NB - I tried to email this directly but Yahoo mail blocked the email because of quote 'sensitive material', so got around it by creating a blog and sending you the link. So our own emails are now being blocked to stop us sharing this information!
Dear All
I hate sending political emails because, it's a bit self-righteous isn't it?! However I got annoyed enough to compose this one.
Wikileaks (http://www.wikileaks.ch/) have leaked a number of cables recently, some trivial, some serious; including orders from Hillary Clinton to spy on chiefs at the UN. If you think these leaks are a bad thing then delete this now. If you think that the leaks are a great way to force governments in all states to behave more ethically and with greater transparency, and to allow us as tax-payers and citizens to know about how our respective nations are being run; then carry on!
Many tactics have been used to suppress these leaks, with embarrased governments saying they are a threat to security (read some and make your own mind up), a warrant for the arrest of the head of wikileaks, and finally hackers have been trying to bring down the site to block the freedom of information.
Wikileaks resorted to legally using Amazon.com servers after their servers were hacked. Amazon decided that they had a right to decide that we shouldn't see this information, and purposefully crashed the website by removing this server support. Meaning that for a long period the website could not be accessed. What society are we in when a large corporation is deciding what we as adults can see on the internet?
The message is simple, I suggest that we:
1. Do not purchase from Amazon again. Or as a compromise, we do not do any(more) festive shopping on there
2. Send this email on to as many friends as possible.
I would not tell you what to do, just please consider it. This movement to show Amazon that ethics and transparency are more important than their profits is a crucial way for us to voice our disapproval.
I have copied the Chief Executive of Amazon.com here, you can do the same if you decide to send this on.
By the way, whenever Wikileaks gets taken down, this address should still work, you don't need the 'www.': http://213.251.145.96/
Thanks very much.
James
