Will these leaks sink the ship of internet freedom?

During the run-up to the 2010 General Election, candidates from the three main political parties took part in a panel discussion at Blackburn Cathedral on the subject "Can we trust politicians?". During the debate, I asked a question about the Digital Economy Act, a new, controversial piece of legislation that includes provisions to allow the UK government to instruct Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to websites that facilitate copyright infringement. I warned Jack Straw after the meeting that sites like Wikileaks were essential to democracy and should be protected from this legislation. Jack had never heard of Wikileaks, despite the site being involved in the leak of procedural documents from Guantanamo Bay, an issue that Straw dealt with during his time as Foreign Secretary. I'm sure that changed today.

The 400,000 documents released today by Wikileaks is the biggest and most important military intelligence leak in history, not because of the revelations it contains, but simply because it was leaked at all. Over the coming weeks, volunteers all across the world will disseminate this information and news reports will be published daily containing new stories raised from the data.

This creates a severe headache for the powers that be; because of the massive and sudden growth in communication technology, the internet has grown into a massive, unstructured mess of servers and cables acting across international boundaries and jurisdictions; the only way governments can control access to this data is by forcing ISPs to block certain sites, as in the case of the Digital Economy Act and China's well documented national firewall. Methods like these, when the ISPs agree to enforce them, prevent, to a degree, information coming into the PCs of users. Controlling what information leaves the country is presently impossible to regulate. Many feel that governments have left it too late to control the core flow of information around the internet. This latest leak may scare the US into doing something about it.

The trend towards the open dissemination of military intelligence through leaks, freedom of information legislation and freely available satellite imagery may not be a bad thing. In July 2010, Wikileaks released a similar set of documents relating to the Afghan war, to widespread criticism that these leaks could lead to reprisals and put people in danger. The timing of the release of the Iraq War Diary was critical; almost three months have passed since the Afghan publication and even the Pentagon admit no harm was done. Wikileaks' argument that the Iraq diary won't harm anyone but could potentially save lives by bringing those responsible to account is compelling.

This wake up call to governments should also serve as a call to arms for internet users; never before has it been so important to protect the free flow of information across the web. Donate to Wikileaks or read more about digital rights at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.