“Hero to untold millions, public enemy #1 to the most powerful government in the world.” (ABC 2011)
Julian Assange. Terrorist? Hacktivist? Activist? Or a whistle-blowing hero?
The title you give him will probably depend on where you work.. government? police? perhaps you'll think of him as a terrorist. Member of the public.. hero? Whichever it is, his practices embody all of the above.
Julian Assange (and Wikileaks) protests against governments in efforts of making a change (activist), with use of digital technology he is known to hack into secured files in order to attain information (hacktivist), though he does it to share information with the world (whistle-blower)- many may value his work and highly regard what he does as a service to the public (hero).
Julian Assange's work is right at the heart of Digital Activism; a prime example of utilizing digital technology for political and social matters. Previously, only government bodies had access to such technology. Now, anyone with the know-how and appropriate technology can access anyone's 'private' files. This can be a scary thought. We've heard of many cases in which bank accounts were hacked, eBay's credit card information storage system accessed or simply a virus entering your Facebook and posting telemarketing scams. So why is it that a large portion of the public thinks that this is okay? Is it one of those 'it's okay 'cos it's not happening to me' mindsets? Surely not. We're not all that insensitive. Then what is it?
Here's my thoughts.. What Julian is doing could be quite bad- were he to access confidential information regarding the location of troops in war zones and sell it off to the enemy..then yes, that'd be bad. But a lot of the information he's choosing to share is not of that nature- he is not malicious, he hasn't attempted to completely overthrow the country or cause a war. He's sharing information he believes should be shared- and whilst I agree that 1 man should not have this much power over the government and its information- I think his heart is in the right place (so to speak).
Perhaps what he's doing will eventually lead to the government being more transparent about issues that the pubic are interested in or should know about. Then again..it may just lead to them finding better 'hiding spots'. Furthermore, this constant exposure of 'hidden information' has stirred distrust into the public..will that ever be able to be gained back? Or will we constantly wonder what else the government is hiding from us? This is just one negative side affect to expose`s.. doubt, fear, loss of trust.
There is always going to be things that the government cannot share with us- for our own good. So when will we stop searching? Will there always be paranoid people searching for secrets?
Yes. As Greenwood states, “corruption institutes may come and go and may stop an individual, but they cannot stop us all” (2010).
Lets just keep in mind..Julian Assange chose what he wanted to share. Someone a bit less Robin Hood and bit more wicked witch may come a long and it won't all be so heroic.
----------------
REFERENCES
ABC.net.au (2011) The Forgotten Man. [video online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110214/leaks/default.htm [Accessed: 21 January 2013].
Greenberg, A. (2010) The Future of Wikileaks. Forbes, [online] 22 November. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1122/focus-andy-greenberg-wikileaks-classified-social-remix.html [Accessed: 21 January 2013].
No comments:
Post a Comment