Saturday, December 4, 2010

WikiLeaks Article In Post Glosses Over Censorship Concerns?

The Washington Post unsurprisingly limited its coverage of claims that government leak site Wikileaks was being targeted by the U.s. Government to one quote in its three page article on problems besieging the site, since that publication often acts as the bullhorn of official Washington (especially during the run-up to wars, such as when they re-published with little criticism the WMD claims in Iraq).

Although the U.S. government, embarassed by round after round of leaked documents provided by Wikileaks, is the most likely suspect behind several denial-of-service attacks, the author of this Post article laughably stated:

WikiLeaks has been brought down numerous times this week by what appear to be denial-of-service attacks. In a typical such attack, remote computers commandeered by rogue programs bombard a website with so many data packets that it becomes overwhelmed and unavailable to visitors. Pinpointing the culprits is difficult. The attacks are relatively easy to mount and can be performed by amateurs.


Well, sure, a lone hacker *could* perform a denial-of-service attack, but the U.S. government has the most reason to perform these acts. Why no U.S. official was even asked about whether the attacks were government-sponsored is a basic indicator of how much the "fourth estate" has merely morphed into the lapdog of the establishment. At this point, corporate media will not even ask incendiary questions and print the predictable (and often later proved false) denial.

2 comments:

Danielle Scruggs said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Danielle Scruggs said...

It's been both fascinating and disheartening to see the effects of these thousands of leaked documents. On the one hand, a lot of stories are coming into the light that probably wouldn't have otherwise. Por ejemplo: Shell oil company's corruption in Nigeria: http://www.liberatormagazine.com/community/showthread.php?tid=970.

On the other hand...I don't want to make light of sexual assault and the victim blaming that inevitably happens when charges like these are brought up. However, the timing of the charges against Assange is suspicious to say the least. And his arrest in Sweden might make it easier to extradite him to the U.S. and other countries.

Although, I'm not sure what he would be charged with even if he was brought to the U.S. Otherwise, wouldn't everyone involved in the Pentagon Papers case have been arrested?