Weak-i-leaks

I have always strongly advocated for free speech and press, and I take my journalism degree seriously.  But we are entering a bizarre era when hacking and leaking are not only part of our daily lives – these activities are completely re-engineering global communications, and along with that, our society.

In past decades, journalists published information they got from trusted sources, and then sometimes refused to name those sources. Even if it brought down a powerful man like Richard Nixon, even if it landed them in jail (which it often did). But Watergate pales in comparison to what we’re seeing now.

The law on hacking and publishing illegally obtained media, known as CFAA, is muddy at best.  President Obama tried to strengthen it a couple years ago, but was completely shot down, ironically by Democrats.  Basically, if you steal media by illegally hacking somebody’s computer or server, you can do anything you want with it as long as you’re not physically located in the United States.  

This explains Wikileaks, located in Iceland.   They can leak absolutely anything, from any source, no matter if it causes harm to American political, defensive, economic or justice systems, whether it is real or false, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Wikileaks claims that they “check out” all of their sources before publishing these illegal hacks, but why should we trust them?  Most of them are said to be “anonymous”.  In any case, they don’t have to tell anyone who those sources are, and they can suppress any information that doesn’t support the Wiki agenda.  This begs a couple of questions:  one, why do our news organizations blindly publish anything Wikileaks releases as though it is gospel truth; and two, what’s the end game here – and who are the larger players?

Russia is already a proven major player (highly suspected in the recent Clinton and DNC hacks), and many claim China and North Korea regularly hack into sensitive U.S. servers, looking to cause even greater harm to our defenses and economy, perhaps planning to take over our nation, bits at a time.   

It starts with Wikileaks (which has numerous bones to pick with Obama) trying to get Donald Trump elected, apparently with Russian support.  Yet there is no talk of suing them, or those who repeat their illegally hacked information verbatim.  What about the Trump recording, you ask?   NBC obtained signed consent forms from the idiots, so they have no legal ground on which to stand.  In fact, there are said to be many, many more out-takes that the network is skittish to publish for fear it wouldn’t be legal.  The only way we’ll see more of them is if a Wikileaks competitor illegally obtains and releases them. 

Make no mistake, Wikileaks and their ilk are not patriots, not truth seekers, not journalists.  As their power and technical prowess grow, and they continue to link forces with super powers not friendly to the U.S., tough decisions will have to be made about extending and strengthening our First Amendment.  Free press, absolutely and forever.  But we can’t allow malicious, outside influences to control our media.