Wikileaks: Activism or Hacktivism?

Wikileaks is that controversial topic and organisation that appears in the News every other day, and with good reason. It’s one hell of a debate that people and countries cannot agree on and more than that, many individuals cannot make up their mind either! My friends and I seem to have inconclusive opinions on the matter. This post attempts to touch on both sides of the argument.

Many people see Assange as an activist and a hero, he exposes lies and hypocrisy (Ashong 2010). Optimists believe his platform for publishes secretive documents as a way to increase government transparency and equality. It’s easy to get behind this argument - freedom of information and such.

Assange and Wikileaks can also been seen as detrimental hactkivists and whistleblowers for an abundance of reasons. The main ones being that it can compromise national security and it is an invasion of privacy (Wilton 2010). One of the detriments I found most interesting was copywriting. If Wikileaks publishes a book or a document, it is essentially pirating (Rosewall 2010 p. 27). Assange’s popularity definitely is not helped by behaviours such not voting in the recent Australian election when he wants to become Prime Minister (Hughes 2013).

Assangerbach (BBC, 2013)

There are elements of Wikileaks that are supported and by the theories of Henry Jenkins. Jenkins’s key focus throughout his works is media convergence and he says “media convergence is more than simply a technological shift” (Jenkins 2004 p. 34). Wikileaks wholeheartedly embodies this by creating political and social turmoil by interconnecting information, media content and communication technologies. Jenkins also theorised how media convergence forces the relations between producers and consumers to change(Jenkins 2004 p. 40). This is highly evident in Wikileaks in that it allows an entirely new set of consumers - people who were never meant to read such documents.

Future Gaze: With the huge amount of accusations towards Julian Assange it is difficult to see Wikileaks’s popularity continue to rise, unfortunately. I feel that Government organisations will eventually find a loophole through which they can seize Assange and shut down Wikileaks altogether, unfortunately. However even if it does get shut down, another organisation will surely pop up in its place.

I think increased government transparency is a healthy thing for society however if it has the potential to compromise national security, then such documents should be less easily accessible. That said, my opinion on the matter is still not fully formed.

TELL ME: Are most of the people you know for or against Wikileaks?

CHECK BACK: I am watching the documentary ‘We Steal Secrets’  this week and I will post my opinion afterwards, to show if it has changed!

REFERENCES

Ashong, D. 2010. The Truth About Transparency - Why Wikileaks Is Bad for All of Us. [online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derrick-ashong/the-truth-about-transpare_b_789196.html [Accessed: 5 Jan 2014].

BBC. 2013. Julian Assange refused to meet Benedict Cumberbatch, email reveals. [image online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24471659 [Accessed: 6 Jan 2014].       

Jenkins, H. 2004. The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7 p. 34, 40. Available from: doi: 10.1177/1367877904040603.       

Julian Assange Interview on 60 Minutes - ninemsn 04 August 2013. 2013. [video] Tony Hughes.       

Rosewall, I. and Warren, M. 2010. Wikileaks: The Truth or Not. [e-book] Melbourne: Edith Cowan University Research Online. p. 27. http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=isw [Accessed: 5 Jan 2014].       

Whiton, C. 2010. Why Do We Keep Ignoring the WikiLeaks Threat?. [online] 25 October. Available at: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/10/25/christian-whiton-wiki-leaks-ignore-threat-obama-democrats-congress-iraq-war/ [Accessed: 5 Jan 2014].