Do we want the government pushing for censorship of what Internet media publish?
Do we want the government bullying banks, Internet service providers and social media?
Do we want politicians calling peaceful critics of the government terrorists?
…That is what the US government is doing to WikiLeaks.
Here are some lowlights of the crackdown:
- Senator Joe Lieberman pressures Amazon to drop WikiLeaks from its servers.
- Government officials, including Vice President Biden, claim WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization.
- The State Department pressures companies like PayPal to stop processing payments to WikiLeaks.
- The Justice Department pressures social media companies like Twitter to provide private information about associates of WikiLeaks.
- The military holds Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks leaker, in abusive pre-trial solitary confinement for almost a year.
Whatever you think of WikiLeaks, this crackdown threatens fundamental rights.
Secretary of State Clinton has compared Internet freedom to FDR’s Four Freedoms, but the administration’s response to WikiLeaks has to make you question its commitment.