WikiLeaks sucks

Deliberately hyperbolic headline aside, I'm evolving my feelings toward WikiLeaks. What was first launched as a somewhat altruistic endeavour designed to give political dissidents and whistleblowers a safe haven, a voice and a place to share their message without fear of reprisals from oppressive governments, regimes and organizations, has evolved into a somewhat different, more malevolent animal.

As the world watches the third major release of sensitive documents - this time it's U.S. diplomatic docs, while earlier this year it was the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts that had their inner workings shared with the world - I've been watching founder Julian Assange explain the rationale for his organization's actions. And I find what I'm hearing to be somewhat disturbing.

On the surface, there isn't anything in any of these documents that comes as a surprise. International sniping is a hallmark of the diplomatic process. Is this embarrassing? Sure. But shocking? Hardly.

What raises my antenna is the fact that we now have a process, a pipeline if you will, for disgruntled employees of any entity - government, military, private organization, whatever - to hoover huge amounts of data onto a flash drive, then upload it to this site. Got an axe to grind? The Web now has an answer for you. And Mr. Assange will happily accommodate you under the umbrella of "transparency".

Never mind that this is a pretty grotesque bastardization of proper journalistic process. Never mind that the checks and balances that have long governed the craft are nowhere to be seen. Never mind that no one seems to care whether the greater good is being served here. Make them public, says Mr. Assange. Let the world see what they're really like, he adds, and who really cares about the consequences, anyway?

I do. I spoke with CTV Parliamentary Correspondent Richard Madan yesterday, and he included a clip from the interview in a report he ran on CTV's national newscast at 11. Newscast link is here. Report link is here, and I've embedded the report below.

I also discussed it with Craig Needles from London's AM980, Gary Doyle of Kitchener's 570News, and Jessica Samuels from Kelowna's AM1150. Yahoo! Canada Finance published my article - Wikileaks leak a wakeup call for business - on October 29th. I suspect the discussion - and the leaks that spawned it - will continue for some time.

Your turn: Is WikiLeaks a force of good, a force of evil or something in between?