Waffling On Full Disclosure: Lawrence Lessig, Steven Levy

[Steve Kinney]

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On 10/24/2016 12:12 PM, grarpamp wrote:
> https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/10/22/0417250/should-journalists-ign
ore-some-leaked-emails
>
> 
http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/151983995587/on-the-wikileak-ed-emails-bet
ween-tanden-and
> https://backchannel.com/when-is-it-ok-to-mine-hacked-emails-1f20811229
15
>
>  Tuesday Lawrence Lessig issued a comment about a leaked email
> which showed complaints about his smugness from a Clinton campaign
> staffer: "I'm a big believer in leaks for the public interest...
> But I can't for the life of me see the public good in a leak like
> this..." Now mirandakatz shares an article by tech journalist
> Steven Levy arguing that instead, "The press is mining the dirty
> work of Russian hackers for gossipy inside-beltway accounts." This
> is perfectly legal. As long as journalists don't do the stealing
> themselves, they are solidly allowed to publish what thieves
> expose, especially if, as in this case, the contents are available
> to all... [But] is the exploitation of stolen personal emails a
> moral act? By diving into this corpus to expose anything unseemly
> or embarrassing, reporters may be, however unwillingly,
> participating in a scheme by a foreign power to mess with our
> election...
> 
> As a 'good' journalist, I know that I'm supposed to cheer on the 
> availability of information... But it's difficult to argue that
> these discoveries were unearthed by reporters for the sake of
> public good... He's sympathetic to the idea that minutiae from
> campaigns lets journalists "examine the failings of 'business as
> usual'," but "it would be so much nicer if some disgruntled
> colleague of Podesta's was providing information to reporters,
> rather than Vladimir Putin using them as stooges to undermine our
> democracy." He ultimately asks, "is it moral to amplify anything
> that's already exposed on the internet, even if the exposers are
> lawbreakers with an agenda?"

1)  Shoot the messenger.

2)  Question the motives of the reporter.

3)  Misrepresent and mock the reports.

Do we need a whole 'nother list for media criticism a.k.a. propaganda
studies?

:o/

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