Event Title

“It’s Not Easy To Do a WikiLeaks”: A Cypherpunk Approach to Global Media Ethics

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PURPOSE: This project studies the moral philosophy of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to determine the extent to which WikiLeaks is informed by a conception of global media ethics. SUBJECTS: The study draws on extensive written and spoken primary sources authored by Assange, using textual analysis to interpret his writings and interviews. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study draws upon Clifford Christians’ theory of communication ethics to provide a model for how a theorist might organize their global media ethics. ANALYSES: Using the categories from Christians’ ethics, the study organizes the ethical reflections found in the disparate writings of Assange into four categories: basic ethical presuppositions, critiques of nationalism, critiques of professional journalism, and analyses of communication technologies. RESULTS: The study finds that Assange offers a well-developed theory of global media ethics, which includes the assertion of basic moral axioms alongside the application of those axioms to political, professional, and technological issues in communication ethics. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that WikiLeaks is best understood as being informed by cypherpunk ethics, a form of global media ethics that posits justice as its basic principle and that uses cryptography to pursue privacy for the weak and transparency for the powerful.

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Apr 1st, 12:00 AM

“It’s Not Easy To Do a WikiLeaks”: A Cypherpunk Approach to Global Media Ethics

PURPOSE: This project studies the moral philosophy of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to determine the extent to which WikiLeaks is informed by a conception of global media ethics. SUBJECTS: The study draws on extensive written and spoken primary sources authored by Assange, using textual analysis to interpret his writings and interviews. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study draws upon Clifford Christians’ theory of communication ethics to provide a model for how a theorist might organize their global media ethics. ANALYSES: Using the categories from Christians’ ethics, the study organizes the ethical reflections found in the disparate writings of Assange into four categories: basic ethical presuppositions, critiques of nationalism, critiques of professional journalism, and analyses of communication technologies. RESULTS: The study finds that Assange offers a well-developed theory of global media ethics, which includes the assertion of basic moral axioms alongside the application of those axioms to political, professional, and technological issues in communication ethics. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that WikiLeaks is best understood as being informed by cypherpunk ethics, a form of global media ethics that posits justice as its basic principle and that uses cryptography to pursue privacy for the weak and transparency for the powerful.