[Noisebridge-discuss] Should NB mirror WikiLeaks?

[Gian Pablo Villamil]

I'm not a fan of hosting a Wikileaks mirror at NB because:

It is an easy and quick thing to do, that would have a symbolic effect, and
little practical impact. I don't think it is a threat to NB, frankly, I
don't think anyone would ever notice mirror #501. By doing this, it would
create the illusion of taking action, and take away the impetus from doing
other things with greater impact.

If we really care about the issue, there are a number of far more creative
and meaningful things that we could do, that align totally with our
organizational vision and mission.

1) Put together a cogent argument of why we support Wikileaks, and why the
gov't response is wrong
2) Set up instructional page on how to set up a WL mirror
3) Explain what Tor and Freenet are, and why they are significant
4) Point to channels for fundraising that are still functioning
5) redirect wikileaks.noisebridge.net to a page that covers points 1-4
6) Contact your Congressional reps and express yourself (seriously, most of
the time they only hear from incoherent Tea Partiers. Boxer & Pelosi are
progressive at heart - they would love to hear from you.)
7) Start getting quoted in the media re: the troubles with the gov't
response to Wikileaks
8) Identify and analyze any of the cables which cover issues important to us

FWIW my main concern in this whole affair is the govt's thuggish approach.
Instead of using legal measures, they put pressure on Amazon, Paypal, etc.
to try to shut WL down. They've had Manning for a while, they've had plenty
of time to put together a legal approach if one is possible, and haven't
come up with anything. This approach of leaning organizations indirectly,
and the whole thing with the charges against Assange, is the kind of thing
the Mafia would do. Attempts to put together a legal challenge to Wikileaks
are likely to seriously affect a free press. I think *this* is a message
that needs to get out, and hosting a WL mirror (if done at all) should be a
way to exemplify this.

Having read a bunch of the cables, frankly, they're not that incendiary.
Anyone who reads Foreign Affairs won't be taken by surprise. The picture
that emerges of the embassy staff and the State Dept is mostly of a very
smart, well-informed bunch dealing with a bunch of unsavory characters. It's
good that this is becoming common knowledge.

The cables I've read within my area of expertise (Brazil and Spain) are very
interesting, and there is some potential for analysis and exposition. In
particular, the role of US organizations (MPAA + RIAA) in shaping the
proposed Spanish copyright legislation is quite reprehesible. Also
interesting is how important a role commerce (and in particular, the
business interests of a few large companies) play in relations with Brazil.

On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 9:37 PM, Jacob Appelbaum <jacob at appelbaum.net> wrote:

> On 12/07/2010 09:29 PM, Matt Joyce wrote:
> > Far be it from me to point this out to you.  But Noisebridge is not a
> stand
> > alone hackerspace.  What each hackerspace does reflects upon other
> > hackerspaces.  If noisebridge chooses to take a position in what is a
> > polarized and popular debate, they will be drawing attention to
> hackerspaces
> > as a whole on the topic.
> >
> > Not all spaces feel that this topic is relevant to their concerns.
> >
> > Regardless of anything I would suggest keeping that in mind.
>
> "Hey everybody! Get back to making LED throwies! We're gonna look bad!"
>
> What a load of bullshit!!!
>
> Noisebridge isn't part of some (inter)national treaty on being a bunch
> of pushover sellouts afraid of their own shadow.
>
> Bah,
> Jake
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20101208/60bbde2b/attachment-0003.html>