I accidentally the whole Wikileaks. Well, some.

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• UNMANNED WIKILEAKS DRONE DESTROYS AFGHAN VILLAGE

One thing no-one seems to be showing a sign of getting their heads around: Julian Assange wrote a detailed piece in 2002 2006 on precisely what his aims are with Wikileaks. (Original PDF.)

In it, he states his aim: to increase the friction in the mechanisms by which authoritarian governments conspire against their citizens, thus changing the lay of the land and forcing them to more open communication mechanisms. Hence the release of the diplomatic cables.

It's the inchoate hacker (as in cracker) free speech ideal of the 1980s developed into a coherent and precise philosophy. Making that coherent and precise is quite an achievement in itself, really.

And reading the quite excellent Forbes article series, apparently it is partially my fault personally — hosting my anti-Scientology site helped get him really going on this path. Oh dear.