We Steal Secrets: The Wikileaks Story

This week's movie "We Steal Secrets: The Wikileaks Documentary" was definitely hard to review without significant bias. Wikileaks is a nonprofit organization which seeks to expose unethical behavior in government. Whether this exposure is ethical in itself is for others to judge. Both supporters and opposers of the wikileaks organization can however agree that in the world’s current state; information is key.

In the film, differing opinions were provided from Julian Assange (Wikileaks Founder) and Robert Gates (U.S Secretary of Defense) over a controversial Afghan war shooting. Assange made the video available to the public of the United States Air Force firing upon helpless reporters and Afghans. In reality, this accident was resolved between the government and the news agency afflicted, but seeing the video stirred public action. In reality, this information was public but video of the event was classified.

This shows the importance of information and how it can affect one’s opinion on what actually happened. The Wikileaks documentary did just what the organization tried to do in their advertising, it colored the idea of wikileaks in a good light. Essentially presenting the establishment as a whistle-blowing firm rather than a place where many have betrayed their country. Take Edward Snowden, a previous intelligence operative in the CIA and NSA. Snowden revealed that the NSA had been intercepting messages over telephone and internet to a newspaper called the government. These actions were highly illegal, but the way Snowden presented the information is what has him seeking asylum in Russia in an undisclosed location.
Watching the documentary gave me insight to the concept of “whistle-blowing” and led me to question it’s very nature. Is the idea of snitching on one’s government ethical? Is it even practical? Is marketing classified information the right thing to be doing? Are the wikileaks really as harmful as the American Government wants me to believe?

These are all questions that were brought into my mind upon watching the film. While the entertainment value of the film was arguably low, I would say that the documentary was eyeopening and informational leading me to rate it a 7 out of 10.