These acts were designed for an individual to have the ability to obtain
unreleased information or documents controlled by the United States government. An organization
named WikiLeaks has changed the law to a whole new level. Government transparency is their goal.
The WikiLeaks website has released undocumented files in large amounts to the public. According
to author of "From FOI World to WikiLeaks World", WikiLeaks "...has been ... Show more content
on Helpwriting.net ...
According to the New York Times (2011)., "WikiLeaks has a core group of five full–time volunteers
and there are 800 to 1,000 people whom the group can call for expertise in areas like encryption,
programming and writing news release." Also the organization gathers secrets in bulk and stores
them out of reach of governments or others trying to get a hold of them and releases it worldwide
("WikiLeaks"). WikiLeaks isn't the traditional journalism but it's soon redefining it. WikiLeaks
plans to shine light on what's really happening behind closed doors. They feel like the people should
know everything that is going on in their own government and the secrets and lies should stop. A
video called Collateral Murder was posted on the website, where innocent Iraqis and two reporters
from Reuters were murdered by U.S. helicopter gunner soldiers. One of the reporters was taking
pictures and mistaken for having a RPG; which gave the okay to kill on sight. Two children were
also seriously injured. When the helicopter gunners found out children were injured in their shooting
escapade, the soldier's exact words were "Well it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle".
They showed no emotion; it was all fun and games to them

Wikileaks : A Wholesome Political Environment
Aiming to combat the information asymmetry between governments and the publics, WikiLeaks
marked its presence by disclosing classified materials online since its launch in 2006. Although the
organization's nature remains controversial, its radical moves undeniably challenged the order
within the public sphere, and the influences it made is worth prudent evaluation.
WikiLeaks believes that only with complete transparency can digital democracy be achieved. In
pursuit of a wholesome political environment, the existence of a 'healthy, vibrant and inquisitive
journalistic media' is imperative – WikiLeaks is therefore established to enhance public scrutiny.
(WikiLeaks.org, 2006) As creator Julian Assange himself proclaimed, the organization is about
putting scientific journalism into practice. This leads to the discussion of how journalists today
ought to shoulder the responsibility of the Fourth Estate by means of investigative reporting. The
conventional idea of investigative journalism comprises unearthing and crosschecking facts, and
backgrounding them into an understandable discourse. Lovink and Riemens argue that WikiLeaks
does the first, asserts to fulfil the second and neglects the third. (Lovink and Riemens, 2010) This
allegation is further supported by Greene's concept (as cited in Schultz 1998, p. 58), which stated
that investigative journalism is only formulated when effort in research and original work of the
reporter is involved. While the audience is given the

Essay about A Rhetorical Perspective on the Issue of...
Menace or Assurance? :
A Rhetorical Perspective on the Issue of WikiLeaks
Founded in 2006 by Australian journalist Julian Assange, the website WikiLeaks had quickly risen
in infamy over the past few years (Majerol 19). The controversial website had posted hundreds of
thousands of classified documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan war, revealing government cover–
ups, a secret assassination unit and the killing of civilians among many things. The release of these
confidential documents has produced two opposing views on whether or not WikiLeaks is a good
thing (Pilger 18).
In an article highlighting the benefits of WikiLeaks, Steven Greenhut explains that Julian Assange
and his website have "done our nation a service". Greenhut asserts ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
She also questions the legitimacy of the documents posted by WikiLeaks. Since the information was
essentially stolen, she says, who can truly verify the truth behind the documents? Furthermore,
Cupp strongly rejects the idea of WikiLeaks being a journalistic service because the best journalists,
she says, always consider the consequences of the information they release, something WikiLeaks is
"all too willing to compromise" (Cupp 1).
This paper will not align itself behind a certain view in an attempt to twist the reader's arm into
believing one side is better than the other. It will provide no opinion whatsoever as to which side
you should belong to; it will leave the qualities and failings of the argument itself alone.
Rather, this paper will outline the rhetoric behind each op–ed. It will analyze each op–ed for
strengths and weaknesses in its use of logic (logos), ethics (ethos) and appeal to the reader (pathos).
It will evaluate how the evidence is presented, answering whether the evidence is enough, whether it
is appropriate, whether it is updated and whether it is relevant.
In the first op–ed, Steven Greenhut presents a clear thesis: Julian Assange, through his website
WikiLeaks, has "done the nation a service". It immediately shows Greenhut's stance in the issue,
which defends with three main reasons: the information WikiLeaks has revealed will not endanger

