The are basic tensions at the heart of Democracy. We need to keep secrets from citizens and citizens need the oversight on what’s being done in their name. Historically there has been a safety valve.
Leaks are the safety valves on secret keepers and the oversight.
-Clay Shirky.
On one hand, legal consequence will be crack down new laws, on the other hand there will be an open season on secrets.
-Floyd Abrams
Wikipedia is an abstract idea.
-John Hockenberry
The Panel:
Floyd Abrams (1st amendmant lawyer, NYTimes laywer during Pentagaon Papers)
John Hockenberry (Host of PRI's The Takeway)
Clary Shirky (Author, Professor at NYU ITP)
Micah Sifry (Moderator)
Gabriella Coleman (NYU Media and Communications)
Birgitta Jonsdottir (Member of Iceland's Parliament via skype from Iceland)
January 24th, 2011
Personal Democracy Forum
Symposium on Wikileaks and Internet Freedom
NYU Kimmel Center
Wiki is Wikileaks, not the open source encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Birgitta Jonsdottir:
I was advised not travel to US by lawyers due to wiki investigation. When asked by students if there are things to be kept secret. I said yes, national security. I could not think of anything in Iceland. Then realized that this is a lazy answer. There needs for things to be made secret need to have good reason for that.
Information is secret by default, corporation, and government for no reason. In Iceland it’s the case with banks. If there was encouragement for transparency the bank failure may have been avoided. Right of info is not honored despite laws.
We must rely on wikipedia to take heat for publishing what other might not.
Wikileaks is icebreaker for the rest of us. Everyday we are facing gag orders.
Wikileaks made it cool for whistleblowers.
Gabriella Coleman:
Background on "Anonymous"
December 2010 it became famous because of attacks on Pay pal and MasterCard.
Tough to define by the press. It is not singular but plural. Parallel and loosely coordinated sets of actions. Anonymous is risomatic , but despite that it does have identifiable norms. Defend freedom of info, fight censorship
Arose from Martha Nussbaum: offensive internet (trolling and harassment)
4chan.com banded together to troll. (individuals and organizations) scientologists.
“Ultra coordinated mother fuckery.”
Why does “anonymous” matter: You are here because you are interested in politics. Anonymous is portal gateway into politics. People decided to stay once in they visited.
Low barriers to get involved. You are inspired
Why does it work: it’s very good at spectacle.
DOS (denial of service attack) direct action blockage, civil disobedience, intimidation, thuggery, and vigilantism
How do you manage ethics of DOS?
Anonymous did have mechanism to enact ethics of Denial of Service Attacks:
· Polling and debate on how they attack.
· No attack on media.
· Strategy was also to be short term
Clay Shirky:
I want to talk about what wikileaks has changed.
At the end of the second war. Anglo powers UK/US/Canadian/Australia had agreement of sharing of info. It was illegal to Canadian, Aussies to spy on themselves internally. But they could all trade info with each other.
The are basic tensions at the heart of Democracy. We need to keep secrets from citizens and citizens need the oversight on what’s being done in their name.
Historically there has been a safety valve.
Leaks are the safety valve on secret keepers and the oversight.
Judy miller case: 3 months in jail, until scooter Libby came out.
Message to leakers it that you will be jailed
Don't leak to press of same nationality of leaker.
There is a pattern of transnational leaking.
There is no one country’s laws that govern how Wikileaks works.
Globalization of citizen oversight: Jacob Zuma of SA has ability to redact and punish info found in papers.
It would be best to leak via intl. channels to reach back home.
I don’t know how national press regains its prominence. Transnational press clubs. National press realizes its needs to be a network. Palestine papers: Al Jazeera and the Guardian.
John Hockenberry:
I want to comment on things that have been said. As a working journalist that has been working with wiki. Wikipedia provides compelling, irresistible narratives to report. Wikileaks and Anonymous have certain inevitability about them.
Questions of menace are pointless questions.
What is new?
Anonymous: gateway for (sic) unempowered are indistinguishable from political parties. Low bar of entry, populism, political movements. Anonymous was created on the fly to take on institutions.
