How Far is Too Far?

I recently read a New York Times article about the recent WikiLeaks posting that included a submission of 77,000 classified Pentagon documents on the Afghan conflict and 391,832 documents on the Iraqi war. The founder of WikiLeaks and person who posted the documents, Julian Assange, is currently being attacked from all corners because of the recent posting. Although some at first hailed him as the "James Bond of journalism," much of his support has dwindled. This decline in support is due in part to his "dictatorial" and "imperious" style of managing WikiLeaks and seeming arrogance in stating that WikiLeaks could not survive without him. However, more troubling, in my opinion, is either his thoughtlessness or his lack of regard for others. Take for example the Afghan conflict documents he recently posted. None of the names of Afghanis who helped the U.S. were changed, making them and their families potential Taliban targets. Indeed, according to the article, a Taliban spokesman stated that "the Taliban had formed a nine-member 'commission' after the Afghan documents were posted 'to find about people who are spying.' He said the Taliban had a 'wanted' list of 1,800 Afghans and was comparing that with names WikiLeaks provided." Perhaps Mr. Assange does not understand the possible negative consequences of his actions. Perhaps he is simply so enamored with the concept of "freedom of the press" that he doesn't realize wisdom should place checks that governments either cannot or will not. Simply because he has the ability to hack into almost anything he wants and post it on a virtual environment beyond government control does not mean he should post whatever he wants. Perhaps he thought the sacrifice of those 1,800 people was worth the possible good that could come from posting the documents. But perhaps that choice should not be his to make. After all, he is not the one paying the price.

-Sam-