WikiWhat?

Now, here is an interesting one. When The Guardian first started reporting on these "WikiLeaks", I thought it had something to do with the Wikipeadia (Doh, my ignorance really knows no bounds) ... but when these "leaks" continued to dominate (and stayed in) the news for more than a week, I started to take note. 

Apparently a huge amount of what are supposed to be confidential "cables" (diplomatic exchanges) from the US Embassy (worldwide) had been leaked to this site called WikiLeaks who, in turn, leaked the leaks to various newspapers (inc. The Guardian and The New York Times) -- yeah we are talking about Leaking of a Titanic proportion here ...

Some of which make interesting, even gossipy, reading (The British Royal Family, anyone?) but most are US observations on other countries that had thus far caused huge embarrassment to not only the US Government but the nations cited in these cables. So they include (according to the BBC): US concerns over China's shipment of ballistic missile components from North Korea to Iran (2007); discussions between various countries on whether they would take prisoners released from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility; Beijing's growing frustration with North Korea's behaviour (!); references to Russia as a "virtual mafia state" and - you have to laugh at this one - in 2008, the Moscow embassy described Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as playing Robin to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Batman.

Well, no one exactly knows what sort of damages these leaked cables are causing - a few red faces perhaps - but I hope no one will die as the result (I think this is also a concern among the international community) ... and there is still the debate going on whether these exchanges should be leaked at all. Oh well, they are. But analysts/academics are already saying there really is nothing surprising about these revelations ... they only look "more real" in black and white when printed in the newspapers. 

I'm not sure whether technology comes into all these but I am sure it does, somehow ... now, think of all those email or IM exchanges you have with your work colleagues (bitching) about other colleagues and the bosses ... what if the IT Dept actually keeps them all (chances are they probably do!) Once a colleague IMed another colleague about me ("that self righteous prig" she said) and, yes, she sent it TO me. I thought that was quite funny - I'd done exactly the same thing before - and it's interesting to know what people really think about me ... but a self righteous prig?!?!