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Wikileaks
The propaganda pictures can be analyzed through the process of SOAPSTone. The speakers are the
sponsors or organization that approved of the picture; the speaker of the pro and con are WikiLeaks
and the NSA, CIA, and FBI respectively. The immediate occasion is 2009, which is shown through
the copyright year or the year of approval of the picture. The large occasion is the huge WikiLeaks
controversy. The audience, which is the same for both, is the citizens of the United States, and it is
shown through direct speech in the pro image or the image on the laptop in con image. The two
purposes of the sides are quite different. The pro side is trying to persuade U.S. Citizens to group up
and stop U.S. document confidentiality with the help of the ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The pieces of propaganda used images to create a sense of fear in the reader and applied diction to
create a sinister tone. These actions created a strong feeling in the reader, leading a large amount of
pathos being used. Similarly, since both implemented the appeals almost equally, each side could be
believed to be more persuasive than the other; the persuasion of the pictures is mostly dependent of
the reader's own ideals and opinions. If the reader is pro–government, the reader will likely agree to
the con side of the argument because the reader feels more passion for the side of the argument. On
the contrary, if an anti–government reader views the pro side of the argument, the reader would
likely feel more emotion towards that side and be more persuaded. For example, the pro side
includes an excerpt from Little Brother, where Marcus finds a quotation from the Declaration of
Independence and he announces, "'Governments are instituted among men, deriving from their just
powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new
government, its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness'"(Doctorow

Wikileaks : Innocent Or Guilty?
WikiLeaks: Innocent or Guilty? WikiLeaks.org has had a lot of controversy surrounding it in the
past few years, and most millennials may think this all interesting and new, but a lot of us wouldn't
have know that this has all happened before. To understand our current situation we have to look to
how to the past and how this has all happened before in 1971 with the Pentagon Papers. It was
Nixon vs. The New York Times. It was Nixon vs. Journalism. It's shocking to think that basically
what is happening right now has already happened, stolen government papers or information being
leaked to the public via a commonly known media, but we know the ending to the Pentagon Papers .
Journalism won and Nixon lost (Goodale). Now the real question is history going to repeat itself or
is there a different fate for this WikiLeaks fiasco? First of all what was the content of the documents
Wikileaks released and why is it such a big deal? Wikileaks has leaked a lot of things ranging from
Military information to private emails of government officials. Now it's pretty obvious that this
could hurt the government 's sense of security, but what's so wrong in the people of America
knowing these things? It's understandable why the government feels attacked it's enemies, America
's enemies could get there hands on some Military information. But why does all this really matter
and who really cares about some website and it's drama? Some see Mr. Assange as a vigilante doing
the things no one else

Wikileaks : A Not For Profit Media Organization
INTRODUCTION WikiLeaks established in 2006 is a not–for–profit media organization. As per
their website, their goal is "to bring important news and information to the public. We provide an
innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists. WikiLeaks
has worked to report on and publish important information. We also develop and adapt technologies
to support these activities. The broader principles on which our work is based are the defense of
freedom of speech and media publishing, the improvement of our common historical record and the
support of the rights of all people to create new history. We derive these principles from the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights." With an aim to bring ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
We don't hoard our information; we make the original documents available with our news stories.
Readers can verify the truth of what we have reported themselves. We believe the world's media
should work together as much as possible to bring stories to a broad international readership." In
December, 2006, WikiLeaks posted its first document: a "secret decision," signed by Sheikh Hassan
Dahir Aweys, a Somali rebel leader for the Islamic Courts Union that had been culled from traffic
passing through the Tor network to China. The document called for the execution of government
officials by hiring criminals" as hit men. The document's authenticity was never determined, and
news about WikiLeaks quickly superseded the leak itself. Soon with their publication of classified
documents regarding Afghan War, U.S. diplomatic cables, Collateral Murder Video, Iraq war logs
etc. WikiLeaks gained a worldwide audience for themselves. The world politics was thrown into
turmoil with role of U.S. government coming into question over various ethical issues involving
their role in War against terrorism, its view on its allies. Figure 1How WikiLeaks Functions
Wikileaks publishing of these classified documents has led the world asking the question about
where does the jurisdiction of a journalist ends regarding publishing sensitive information and how
it affects the person /

