Egypt and WikiLeak


There are times when topics of national or international interest become too much for one column. That hapens to be the case for ViewPoint since we publish one column every two weeks and that creates a news jam with only one solution. Combine the topics since there are some connections anyway!

The 'merge' occurs when one considers the basic material for news coverage in the first place. Both topics, Egypt and WikiLeak, rely on 21st century communications. Neither would be front page news without electronics. Over-simplification? Try this on for size.

The Egyptian protests in the streets came about almost immediately after a message turned up on FaceBook. It spread like wildfire (even that expression is dated!). It was a lone call for action by viewers to get out there, to demonstrate their anger with the government, to vent and voice their opposition to the ruling power of Mubarack and his cronies. There was no leader rousing his followers, or any celebrity name attached to the message. Could anything like this have happened had the sender of the message simply stepped out of his home and yelled for ACTION?

Now, turn to WikiLeak. Ever hear of WikiLeak before it became news - big news? Unlikely.
Suddenly, out of the blue (another arcane expression!), the world was about to mindboggle an unprecedented event -  an unbelievable revelation. The release to the media of hundreds of thousands of heretofore classified documents - cables, letters, documents - all posted by individuals of high, and mighty, occupation and position - ostensibly intended for 'readers' eyes only' - now available to anyone with a computer.

Go back Forty years. An unknown bureaucrat named Daniel Ellsberg opened the eyes of the world with "The Pentagon Papers", it was the same basic story - revelations of classified information at the height of the Vietnam War. The imbraglio that had the American public divided on the whole concept of a major war thousands of miles from our shores against an enemy completely foreign to the USA and its interests in that part of the world made the Pentagon Papers essential reading for depth seeking persons here and abroad. The difference between WikiLeaks and The Pentagon Papers is the advancement of science. Daniel Ellsberg had to gather his information by tedious, time consuming means and provide a platform for access and readability. Thanks to The New York Times it was published and read the old fashioned way - by a newspaper! If electronics had existed at the time, it would have spread The Pentagon Papers around the world in seconds.

The point of this comparison is the need to understand and appreciate, but not necessarily approve, the fact that Classified or any form of Secret information in no longer what it was intended to be years ago. Utilization of techniques such as "Top Secret" afixed to a dossier or single page can be bypassed, so can anything marked "For Your Eyes Only", or even the lesser designation of "Classified" is vulnerable. WikiLeak has made the quantum jump by using
 every available electronic device to access the information, store it and reveal it to the world at will!

Julian Assange is no Daniel Ellsberg. His motifation is some form of personal gain - identity, or fame, or money, or a peculiar desire to inform the world of the nefarious doings of movers and shakers whose thoughts committed to text reveal some things of little or no interest in the real world.

Ellsberg had a mission. He was a dedicated opponent of the Vietnam War and believed that revealing the behind the scenes activities of the power players of the time, would arouse the public suffciently to force changes in the conduct of our international behavior.

Today, despite the total shutdown of electronics in Egypt, the horse is out of the barn(number three arcane expression!) with raging public disorder the clear result of a single electronic message,which acted like a virulent infection that may actually kill the patient before it is controlled by political medication that can restore the body to normalcy.

Will these events of modern times forecast more to come as 'would be' instigators of secret information revelations look to new fields to open to the world? Can our scientific gurus develop methods of safeguarding information, beyond any doubt? Will the next government to dissolve in a fury of millions, burning, looting, fist shaking be the victim of a FaceBook or Twitter message?

Stay tuned. The world continues to change.


Richard Carlton

February 1, 2011

Issue No.3