Standard Mischief

Besides the fact that the whistle-blowing site WikLeaks is being mirrored all over the place, it looks like a splinter group called OpenLeaks may be tooling up as another “…strong, transparent platform to support whistleblowers…”

(Incidentally, that’s a far better name. WikiLeaks isn’t exactly a collection of web pages anyone can edit.)

While there’s considerable BS being flung around, no one seems to be able to articulate exactly why the WikiLeaks organization is substantially different than say the New York Times exposing the Pentagon Papers, or Bernstein, Woodward, and the WaPo exposing to the Watergate scandal. I can, however, plainly see why there are those that would want to plug such leaks through any means possible.

Also, I can’t be the only person a little spooked by the government’s ability to shutdown a particular website by pressuring hosting providers or DNS providers without due process.

Mine.

I’ll admit it, I had to look the word up. In my defense, it’s been virtually unknown during my entire lifetime.

Jeez, first there’s talk of actual layoffs of federal, state, and local government employees for reasons other than corruption, and now this?

The word? “Austerity“