Daniel Domscheit-Berg Quotes
You can’t run this like a zoo where everyone can go and watch.
Wikileaks obtained hundreds of thousands of classified, secret State Department Cables. Assange opened up everything to public view including material that made little or no difference in policies and affected nothing but named and exposed people whose lives could be in danger as a result of the revelations. He left Wikileaks over his differences with Assange.
Daniel Domscheit-Berg, German Technology Activist, Deputy Administrator of and Spokesperson of Wikileaks, Advice to Wikileaks Director, Julian Assange, 2010, Quoted in Andy Greenberg, This Machine Kills SecretsHow Wikileakers, Cyberpunks and Hacktivists, Aim to Free the World’s Information, 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
At the time Holland was a republic and a confederation of different states. There was an assembly of delegations from each of the States but most important decisions tended to be made by the Prince and a few of the representatives in his sway. Mathenesse was the delegate of the largest and wealthiest state but even others in his state delegation were out of the loop. Others claimed that the necessity of secrecy was just a pretext for a small group to dominate the republic. See {620069}. This battle goes on in almost every country including the United States where there are many matters in which only a few members of Congress and the President make decisions with national security given as the reason. In many cases there has been such a reason, but it is very easily corrupted into a pretext as only the people on the inside who get to make the decision know what the secret material was.
Privacy was a much more important value then and for Smith and most contemporaries there should be NO compromising records kept at all. Keeping records secret was itself an unacceptable compromise.
Trust is undermined in 2 ways. Allies and others who speak or negotiation with the government in confidence, lose trust in the government to maintain the appropriate level of confidentiality and security over information. And second, citizens lost trust in the government because they have been secretive and kept information from the citizenry that usually is just embarrassing or being kept secret to avoid opposition. Worst is when the leak shows that the Government has been lying to the public. Where there are what the public regards as legitimate secrets, public trust is not diminished, but those instances are not typical.
The issue was still not decided by the beginning of the 21st Century except that a certain amount of public disclosure was required if the company raised funds by selling stock to the public, but there were some giant corporations that were private and exercised huge power and influence and yet whose operations were secret.
He was a veteran reporter who had worked with many different administrations.
Daniel Domscheit-Berg (né Berg; born 1978), previously known under the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt, is a German technology activist. He is best known as the author of Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website (2011).
