In recent years traditional media sources have experienced a wave of collateral damage from a revived and vicious new social media stemming from the younger generation. The media are now facing a new type of game where rules don't exist. Since the evolution of social media there has been an unprecedented and historic transition in which news is uncovered and presented to the world. Traditional forms of media such as the newspaper and television are being out played by anonymous and independent "hackers" who are capable of accessing highly confidential documents and uploading them for the world to view. This new phenomena that the world is experiencing is a trend called "Social Media" where the internet has become a huge playing ground for information to be shared with the world in a matter of seconds by going viral. As the internet has become a highly efficient entity in distributing information globally, this in return creates a breeding ground for highly skilled individuals to hack information and publish it virtually with no hesitation as to the possible consequences that could entail. This new wave of transparency has introduced players such as Julian Assange who is the creator of a website called Wikileaks. Wikileaks participates in exposing confidential and classified information from various sources and sharing them on their website. Wikileaks was created in 2006 and within one year controlled 1.2 million secretive documents. As Assange acting as the figure head, the organization is composed of Chinese dissidents, mathematicians, journalists, and various startup companies. In November of 2010 Wikileaks released U.S. State department diplomatic cables, and other leaks involving the U.S. government and other regimes. Acco... ... middle of paper ... .... Society is seeing a transition into a highly connected world where everything is online. Just because Wikileaks has managed to progress with the times and mange to hold information shouldn't make them lose their rights of freedom of speech. According to CNN, "Lawyers for the U.S. government could argue that Wikileaks and Assange have jeopardized national security and make their case." (CNN) Although Wikileaks and Assange may harm national security with the information they post, the first amendment protects all forms of speech no matter how serious. Wikileaks is merely trying to tell the world about various events and political agendas that would be hidden by our government and mainstream media. The future of Wikileaks looks promising and many are opportunistic that Assange will prevail and continue to shock the world by exposing us to the real world we live in.
Julian Assange’s website, WikiLeaks made global headlines in the last few years. Assange started out by leaking documents he had acquired over the internet about banks in various European countries. Chelsea Manning, Army Private at the time stationed in Iraq joined up with Assange and delivered to him thousands of classified documents that Manning, a military intelligence analyst had access to. Manning was in contact with a former hacker named Adrian Lamo who he asked advice of, advice whether or not he should leak the documents. Manning going against Lamo’s advice of not leaking the documents caused Manning to be arrested after Lamo turned him in for the leak. This was a major blow for Wikileaks who had just lost their major source of confidential documents from the United States government. Since 9/11, the United States Government has realized that information needs to be shared among intelligence agencies in order to thwart terrorist attacks. A side effect however is that information is no longer on a need-to-know basis which made it possible for Manning to leak it all out. After receiving this confidential information, Assange began to make this information available to media outlets. Assange’s actions were morally and ethically incorrect. He should not have leaked so many classified documents especially without redacting the names of informants whose lives could have been in danger. These documents leaked by Manning to Assange were meant strictly for the eyes and ears of those who were privileged to the information, not for the front page of the New York Times. WikiLeaks and Julian Assange threatened global security as they willingly and knowingly put lives of thousands at risk by allowing the bad guys an opportunity to a...
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a former United States military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation, instigated a national political controversy when he released the top-secret Pentagon Papers to The New York Times (Bean, 2014). These papers exposed presidential deception about the Vietnam War by revealing that the U.S. had secretly enlarged the scale (Bean, 2014). In 2010, Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, a U.S. army soldier leaked the largest set of classified documents in history to WikiLeaks (Bean, 2014). The information consisted of substantial archive of confidential government documents and the U.S. government has revealed that it was in the hands of Osama bin Laden (Bean, 2014). Even with the amount of information disclosed by these so called ‘whistleblowers,’ no official investigations into alleged war crimes or government misconduct has been issued (Bean, 2014). Both Ellsberg and Manning however, were charged with the Espionage Act of delivering factual information to American citizens. Ellsberg claimed, “The public is lied to every day by the president, by his spokespeople, by his officers. If you can't handle the thought that the president lies to the public for all kinds of reasons, you couldn't stay at that government at that level, where you're made aware of it, a week.” (Kreisler, personal communication, 1998). The privacy and civil rights abuses along with fear of...
Recently in global news, the name Edward Snowden has became quite popular as he snatched millions of people’s attention along with breaking news headlines. Snowden released numerous documents via internet that were private to the NSA; these leaks revealed the dirty work the NSA and government have ...
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
Mattie Hernandez Ms. Poth Eng. IV. 1 5/5/14 The Media's Influence on Girls is Detrimental to their Health
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the extent of the N.S.A breaches of American privacy and in doing so, became ostracized by the media and barred from freely reentering America, his home country.
