Here we go again with Journalism being the spoon in the mixing bowl of democracy:Some WikiLeaks Contributions To Public Discourse
| from the greatest-hits-of-cablegate dept.
| posted by kdawson on Monday January 10, @13:07 (Government)
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/01/10/1359244/Some-WikiLeaks-Contributions-To-Public-Discourse?from=newsletter
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[0]Hugh Pickens writes "The EFF argues that regardless of the heated
debate over the propriety of the actions of WikiLeaks, some of the cables
have [1]contributed significantly to public and political conversations
around the world. The Guardian reported on a cable describing an incident
in Afghanistan in which employees of DynCorp, a US military contractor,
hired a 'dancing boy,' an under-aged boy dressed as a woman, who dances
for a gathering of men and is then prostituted — an incident that
contributed important information to the [2]debate over the use of
private military contractors. A cable released by WikiLeaks showed that
[3]Pfizer allegedly sought to blackmail a Nigerian regulator to stop a
lawsuit against drug trials on children. A WikiLeaks revelation that the
United States used bullying tactics to attempt to push Spain into
adopting copyright laws even more stringent than those in the US came
[4]just in time to save Spain from the kind of misguided copyright laws
that cripple innovation and facilitate online censorship. An article by
the NY Times analyzed cables released which indicated the US is [5]having
difficulties in fulfilling Obama's promise to close the Guantánamo Bay
detention camp and is now considering incentives in return for other
countries accepting detainees, including a one-on-one meeting with Obama
or assistance with the IMF. 'These examples make clear that WikiLeaks has
brought much-needed light to government operations and private actions,'
writes Rainey Reitman, 'which, while veiled in secrecy, profoundly affect
the lives of people around the world and can play an important role in a
democracy that chooses its leaders.'"

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Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/slashdot/
1. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/01/cablegate-disclosures-have-furthered-investigative
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/02/foreign-contractors-hired-dancing-boys
3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/09/wikileaks-cables-pfizer-nigeria
4. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/12/how-wikileaks-killed-spains-anti-p2p-law.ars
5. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/world/americas/30gitmo.html?pagewanted=all