[[PageOutline]] = Solidarity statements = == The Emperor Wears No Clothes (16 December 2010) == We are writing this statement in support of democracy. Since Sunday, November 28th, !WikiLeaks and five major newspapers from around the world (The Guardian, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Pais) have been publishing redacted versions of leaked US Diplomatic Cables in an ongoing story that has become known as "Cablegate." The identity of the original leaker is - as yet - unconfirmed. This is not the first leak of confidential documentation that exposes governmental lies - and it won't be the last. Secret information has long been used by elites to build and maintain power over huge populations of citizens, workers, armed forces, and others. But when the secrets of the elite are revealed, the power they represent can be confronted and reversed. Nor is this the first time that state (and other) forces of power have acted to prevent dissemination of information on the internet - and it won't be the last. Sites have been removed by their hosting companies, servers seized by police or other governmental authorities, take-down requests issued under the rule of law: none of these prevented information spreading. But the issues run deeper than this. As former US President Thomas Jefferson once stated, "information is the currency of democracy." Democracy - the rule of the people - as currently understood and practiced is, and has long been, severely restricted. '''More:''' [PublicEmperor Full statement and signatories] == Against Data Retention (October 2008) == We want to stop Data Retention of the type that is being imposed on us by the E.U. Directive 2006/24/EC because it is a preemptive surveillance of communication structures: Imagine the postal services kept a record of everyone who sent a mail to you. When. Who. How. Where…. This is exactly what is happening now – with your email, your phone calls and other electronic communications. '''More:''' [PublicAgainstDataRetention Full statement and signatories] ---- [wiki:PublicAbout about] | [wiki:PublicContact contact] | [wiki:PublicDonate donate] | [wiki:PublicServices services] | [wiki:PublicSolidarity solidarity] | [wiki:PublicWhyUseOpenPGP why use OpenPGP?] | [wiki:PublicProcedures Standard Operating Procedures]