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Wikileaks: the big question
By Steven | December 12, 2010
In all of the controversy about Wikileaks, one central question seems to remain unresolved: how should we pronounce “Assange”? Is it “an” as in “dance” or “blancmange” or “flange”? [Update: these sites suggest that the first is correct].
The main lesson of the Wikileaks saga for me is that we should be skeptical of government assertions that the revelation of confidential material will lead to the sky falling. We hear it all the time. It was the refrain of the US government during the Pentagon papers saga, the British government during the Spycatcher case, our own government during the Choudhary case. Fear and doom arguments are routinely invoked as reasons for non-release of information under the Official Information Act. As far as I can tell, it’s almost never true. Government is congenitally prone to exaggerate the dangers of information getting out. Often the biggest harm is embarrassment.
Topics: Breach of confidence, General, Official Information Act | Comments Off on Wikileaks: the big question