re: #5 researchok

There will be far fewer brave souls willing to come forward, knowing they and their families might be put at risk.

As a result, fewer people and anti government groups will be able to rely on us for help- and that will just prolong the life of these oppressive regimes.

And for the record, I do not consider the ‘news organizations’ of these regimes as legitimate or as equal to our own and western journalists. They are the merely propaganda machines of these regimes.

There might be fewer people coming forward if they fear they are getting exposed by coming foward. The key point that is too seldomly critically talked about is a technological aspect that is at core: the anonimity. WikiLeaks promises that, at least to the leakers themselves. But it does not matter if WikiLeaks promises it. It could be anybody. The technology to provide for that is as reproducable and easily disseminated as the information that is leaked. In simple terms: It got leaked because it got harvested prior to that. I don’t think this will change much. For those coordinating the data collection, it is still going to be more convenient than going Amish, even if they fail to keep the data secret every once in a while.