“I love WikiLeaks.” Donald Trump, verbatim quote.
“How do you like me now, Donnie? I just stole and made public some of the intel community”s deepest, most protected secrets. If I can do this to them I can do it to anyone. Expect more.”
The recent WikiLeaks data dump, regardless of its specifics, proves one thing: No one, not the government, not corporations and not individuals can protect themselves from determined hackers and leakers.
Among other things, the data proves that the NSA has the ability to turn everyday objects, from cell phones to TVs into clandestine listening devices. Think twice before you buy Alexa or her lady friends, they may be selling you out. And think of your heavily digitally controlled car. If they can listen, perhaps they can control. Or the New York Stock Exchange. Or Goldman Sacks. Or your local electric company.
That’s bad enough, but consider: this is non-political. Bernie Sanders and Alex Jones are just as vulnerable as you are. So is Trump himself. So is Barrack Obama.
And the tools that the NSA uses to do this are now out there for all to see. No doubt the actual code will follow.
Anything from treaty negotiations, to military commands, to Trump taking a shit may be listened in on.
How does that make you feel about your medical data or financial information? Uneasy? It should. Feel helpless? You are.
Worse, this is a huge embarrassment or the intel community, already under attack by the Trump administration. The CIA/NSA does not like to be embarrassed. They certainly feel under siege. At some point, they will seek revenge on those they think their enemies. Woe betide whomever is on that list.
And I don’t mean Julian Assange. Even if he is assassinated or thrown in some secret black prison, this will continue. He is only the most visible head of what might be described as a deep, international, decentralized non-organization. Cutting off the head will not kill the beast.
For some time now, we have lived with decreasing personal privacy. The government and corporations have created an algorithmic surveillance state that finally has turned against them. Now, all that’s left of privacy is incidental, they just haven’t gotten around to looking at you yet.
Personally, I love this. It is a portent. The gyre is widening. Things are falling a part. Good. Let chaos reign. Let the blood dimmed tide be loosed. The people of this country and its government need to feel real pain. We will be hit where it hurts. It’s about time.
And so, I find myself, for once, in agreement with The Donald. I, too, love Wikileaks. I love hackers everywhere. They are the last soldiers of transparency, fighting the last war against centralization and control. Here’s looking at you, kids.
