I’ve added some fresh gleanings to our WikiLeaks Reader:
Ethan Zuckerman et al, “Distributed Denial of Service Attacks Against Independent Media and Human Rights Sites,” The Berkman Center for Internet and Society, December 20, 2010. The authors write: “In this paper, we explore the specific phenomenon of DDoS attacks on independent media and human rights organizations, seeking to understand the nature and frequency of these attacks, their efficacy, and the responses available to sites under attack. Our report offers advice to independent media and human rights sites likely to be targeted by DDoS but comes to the uncomfortable conclusion that there is no easy solution to these attacks for many of these sites, particularly for attacks that exhaust network bandwidth.”
Ethan Wilkes, “Generation Wiki’s Web Savvy,” The Morningside Post (Columbia University), December 11, 2010. A student voice from the School of International Public Affairs: “…in the absence of a far more heavily restricted internet we live in a Wikileakable world. No matter how secure our servers, how rigorous our clearance processes or how thorough our legislation, we will never eradicate the human element from security or the technological platforms on which treasure troves of classified documents, corporate secrets or other private data can be obtained and blasted across the public domain. The million-dollar question that nobody seems to be asking is: where do we go from here?”
Jaron Lanier, “The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of Wikileaks,” The Atlantic, December 2010. He writes, “The Wikileaks method punishes a nation — or any human undertaking — that falls short of absolute, total transparency, which is all human undertakings, but perversely rewards an absolute lack of transparency. Thus an iron-shut government doesn’t have leaks to the site, but a mostly-open government does. If the political world becomes a mirror of the Internet as we know it today, then the world will be restructured around opaque, digitally delineated power centers surrounded by a sea of chaotic, underachieving openness. Wikileaks is one prototype of a digital power center, but others include hedge funds and social networking sites.”
Josh Halliday and Tom Arthur, “WikiLeaks: Anonymous Hierarchy Emerges,” The Guardian, December 16, 2010. Is Anonymous actually run by “a hidden cabal of around a dozen highly skilled hackers co-ordinating attacks across the web”?
FAIR, “What We Learn From Wikileaks,” December 16, 2010. While some commentators argue that the released cables mainly show US diplomats in a benign light, here’s a list of revelations that may color that view.
David Rieff, “Wikileaks and the Cyber Wars to Come,” The New Republic, December 14, 2010. He argues, “For better or worse, the Wikileaks model is here to stay.”
Roy Revie, “WikiLeaks and 21st Century Statecraft,” December 8, 2010. He asks, “Have 250,000 leaks sunk the State Department’s ‘Internet Freedom’ policy?”
Also, Dave Winer’s “WikiRiver” is a great compilation of flowing coverage. And if you’re inclined to sign up for manifestos, check out his “Tech Without Borders” call to arms.