To: funtimesahead[at]lists.riseup.net
From: Hanna De Jong <snow[at]xs4all.nl>
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 20:42:37 +1100
Subject: [WL] Copy of WL letter to Ellsberg.
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Please do not mention that word directly in these discussions; refer instead to 'WL'.
This list is housed at riseup.net, an activist collective in Seattle with an established lawyer
and plenty of backbone.
Dear Mr. Ellsberg.
We have followed with interest and delight your recent statements on
document leaking.
We have come to the conclusion that fomenting a world wide movement of
mass leaking is the most cost effective political intervention
available to us* We believe that injustice is answered by good
governance and for there to be good governance there must be open
governance. Governance by stealth is governance by conspiracy and
fear. Fear, because without it, secrecy does not last for long.
Retired generals and diplomats are vociferous, but those in active
service hold their tune.
Lord Action said, "Everything secret degenerates, even the
administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it
can bear discussion and publicity".
This degeneration comes about because when injustice is concealed,
including plans for future injustice, it cannot be addressed. When
governance is closed, man's eyes become cataracts. When governance is
open, man can see and so act to move the world towards a more just
state; for instance see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Borders which shows a
striking correlation between press freedom and countries known for
their quality of life.
us*: some attributes may have been swapped to protect selected
identities,
no particular order.
1) Retired new york architect and notorious intelligence leak
facilitator
2) Euro cryptographer/programmer
3) Pacific physicist and illustrator
4) A pacific author and economic policy lecturer
5) Euro, Ex-Cambridge mathematician/cryptographer/programmer
6) Euro businessman and security specialist/activist
7) Author of software than runs 40% of the world's websites.
8) US pure mathematician with criminal law background
9) An infamous US ex-hacker
10) Pacific cryptographer/physicist and activist
11) US/euro cryptographer and activist/programmer
12) Pacific programmer
13) Pacific architect / foreign policy wonk
New technology and cryptographic ideas permit us to not only encourage
document leaking, but to facilitate it directly on a mass scale. We
intend to place a new star in the political firmament of man.
We are building an uncensorizable branch of Wikipedia for leaked
documents and the civic institutions & social perceptions necessary to
defend and promote it.
We have received over 1 million documents from
13 countries, despite not having publicly launched yet!
We have approached you now for two reasons.
Firstly, we have crossed over from `prospective' to `projective'. The
basic technology has been prototyped and we have a view as how we must
proceed politically and legally. We need to move and inspire people,
gain volunteers, funding, further set up the necessary political-legal
defenses and deploy. Since you have thought about leaking more than
anyone we know, we would like you on board. We'd like your advice and
we'd like you to form part of our political armor. The more armor we
have, particularly in the form of men and women sanctified by age,
history and class, the more we can act like brazen young men and get
away with it.
Secondly, we would like to award "The Ellsburg Prize for Courageous
Action" and "The Ellsburg Prize for Courageous Action (USA)", for the
two leaks submitted in the past year which most assist humanity. The
regionalization of the second prize is to encourage patrons of similar
awards in other countries. Although it is premature to go into detail,
we have designed a scheme were this can be meaningfully awarded to
anonymous leakers. We have been pledged substantial initial funding.
Please tell us your thoughts. If you are happy, we will add you to our
internal mailinglist, contacts, etc.
Solidarity!
WL.