What is new? And what is just digital?
I don’t care about Julian Assange. I like that he wears sunglasses to press appearances.
I don’t care if its a media org.
I have a piece of information. It is important to populations.
Will this info be acted on commensurate to outrage feel about this info?
Did people have the reasonable expectation that NYTimes would deliver info?
Wiki is more like telephone pole with posting of lost pets rather than NYTimes.
The problem we have in media sense is that it will be disruptive.
Mao created something similar. Leak it to us, spying internally.
The responsibility of journo is to negotiate the info on a meta level.
Floyd Abrams
Doesn’t matter if we are critical about Wikileaks. We must look to the future
We will have worst First Amendment law from wikileaks.
Courts are deeply affected by consequences by rulings.
Because wikileaks is such a threat to public order, government will turn on entities that they can find, journalists who up until this time have been free of prosecution. no espionage indictments against journos.
If wikileaks appeared before our courts it would do poorly.
The breach of tacit social contract with press and government:
Will try in our way, when we write about national security to set boundaries that you will generally find okay. Trust us a little bit and be willing to accept mistakes for general freedom.
Wikileaks will not be interpreted same way.
Wikileaks is first of no jurisdiction of any country, but jurisdiction of all countries.
On one hand, legal consequence will be crack down new laws, on the other hand there will be an open season on secrets.
Wikileaks only released 71000 documents and read 2000 on the US Marines in Afghanistan document dump.
One of the things of Wikileaks that disturbed me was personal security. Social security numbers of US soldiers. It seems to me, if personal privacy material will be come far more available the only practical thing the US Government can do in future is to take better care of personal privacy.
JH: As a metric is the only way to talk about anonymous through Denial of Service? Is there some sort of measure where Anonymous needs to elect a candidate, fill a pot hole? I suggest that it is transitory.
Gabriella Coleman: They are some that transitive. Some are strategic and some that are tactical.
Clay Shirky: I want to go back to Abrams of social contract and John’s idea that Wikipedia is not media.
Media is middle layer. I think we need to update the definition.
There is not a lot of definitional clarity on what qualifies as journalism, Shield law.
The potential of what makes a journalist has been pushed away because of wiki. Wiki is media enterprise that is working with traditional media sources
JH: I am surprised. That is a small idea. Wiki is a big idea.
Wiki is not an institution, suddenly there is definition. Wikileaks is as abstract idea.
The cascade at the top of First Gorge.
The river begins to build.
The gorge widens.
Bone crusher.
Falls from a far.
Neighborhood goon checks out visitors. We banged pots. He ate with indifference.
We called the day early. Afternoon cafe by the current.
The rough elegance of the north.
Dough for somosas.
Somosas du Quebecois.
Drying shoes. Rain is getting old.
First Gorge from above. Our campsite hides among the spruce.
Why we do this kind of thing.
The Corvette matures.
Yes? yes? no.
Gorge 2.0
Grating the reggiano. The view is the first thing considered
One of a few.
Power V.
Energy that you feel and eat beside.
Apres dinner by the rapid.
Brushing teeth. Gorge 2.0.
The intensity of the quick draw. 
On point.
Steady, steady!
Matthew down the middle Mckean
Gman and Mateo stepped up.
Vitamin D shot.
It's hot. It's cold. Whatever
Osprey circles her nest.
Oh hello sun and big river. The Pontois gets wide. Very wide.
Here's your granite kitchen counter tops! You happy now?
That scottish mist again. There's a falls behind that.
Embarrassingly large lure from Canadian Tire: 10 bucks. Garrett knowing he's about to get what he came for. Much more than 10 bucks. 
A portrait of pure joy.
Garrett is drained from his battle. Joe wants in.
I'm here too.
Power lines. It was fun while it lasted.
The Mohomo creek of Quebec, the lower Pontois. Ah, the monotony of meanders.
Done.
Golden Gate du Nord
Perfect parting shot. "Boy" rocked tats and Ecko wear.
