2011-06-12 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

All the times are EST. You can contact me at kgosztola@hotmail.com with any news tips. Twitter username is @kgosztola. Also, if you are looking for some insightful discussion of stories related to WikiLeaks, I encourage you to check out the catalog of podcasts posted here at WL Central from the "This Week in WikiLeaks" show I produce every week.

11:15 PM Details for June 15 protest action against "anti-whistleblower grand jury investigation." The protest will explicitly support the subpoenaed who will be risking "being held in contempt and jailed for the duration of the trial should they refuse to cooperate with the grand jury."

11:00 PM Greek Ta Nea covers some of the cables from Athens, Greece that WikiLeaks posted on its website on Saturday, June 11. This article covers US pressure over Russian tanks.

10:55 PM Reminder: 40th anniversary of Pentagon Papers tomorrow. Finally, to be de-classified tomorrow.

10:50 PM Don Hazen at Alternet emphasizes the importance of covering WikiLeaks in post that urges readers to contribute and support Alternet. Hazen writes, "The attack on WikiLeaks is a profound assault on our basic freedoms, including freedom of the press. We must be relentless and fight back against tyranny, against scapegoating people like Bradley Manning, and against protecting liars and cheaters. Corruption is what happens if there is no sunshine, when information is controlled. Secrecy breeds arrogance and abuse of power. The best government is an open government, with a tough independent media to hold them accountable."

9:00 PM CNN's "WikiWars" airs. I expect to post a review that deconstructs the documentary tomorrow, just like I did following the PBS Frontline documentary, "WikiSecrets."

4:40 PM Anonymous claims cyber attack on Spanish police in retaliation for after police arrest three individuals suspected of being part of Anonymous

4:30 PM Techdirt posts their most funny/insightful comment of the week. It comes from Rich Ficus, who argues the courts have "perverted" American government and society's understanding of freedom of the press. Using WikiLeaks to make the argument, Ficus writes:

...The discussion about whether Wikileaks should be considered "the press" is entirely ridiculous. The press, as referenced in the US Constitution, isn't limited to 20th century media organizations. In fact, if we limit it to that definition we also have to conclude that there was no press when the Constitution was written. Since it's specifically referenced in the 1st Amendment we can safely say that's incorrect.

The same definition of the press which would exclude Wikileaks from 1st Amendment protection would likewise exclude Benjamin Franklin. His publications had more in common with blogs and issue advocacy websites than modern newspapers. That, in and of itself, tells me it's a faulty definition. What freedom of the press is supposed to mean is freedom of publication. It refers not to a privileged group of people and organizations, but literally to a printing press, which was synonymous with publication when the US Constitution was written...

2:00 PM Scott Horton on the collapse of the Obama Administration's case against NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake

12:30 PM More important to have an open Internet or a fast an cheap one? SingularityHub with this article on the UN declaring Internet access a human right.

10:30 AM International Monetary Fund (IMF) the target of a cyber attack. The Sydney Morning Herald reports. The IMF calls what happened an "incident of intrusion" into their IT system. The IMF has been overseeing financial rescue programs so the question after the reported attack is if "sensitive negotiations" with countries like Greece over such programs.

10:20 AM Melbourne, Australia event - "Does WikiLeaks Matter?"- on June 13 featuring Rob Manne, Guy Rundle, Eleanor Townsley and Peter Vale. The event will consider, like many recent panel events, "the impact of Wikileaks along with the implications of Wikileaks for access to information, security, and innovation."

10:15 AM NDTV on released cable US cable showing India informed the visiting US ambassador to Pakistan about ISI-LeT connections as early as 2005.

10:10 AM Brazil's agenda in the UN Security Council and how the country will "stop at nothing" to gain more visibility and power. (Al Jazeera English)

10:00 AM Greg Mitchell, who was given screener of CNN's "WikiWars" documentary that airs tonight to preview/review, with this post on what he calls an "odd amalgam" that like PBS Frontline's documentary is "fatally unbalanced."