Courageous or Coward?

In Julian Assange’s interview with 60 Minutes (2013), he is referred to as an activist. Activism is defined as “the doctrine or practice of rigorous action or involvements as a means of achieving political or other goal, sometimes by demonstrations, protests, etc.” (Dictionary.com 2014) Referring to Assange as an activist may be the most accurate description of him, as the goal of Wikileaks was to inform citizens of government corruption.

Codeinet 2013

Bertot, Jaeger & Grimes (2010) present the idea that social media is a strong tool when it comes to fighting government corruption, by way of four major strengths: collaboration, participation, empowerment and time. Because of the widespread accessibility of social media, it provides users a venue to collaborate with other users from across the world. This collaboration & participation of users leads to empowerment, by allowing them to voice opinions where they will actually be heard. This can be done almost instantly, creating the perfect tool to overcome government corruption. Wikileaks is an example of a collaborative social media tool used to fight government corruption. Users are promised a degree of anonymity as they share their information.

This anonymity did not cover Bradley Manning, however. Manning was convicted of espionage following his leak of government secrets to Wikileaks (ABC News 2013). This conviction has sparked fear in Julian Assange, as he states in his interview with 60 Minutes (2013), as he fears the same fate will come to him.

We have the tools to create government transparency, but will anyone be willing to stand up and fight now?

References

Bertot, J, Jaeger, P & Grimes, J 2010, ‘Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies’, Government Information Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 264-271.

Codeinet 2013, Julian Assange Asylum Seeker – 60 Minutes Australia, 4 August 2013, viewed 16 January 2014, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES5Qs5ebgb4>.

Dictionary.com, viewed 6th January 2014, <http://dictionary.com>

‘Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years’ jail for Wikileaks data breach’, ABC News Australia, viewed 14 January 2014, <http://abc.net.au/news/2013-08-21/soldier-bradley-manning-sentenced-to-35-years-jail/4903854>.