[Air-L] Wikileaks- possible without the internet?

[Monica Murero]

In our community of Internet Researchers it makes sense that academics  
and scholars are interested in WikiLeaks from an interdisciplinary  
perspective. Regardless our personal view about the controversial  
phenomenon of publishing secret documents, and its implications, the  
event raises a question: would this have been possible without the  
internet?

WikiLeaks gathers, verifies, releases information to the general  
public via the internet. The "cables" released to the public  come  
from the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or SIPRNet, the  
worldwide US military internet system. Millions of people as we speak  
read the cables on the web, share them via social media all over the  
world, read blogs, twitt about it, upload vlogs on uTube, join  
WikiLeaks groups on Facebook  at an unprecedented rapid diffusion  
rate , and without any possibility of control or arrest. Even the next  
super-secret tranche of documents is ready to be released from a  
popular online file sharing service:

http://www.torrentz.com/76a36f1d11c72eb5663eeb4cf31e351321efa3a3

I think this case is already internet history and it will be studied  
in future textbooks.

Anyone interested in collaborating on a WikiLeaks interdisciplinary  
panel submission to the Seattle conference?


Monica

--------------------------
Monica Murero , Ph.D.
AoIR Exec, 2003-2009; AoIR Treasurer, 2005-2009
AoIR Lifetime Member

Director E-Life International Institute
Associate Professor in Politics of e-Government
and in Sociology of New Technology
University Federico II, Italy
Consultant, World Health Organization
LinkedIN: http://it.linkedin.com/pub/monica-murero-ph-d/16/52/606
Twitter: monica_murero
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