Modern scholars have in the recent decades engaged in the controversial debate on the actual classification of the group Anonymous. Some scholars classify the group as trolls while other associates it with hackers groups. As defined, hackers are individuals or groups that search and exploit the computer system weakness (Messmer 65). In most instances, hackers engage in discouraging and unappealing activities for multiple reasons including challenging the existing systems, protesting against the prevailing rules and regulations, and for profit making. On the other hand, trolls are groups of individuals who engage in the process of sowing discord on the internet through instigating arguments that aim at upsetting community members and leaders (Keith 11). Trolls are also popular for posting off-topic, extraneous, and inflammatory information on the internet. Although hackers and trolls are the main actors in the current threatening cyber crimes, the two groups have varying reasons for abusing the existing technology. Moreover, despite the existence of detailed and intensive strategies to address the two groups of crime, the actors have been outshining the global policy implementers and formulators in numerous occasions (Messmer 65). However, based on the available evidence, the Anonymous group is more of a hacker group than a troll group.
The mainstream thought, between the governments of the United States and other world leaders is that WikiLeaks is a terrible website for divulging state secrets and threatening national security. Even China, on the opposite side of international arguments from the United States tries to block the website. If two countries in a fight for global influence both hate a website then it is by far against the mainstream. Anonymous being a friend of the WikiLeaks is the counter-culture for being an ally for what many people view as a threatening website. WikiLeaks believes it was acting as the moral authority.
...of rights and freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. “ (section 1 of the canadian charter of rights and freedom) wikileaks does not measure the risks of its publication and the effects they can cause people. legislation laws and regulation are created so that society is protected and to have a better sense of accountability. When everything is exposed to the public, chaos is bound to follow. Wikileaks jeopardizes and openly defies the right of privacy, right of accountability and confidentiality among descrete information and data and also causes inconvenience to governments, private sectors and even individuals in various walks of life. after all acts of hacking into something private is inappropriate, dangerous and illegal.
It is reasonable to argue that, governmental institutions or people with authority are subject to withhold a great deal of information from society. Many may argue that secrets are kept to ensure the safety of the nation. Thus, upholding the governmental duty of protecting the nation against possible threats. On the other hand, many believe that secrets may exist which violate our constitutional rights. Over the last year, Edward Snowden, has made headline news for leaking sensitive governmental information to the press. Edward Snowden is a 29-year-old high school drop-out, who was a tech specialist for the National Security Association. Snowden had discovered and later exposed the NSA for monitoring the nations e-mails, phone calls, and internet searches. As the allegations spread like wild fire, Edward Snowden sought asylum in Russia for one year. Snowden had a valid and justifiable reason to expose the NSA to the world because they were in violation of our fourth Amendment rights to unreasonable searches and seizures. The government called him a traitor, while others viewed him as a hero for exposing the government. Edward Snowden is a whistle blower because he felt that it is up to society to decide if governmental practices are just or unjust. Snowden does “express the highest respect for the law”, and he wanted to protect the right of privacy for American citizens.
The term “cyber terrorism” refers to the use of the Internet as a medium in which an attack can be launched such as hacking into electrical grids, security systems, and vital information networks. Over the past four decades, cyber terrorists have been using the Internet as an advanced communication tool in which to quickly spread and organize their members and resources. For instance, by using the instantaneous spread of information provided by the Internet, several terrorist’s groups have been able to quickly share information, coordinate attacks, spread propaganda, raise funds, and find new recruits for their cause. Instantaneous and unpredictable, the technological advantages these terrorists have obtained from using the Internet includes
One of the biggest reasons that SOPA should be stopped is because it is directly against the first amendment. For example, Wikipedia would be able to write articles on a site such as The Pirate Bay or Kick A** Torrents, but if they were to include the link to the sites, they could get into trouble with government for supplying their readers with the links to sites that support online file sharing. This would go against freedom of speech. “As the fracas over the proposed federal anti-privacy legislation known as SOPA heats up this week, the open-source encyclopedia website, Wikipedia, says it will shut down for 24 hours, beginning midnight Tuesday to protest what the website warns is a threat to free speech(Wikipedia blackout- Why even supporters question anti-SOPA move). Many people were upset about the blackout, but clearly got the message. The bill’s opponents, wh...
Everyone watches the news but does that mean we have to trust them? The media is known for giving us verified information that is usually observed and /or proven. Most people get their information about current events from the news media because it would be impossible to gather all the news themselves. Television news is extremely important in the United States because more people get their news from television broadcasts than from any other source. Print media is the oldest form of media but is very significant. It is known for just reporting more than any other source of media. Radio news was the best ways to broadcast news before the television but, people still listen to the radio every day. “If errors regularly occur in a publication, its reputation suffers in threaten the very existence of publication,” said journalist Maximilian Schafer. Nobody wants to read false publication when they deserve the truth. There are several types of media but false news would still get out to the society by one of these Medias. There have situations where the news told the public false information and got away with it.
"People are more influenced by mass media than they think. What evidence is there to support this statement?"
Mass media and social media are technology all around us. They are ways of a mass communication that reach a limitless amount of people. Media has changed the way the world thinks. Mass media refers to TV, magazines, newspapers, pictures and Radio. Social media refers to any kind of internet logging like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google, amongst others. Mass and social media surround us and tell us what we should be or should do. This can lead to constructive behaviors or it can lead to the destruction of lives caused by how the media relays these messages. Ultimately leaving the diversity of people falling victim to mass and social media. Not one person can make that sole decision. Consequently, changing how people think. Consequentially, changing the way the public looks at presidential candidates.