Huwebes, Setyembre 1, 2011

Balancing the Conflicting Goods of Secretiveness and Transparency

Can we as ordinary citizens create our own version of Wikileaks.org and report therein the anomalies of the State and the major corporations?

As defined by Wikipedia, WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organization that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Whether or not it is good or bad for civil society is still an unanswered question. Some have praised the site as a sign of free speech. Others have criticized it as a threat to national security and with its allies. Those who have assailed WikiLeaks also say that because the site has either directly published names of informants or other identifying information, it has endangered the lives of people around the world who are fighting terrorism.[1]
WikiLeaks has also become a dividing and controversial issue also among civil rights organizations. Many organizations agree on the undeniable value that WikiLeaks has had by indicating violations of human rights and civil liberties. According to Glenn Greenwald, lawyer and civil rights activist, the amount of corruption which WikiLeaks has exposed is unique in history and there is no other organization that comes close to WikiLeaks regarding exposures of misuse of power[2]
Hence, we ask the question: Can we as ordinary citizens create our own version of Wikileaks.org and report therein the anomalies of the State and the major corporations?
Considering, that the there is a very low level of bureaucratic commitment to openness and if we base it on the fair rules and justified functionality of democracy and civil society it- the answer seems to be in the affirmative. If secrecy of administrative documents is used to cover government misbehavior, especially inhuman conditions and killing of people, there must be legal grounds to overcome formal borders of secrecy. It is a justified way to protect democratic society and citizen against secret arbitrary government power[3]. As provided by Section 7 of the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution reads: “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to limitations as may be provided by law.” Further, Article II (Declaration of Principles and State Policies), Section 28 also states: “Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law, the State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.”

However; I think the rights we enjoy are not natural but derive ultimately from the laws of a properly constituted state, and I am wary of attacks upon its institutions. I believe that states and corporations enjoy privacy rights like individuals and that any human system requires secrecy for its effective management. Neither innovations, nor art, nor contracts, nor representative government, nor marriages, nor anything valuable at all would exist without secrets. I believe there are exceptions to what information we may report therein. First, if the revelation of the information will create a clear and present danger of war, invasion or any external threat to the State; Second, The information pertains to the foreign affairs of the Republic of the Philippines, when its revelation would unduly weaken the negotiating position of the government in an ongoing bilateral or multilateral negotiation or seriously jeopardize the diplomatic relations of the Philippines with one or more states with which it intends to keep friendly relations; Third, when the information pertains to internal and external defense and law enforcement, when the revelation thereof would render a legitimate military operation ineffective, unduly compromise the prevention, detection or suppression of a criminal activity, or endanger the life or physical safety of confidential or protected sources or witnesses, law enforcement and military personnel or their immediate families.[4]

Secrets breed like weeds, and all over the world they have grown to occlude everything that is done by those who govern us or sell us things; technology has made it easier for states and corporations to keep such secrets; and a corrective toward transparency is long overdue[5]. Like equality and freedom, we must balance the conflicting goods of secretiveness and transparency.


[1]http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/29/what-is-wikileaks-2/
[2] Is WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange a Hero? Glenn Greenwald Debates Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News / Democracy Now (Video & transcript), 3.12.2010
[3] What is the effect of WikiLeaks for Freedom of Information?
by Päivikki Karhula

[4] http://www.minimalgovernment.net/media/atin_20090714.pdf
[5] http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/pontin/26314/

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