Assange deal undermines claims that leaks cause harm
Following one of WikiLeaks’ epic 2010 document dumps, then-Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) struck a tone common in official circles: “This is worse even than a physical attack on Americans, it’s worse than a military attack.”
At a plea hearing last week for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the Northern Mariana Islands, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona addressed the implications of those disclosures and many others: “The government has indicated there is no personal victim here. That tells me the dissemination of this information did not result in any known physical injury.”
Related Knowledge Center: Digital privacy and data security
If you’re online, you’re generating a constant stream of information about yourself — sometimes voluntarily, sometimes unwittingly — that is assembled and used to craft your online experience. And generate wealth for data brokers. Meanwhile, designers and managers of the digital infrastructure on which the world depends are engaged in a never-ending effort to thwart attempts, by both criminal enterprises and state actors, to exploit vulnerabilities in those systems.
Signalgate | State surveillance