All Information Allowed|维基大解密

All Information Allowed

by William Ryan

Over the past few years, WikiLeaks has made headlines for uncovering major stories.

　　WikiLeaks is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and controversial political phenomena to come along in a long time. The international non-profit organization uses its website to publish secret information, often in the form of highly classified documents and video footage, while refusing to reveal the sources of these leaks. WikiLeaks' stated purpose is to bring important and undisclosed information to the public, which provides transparency and enables debate. Many WikiLeaks documents have become front page news following their releases. For example, in 2010, the organization released more than 250,000 leaked diplomatic cables between the US Department of State and its missions around the world, a story that made headlines everywhere. In fact, WikiLeaks claims it has created the largest searchable collection of US diplomatic documents. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the accuracy of WikiLeaks accounts is generally not disputed.

　　While the public face of WikiLeaks is Australian Julian Assange, the organization's true origins sound like something out of a James Bond movie. The initial site was reportedly set up by Chinese dissidents in angry response to the sentencing of Shi Tao, a journalist that had just been handed a 10-year prison term for publishing an email about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Other founders included cryptographers, mathematicians, and, perhaps ironically, a former US intelligence analyst. Despite the similarities in the name, WikiLeaks is not connected to Wikipedia.

　　With the amount of controversy it causes, it should come as no surprise that WikiLeaks has enormous legal problems. Many lawyers are working tirelessly to shut down the WikiLeaks website permanently. While the transparency of governments and corporations is considered essential to democracy, many believe that certain government and corporate activities should never be made public and a level of secrecy must be maintained to protect security. In contrast, WikiLeaks believes that no information should be censored and thus tries its best to reveal the world's secrets.

 

维基大解密

过去几年来，维基解密以揭露重大真相而攻占了新闻版面。

　　维基解密无疑是长久以来发生过最有趣也最受争议的政治现象之一。这个国际性的非营利组织利用其网站来出版一些秘密的信息，这些信息通常是以高度机密的文件和影片来呈现，但却拒绝透露泄密的来源。维基解密宣称其目的就是要将一些重要而未被揭露的信息公诸于世，这提供了信息的透明化，同时却也可能引发争论。许多维基解密的文件在公布后都成了新闻的首页。举例来说，2010 年该组织发表了二十五万多封美国国务院和该国在世界各地的大使馆间往来的泄密外交电文，这个真相在世界各地都登上了新闻版面。事实上，维基解密宣称他们已经建立了收藏量最广，且可供搜寻的美国外交文件。此外，值得一提的是，维基解密报导的真实性大体而言是无庸置疑的。

　　尽管维基解密的发言人是澳洲人朱利安．阿桑奇，但该组织真正的起源听起来象是来自○○七电影。根据报导，该组织开始是由一群中国异议份子所创立，目的是为了对师涛被判刑做出愤怒的回应，师涛是一名新闻记者，他因发布一封有关 1989 年天安门大屠杀的电子邮件而遭判刑十年。该组织其他的创立者包括了译解密码人员及数学家，或许很讽刺的还有前美国情报分析家。尽管维基解密的名称和维基百科很相似，但两者并没有关联。

　　随着维基解密导致的争议不断，该组织有很大的合法性问题应该就不令人惊讶了。许多律师不眠不休地工作，为的就是要让维基解密永远关闭。虽然政府和公司的透明化对民主而言是必要的，但有许多人认为政府和公司的某些活动永远不应该公诸于世，而且应该保持一定程度的秘密来保障安全。相反的，维基解密认为没有任何信息应该被检查，因此他们将会尽力去揭发这个世界的秘密。