Do Wikileaks and Radiagate spell the end of privacy as we know it? Or did they just usher in a brave, new world of hyper-transparency? Is WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange a hero or a villain? Are you smiling or hiding as contents of a certain Ms Radia’s telephone conversations tumble out bit by explosive bit? Whatever be one’s views on these questions, one thing is crystal clear. Like it or not, the age of leaks is here.
In the world that looms ahead, “superempowered individuals who can expose conversations far beyond their borders — or create posses of ‘cyber hactivists’ who can melt down the computers of people they don’t like — are a reality”, as Thomas L. Friedman noted in a recent column in the New York Times. Governments and corporations typically crave secrecy and will double their efforts to safeguard their secrets. But in today’s globalised, internetworked world, when increasing numbers of people can access the most powerful tool ever for finding out what’s really going on and inform others at the flick of their fingers, such determination will be matched, and often surpassed, by the zeal of those bent upon ferreting out that privileged information.
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