Posted 08 Aug 2010
This week I wrote a guest post over at RunToGold on state income tax strategies that you might find interesting as well.
Freedom of speech is important, even if we don't agree with the speech. Even if the speech is harmful, it is better to hold the speaker accountable for the harm later rather than prevent the speaker from speaking.
Prior restraints on speech are a slippery slope. Even though I disagree with some of the information that has been released on Wiki Leaks, it serves an important function worth the potential harm.
Wiki leaks is an outlet for whistleblowers from around the world to make sure that evidence of fraud and corruption can be heard. Julian Assange, the founder of Wiki Leaks, is testing our tolerance for freedom of speech and challenging our concept of prior restraints.
Recently, Wiki Leaks posted a video of an incident in Iraq that contradicted the official investigation released to the public. Shortly after that video was released, Wiki Leaks released tens of thousands of classified documents from the Iraq and Afghanistan operations. The US government was predictably perterbed.
Warning: This video contains some scenes of graphic wartime violence.
As a result, Mr. Assange is suddenly a very high profile individual, with all kinds of US government agencies like the NSA taking note. But even the US government, the greatest power on earth, admits that there is nothing that they can really do to stop the wikileak. In fact, they weren't even going to try and stop Mr. Assange, at least not before he released the wikileak.
In this era of US government approved assassination and global financial tracking, someone like Mr. Assange takes a great risk in proactively promoting freedom of speech. But he has also taken some very important steps to protect his personal and financial privacy so that he is less at risk of uncomfortable consequences from pissing off the powerful.
1. No permanent address and he travels often
Although physical violence against Mr. Assange is unlikely, he would have to be found first. Anyone in the world can be found if sufficient time, money, resources and human beings are deployed in pursuit. Without a permanent address, and because he travels often, finding his actual physical location costs more.
The more it costs, the less likely someone is to try. Even though the government has trouble finding some people, I don't think that location alone is what stops the US from stopping the wikileak.
2. Strong encryption
The US and the NSA control the most amount of supercomputing power in the world, yet they cannot stop Wiki Leaks from publishing the documents. Wiki Leaks uses strong 256 bit encryption. This level of encryption is available at a relatively low cost to almost everybody. It would take a lot of supercomputers at the NSA working together for a very long time to break through the encryption barrier to steal or corrupt the files.
3. Not a US citizen
Julian Assange is not a US citizen, has no property in the US and therefore is not subject directly to US law. If you are going to make a government mad, make sure it is someone else's government. The US has no direct power of compulsion over him and will have to pressure other nations to do their dirty work, increasing the cost to enforce any action against him.
4. Use the internet
Even if the US was able to stop the wikileak by eliminating Julian Assange, breaking the encryption to steal the file, or pressuring him with legal action, the documents would probably come out anyway because they are posted on the internet.
The decentralized nature of the internet is largely beyond the control of any government. You cannot unring a bell.
The poor US citizen who is being charged for the release of these documents is an example of what not to do. He did not follow any of these principles and will probably pay dearly for it.
So how do you plug a Wiki Leaks wikileak? If the Wiki Leaker is doing things right, millions of dollars, a massive manhunt, and dedication of the resources of the largest force on earth for each wikileak.
Privacy protects free speech. Using methods to increase the cost to destroy privacy protects privacy and therefore protects free speech. Use tools and techniques like protecting your home address, using encryption and obtaining multiple citizenships and many other things you can learn by subscribing to How To Vanish to protect your own privacy and freedoms.
