Assault on Free Speech

If you have been looking for the WikiLeaks documents today you likely received a message that the server is not responding. What has happened is that the U.S. State Department has put enormous pressure on various companies and now WikiLeaks domain name - Wikileaks.org is no longer functional.

For a country that is allegedly committed to free speech and a free press the U.S. government is acting completely contrary to that ideal. Threatening to charge Julian Assange, WikiLeaks public face, with espionage is only the tip of the iceberg. Amazon, formerly hosting WikiLeaks, has now kicked them off their servers.

Aside from the sheer stupidity of trying to remove information from the Internet (this genie is never going back in the bottle)the idea of official government censorship of the press is abhorrent. A democracy depends on citizen's knowledge and access to information.

The truth about WikiLeaks is that little of importance that was not already known or suspected was revealed. The hue and cry is more about the embarrassment this is causing for world leaders than any threat to security. Really, what have we learned? The Saudi's are two faced with other Arab nations? Silvio Berlusconi is a vain, corrupt egomaniac? Karzai's brother is a narcotics trafficker? Diplomats sometimes collect information? Gasp and swoon. Anyone unaware of these things hasn't been paying attention anyway.

WikiLeaks is now available at the domain WikiLeaks.ch. Happy reading lovers of a free press.