How do you think the government should respond to Wikileaks?

Make transparency in politics a reality. After all, many claim to support “openness”. Though from their behavior, it’s just a blatant lie. Why should you wait 100 years to find out what is happening today? Furthermore, this can lead to a better representation of the people – which is what the “democratic system” is supposed to do. Not that we have democracies anywhere.

I think they should scour the laws to see what, if anything, would allow them to stop publication and what they could charge Assange with.

If the law has not yet caught up to technology, I think they should look to reform it.

Personally, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect the government to simply lie down and say WikiLeaks kicked their butts and they made a big mistake. WikiLeaks can teach them to work towards greater transparency in the long term, but for now, they have to strike out against WikiLeaks in some way. I think they do have to take some form of legal recourse – the question is, how?

@xxii why do they? What is the end purpose of that in any case? Just to save face? I fail to understand the necessity of this “ought”.

Assange has been charged by Sweden with rape and molestation. Until he is cleared of the charges, I won’t patronize anything he does.

Make transparency real. If the government’s actions (that are exposed) are just, there should be a reasonable explanation, rather than a lie or attempt to cover anything up.

Citizens of the USA want their government to prevail, and if our government truly had our best intentions at heart, we’d probably be willing to be forgiving of alot, if it’s for the sake of success. So the fact that the US government wants to hide things from us makes me believe that the minority (the government in this instance) does not have our interests in mind when considering their actions.

To quote Mike Tyson: Be Real.

They should release more info and clarify things… you should get your info from the gov and not outside sources…. like driving drug dealers out of business by legalizing drugs

@WestRiverrat actually he hasn’t been charged, but that’s a nice attempt at mud slinging.
“Mr Assange has not been charged and denies the allegations”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11898323

Warrant means he should show up to be investigated, but the grounds are not really released. So you can’t really go out and say—oh yeah he did it, or didn’t. So far it’s just mud.

I agree with @phoebusg

I can picture why someone would want to falsely accuse Assange. I can not, however, see why Assange would commit such a crime if he wants his efforts to be successful and believed by many. He seems too committed to this project to f*** it up by raping a person.

@phoebusg – It will be entirely stupid of them to just sit there and do nothing. The government has been completely embarrassed in front of its citizens and its diplomatic partners, so yes, of course there is some face-saving motive involved.

They cannot NOT act against WikiLeaks in some way or another. That would be OK-ing the leaks, and any future leaks, which could compromise national security. Just because the documents so far haven’t produced anything significantly damaging doesn’t mean the hundreds of thousands of other documents WikiLeaks is sitting on won’t.

I’m not saying this is the right thing to do. I am saying it is the realistic thing to expect. The government can’t completely abstain from action. They have to do something.

@xxii what’s entirely stupid is to act immaturely because of the embarrassment. I see it as a good thing, regain humility and focus on what’s important. Informing and representing people.

Oh I see where you’re coming from now. No, hiding what a government does, how it behaves in foreign and domestic policy is what costs a lot more lives now and in the future. Two quick examples, the decision to go to war in Afghanistan, and Iraq.

I can’t wait until they release the info they have on banks, and a certain large company (which I believe remains nameless at this point)

And I wonder if GW feels more justified in the release that mentioned the fact that Iraq actually did have WMD which they relocated to Syria when our inspectors went there. . .

The government cannot do anything about WikiLeaks, or rather, it cannot do anything about the information and the means to disseminate large quantities of information quickly and efficiently.

WL might be taken down, but if it is, it will be for the wrong reasons – it is a representation of the 4th estate. That should not be forgotten. The Guardian newspaper in the UK had the dossier from WL before it was made public, and quite deliberately shared the informaiton with the NY Times in order to make sure that the information got out. If they hadn’t done it, another site would have.

Taking action against Assange is similar to shutting down a newspaper because it publishes leaked information. The problem is the leak as far as government is concerned, not the publisher.

It’s amazing how many people are making an argument against the freedom of the press in this regard, either through not considering the consequences of what they say, or through a totalitarian impulse based on embarrassment. I hope we would all agree that making decisions based on embarrassment is not likely to lead to a positive outcome.

The government should discuss with the American people the content of these leaks, as the rest of the world seems to be doing. The lock down of real information in the United States (witness the pressure on Amazon) is meant to continue to keep Americans in the dark .. and preferably, shopping.

As much as I love information being shared I think this can open up a can of worms or lies and mis information being told as well about other government relationships to cause strain between the US and other countries. There is no way of verifying facts leaked on line. It will open possibilities to terrorist acts as well. I think leaking secrets of your goverment should me met with the same gusto as a traitor who leaks secrets as well. All those in Wiki leaks who allow it to happen should be prosecuted as well.
We don’t only need to protect our borders but our information as well.
And for all those who think we should share all our secrets, let me remind you that there isn’t a government in place in the world who tells it all. Some just pretend better than others.

The best thing the gov could do is drink a big glass of Shut the Hell Up!

The government should stop classifying and hiding silly information, and other information, which should not be classified or hidden.

At that point, it will have the moral high ground to complain about Wikileaks, which it does not currently have.