Case study 1 Flashcards
Who is Julian Assange?
Born 1971, Founder of Wikileaks, Leaking source, publisher, hacker, newspaper syndicate, PR agent, manipulator, agent provocateur, negotiator, cyber-terrorist, freedom fighter, hero, villain, moral crusader, narcissist, autistic, dictatorial, withdrawn, witty, charming, geek, deluded
“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the west today. The western world has lost its civic courage… Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites
Who is Chelsea Bradley Manning?
Born: 1987
US army intelligence analyst
Sentenced to 35 years in prison
Seen as a national security threat / “terrorist”
State Department: Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) database (global funnel for top secret dispatches)
Pentagon and State Department: Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRN) (tool of sharing info)
Speculation on motivations:
- idealist / transparency / frustrated by inaction during scandals
- revenge / social isolation / seeking attention
Who is Hilary Clinton?
Former US Secretary of State
Pre-WikiLeaks January 2010 speech: semi-underground digital publishing = “a new nervous system for our planet”; beginning to champion transparency and challenge the autocratic, corrupt old order of the world
Post-WikiLeaks November 2010 speech: “not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests. It is an attack on the international community”.
Who is Nick Davis?
Investigative reporter (NotW, Flat Earth News) Established collaboration with Assange
Who is David Leigh?
Investigations editor, The Guardian
Led handling of WikiLeaks cables
Who is Luke Harding?
Moscow correspondent / investigative reporter, The Guardian
Who is Vaughan Smith?
Founder of the Frontline Club
Investigative video journalist, former army officer, right-wing libertarian, restaurant owner, sustainable farmer
Gave refuge to Julian Assange in 2010 at Ellingham Hall in Suffolk
Despite his conservative/establishment background, he supported Assange because he felt that UK media > dominated by PR and press releases
Why was there an Estonian Cyberwar?
Their infrastructure was under attack probs by Russia because they relocated a Russian red army statue
cost 19-28 million euros
When did the Chinese government hack US govt sites?
June 2007
When did Wiki leaks post their first doc?
December 2006
What are the key high quality publications linked with wikileaks?
The guardian, The new york times, El Pais, Le Monde- they provided wikileaks with legitmacy, audience and made it simple for the public to understand
What was the role of the “old” media in gatekeeping and making sense of wikileaks?
Step 1: build a search engine
Step 2: Analysis by foreign correspondents and foreign affairs experts
Step 3: Redaction process so as to avoid compromising active national secuirty/ intelligence operations or putting sources in danger
What is the Cablgate?
The largest unauthorised release of contemporary classified information in history
-a Cable is the confidential text message exchanged between a diplomatic mission
e cables contain diplomatic analysis from world leaders, and the diplomats’ assessment of host countries and their officials.
What is the Wikileaks- The secret life of a superpower
There was panic in the US, it threatened the basics of US diplomacy
28th of november- private opinions, conversations were exposed
-Bradley Manning was key the exposer she had access to a world of secrets
-Cables were released about the extent of Ben Ali (tunisia) level of corruption,
-The tunisian cables showed the contrast between the ordinary peoples lifestyle and one of their rulers
-It was the fact that America knew about this that led to the revolution in Tunisia
-After the tunisian protests it led to the Arab spring bc of harsh criticism of US and British military
What did the cables show about the US?
Showed the real tension in US diplomacy, it showed the very damaging relationship with other countries
