In defense of a Leak-y world

IN A series of coordinated attacks, the British, French and U.S. governments last month handed down search warrants and engaged in raids at the homes of dozens of activists who allegedly engaged in Denial of Service (DoS) efforts aimed at defending WikiLeaks from multibillion-dollar corporations such as Amazon.com, MasterCard, PayPal and Visa.

These companies bowed to pressure and refused to continue hosting WikiLeaks or processing payments for it, effectively censoring the site.

In Britain, five citizens aged 15 to 26 were arrested. If convicted they face up to 10 years in prison and an $8,000 fine. In a January 27, 2011, press release, the cyber-group Anonymous called the arrests a "declaration of war" by the British government on the organization and the people.

In France, a 15-year-old was arrested for allegedly building software to bring down MasterCard, PayPal and Visa's Web sites. In the United States, over 40 search warrants were handed down by the FBI in its own ongoing war on dissent. As of January 29, no arrests had been made.

This comes at a time when the U.S. government, led by the FBI, has launched a new wave of repression against antiwar, socialist and international solidarity activists in the form of raids, spying, search warrants, illegal vehicle tracking devices and grand jury subpoenas.

Information on the operations of all three governments--including the victims of the raids and warrants--is still scarce. It may continue to be particularly difficult to come by reliable information since some of the targets are not yet of legal age.

The FBI said that the German and Dutch governments were engaging in similar investigations.

BARACK OBAMA told us in his State of the Union address that the only way to overcome the current economic and social crisis was to "win the future." It is our "sputnik" moment he said; that "[i]n a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work and do business."

My generation has grown up knowing nothing but the world of computers, cell phones, blogs, peer-to-peer services like Napster and protocols like BitTorrent, media-sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr, and social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. The president was right that we are in the midst of a technological revolution--we have been for generations. But he is wrong that this revolution must rely on "competitive" tactics and a rat "race to the top" to be pushed forward. Just the opposite is true.

That is why organizations and technological tools like WikiLeaks--and the cyber-activists who defend it--scare elites so much. Their actions strengthen the free flow of information and the ability of people to expand democracy--two things the ruling class hates.

WikiLeaks, far from being a "neutral" news organization, is decidedly partisan. It comes down on the side of exposing oppression, exploitation, injustice and state terrorism. Groups like Anonymous that defend independent news organizations like WikiLeaks are defending the free flow of information on which these principles are based.

The actions of elites cannot come without consequences for them. Raising the social costs of their actions by reducing their profit margins or power is the only way we can effectively target them.

We must defend individuals who engage in peaceful cyber-activism against multibillion-dollar corporations who are doing everything possible to tighten their grip on an information age that is slipping from away from their fingertips. It is the corporations and governments that are pillaging this world--not peaceful youth at their computers, not Bradley Manning, not WikiLeaks.

These attacks are meant to silence and intimidate social justice activists and oppressed people of all sorts at a time when U.S. imperialism is facing a serious crisis of legitimacy.

That such forms of activism may not be the type we choose to engage in ourselves does not change this fact. The youth who take down corporate Web sites that censor WikiLeaks today may be the youth who were in the streets yesterday--or will be tomorrow. These young people take great risks to ensure that technology and the free flow of information will be available to all. We must defend them on principle.

First published at Diary of a Walking Butterfly.