What Would It Take For You To Be Okay With WikiLeaks?

Comment on: WikiLeaks: Fruit of an unhealthy tree

Correction: WikiLeaks has not dumped 250,000 diplomatic cables on the web. Only about one half of 1% of the total, with care to avoid bad consequences for innocent people.

Let's turn some of those arguments on their heads:

1. If there were very few or zero harsh consequences for innocent people (e.g., informers helping American officials) would WikiLeaks be okay with you?

2. If diplomatic cables security were to be raised to a higher level they have) such that no new ones will see the light of day, would WikiLeaks be okay with you?

2a. Do you really believe that only very bad behavior in a cable justifies their release?

2b. Do you really believe that WikiLeaks has enabled total transparency of human life, public and private, and that your private conversations are no longer private?

2c. Do you really believe that your government has the right to mislead you in the formulation of foreign policy? Not the execution of foreign policy (military secrets, etc.) but in the formulation of foreign policy?

3. Other nations have their own intelligence agencies who are likely right up-to-speed with new cables, and it's primarily the public that is in the dark. Are you okay with that?

4. Many of the cables reflect well on American diplomats and American diplomacy. If WikiLeaks were sufficiently secure in its existence and the anonymity of its sources that Russian, Chinese and Iranian sources began leaking documents to WikiLeaks. Would WikiLeaks be okay then?

What would it take?