Whistle Blowing Controversy
In 2013, Edward Snowden, former technical contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency
(NSA), released thousands of confidential documents to The Guardian. Now considered the biggest
government information leak in history, these documents contained classified information regarding
widespread government wiretappings, including the wiretapping of more than 35 world leaders and
allies ("Right of Privacy Timeline"). With so many people involved and the rising Computer Age,
the topic of whistle–blowing has become more relevant than ever before. Whistle–blowing has
become a heavily disputed topic in America, with critics and supporters debating the ethics and
consequences of whistling while one works.
To fully understand the issue of whistle–blowing, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Some point out the concern that leaking classified government information is a breach of privacy
and compromises national security. In addition, supporters claim that leakers of military information
are guilty of espionage because their actions are not in the best interest of the American military
("Should the Government"). Furthermore, they believe this to also be true for the organization,
Wikileaks, stating that the site is dangerous because of it's history of leaking information such as
troop movements and names of Afghan and Iraqi informants ("Wikileaks: Is Wikileaks Justified").
Although this is troubling to most supporters, many supporters are more troubled by the anarchist
agenda that they claim whistle–blowers harbor. Protestors states that Wikileaks is a criminal
organization that aims to create chaos with their leaks. They criticize the organization, pointing out
that it maintains an aggressive

Opposition to Leakers
Are government whistleblowers acting in the public interest, or do they endanger the public by
exposing classified information? Just as government transparency has waned in recent years, there
have been several instances of very public national intelligence whistle–blowing. Large scale leaks
such as those published by The Guardian and WikiLeaks have prompted debate on issues of
government secrecy, as well as the balance between security and liberty. High profile
whistleblowers like Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden have, at great personal
risk, leaked classified information to the public in the interest of transparency. Leaked media and
documents range from embarrassing, to potentially dangerous. Heightened levels of ... Show more
New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau were awarded the Pulitzer Prize; Drake
was indicted under the espionage act (Wise). The NSA came under scrutiny again in 2013 when
Edward Snowden revealed large scale data collection and surveillance programs.
As history can attest, government whistleblowers act honorably for the greater good despite threat
of prosecution. Government transparency, especially in acts of war, is important to a functioning
democracy. J. William Leonard, former US classifications czar, In the documentary We Steal
Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, illustrates, "To have those types of decisions, those types of
deliberations, done in secrecy is a tremendous disservice to the American people – because these are
things being done in their name – so, whether you agree with them or not, to have a free back–and–
forth airing of these is essential". In support of these concepts, those behind WikiLeaks and other
government leaks have taken great risks. Birgitta Jonsdottir, member of WikiLeaks and Icelandic
parliament, stated, "We were working on something that we knew that could get us into serious
trouble and we were all willing to take that consequence" ("We Steal Secrets"). In We Steal Secrets,
instant messages between Bradley Manning and the man who eventually turned him in, hacker

Wikileaks : A Project Of The Sunshine Press
In late 2009 and early 2010, a not for profit website called WikiLeaks posted classified US military
documents showing all of the mistakes made by the US military and its soldiers in Iraq and
Afghanistan. WikiLeaks does so much more than just release classified documents about the US
military; they are no different from the New York Times in that "WikiLeaks is a project of the
Sunshine Press" (Assange). WikiLeaks is an international online, non–profit, journalistic
organization that publishes leaks (documents the public is not supposed to see) to its website for
other news agencies to use. Some believe some that WikiLeaks is for the wellbeing of society: the
resource exposes incidents that citizens have never seen. Examples of these shocking stories
include: "corruption in the government of Kenya, brutality at the US detention center at
Guantanamo Bay, and systemic failures behind Iceland 's massive bank collapse in 2009" (Berger).
WikiLeaks has shown the world some of the corruption that is hidden from the public. On the other
hand, others say that WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization that should be shut down, for example,
government officials and advocates who believe in hiding information from the public. Terrorism
has completely changed over the years and now it means "Terrorism does not only apply to physical
attacks, but also to cyber–attacks that intimidate and threaten by means of coercion" (Castaldy). The
public most of the time believes that anything that

Julian Assange Research Paper

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Julian Assange Research Paper

Similar to Julian Assange Research Paper (10)

More from Trina Jackson

More from Trina Jackson (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Julian Assange Research Paper