Job prospects harmed for Columbia students who discuss wikileaks

1357913579 Death Cog Machine
edited September 2011 in Spurious Generalities
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/05/columbia-students-wikileaks-cables
Columbia University's library. The university's careers service office has cautioned students against distributing the WikiLeaks cables on social media sites. Photograph: Lee Snider/Photo Images/Corbis

The US government's panic over the WikiLeaks revelations is extending to American campuses, with Columbia University warning students they risk future job prospects if they download any of the material.

The university's Office of Careers Services's cautionary note drew criticism from observers, who expressed alarm that the liberal bastions of academe in the US would be complicit in restrictions on access to the documents.

Disclosure of the warning came in the wake of a government ban on employees, estimated at more than two-and-a-half million people, using work computers and other communication devices to look at diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. The federal government advised employees that, though freely available on newspaper websites as well as WikiLeaks, they officially remain classified.

WikiLeaks dominated the Sunday morning talk shows, with views ranging from fears about what is still to come to calls for the Obama administration to adopt a more muscular approach.

Much of the debate centres on the need to restrict the number of people with access to classified material while avoiding a return to pre-9/11 when the number of people with such access was much more restricted.

Columbia University confirmed to the Associated Press that the Office of Career Services had emailed students at the university's school of international and public affairs, a recruiting ground for the state department.

The office said it had received advice from an alumnus who "recommends that you do not post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government."

The state department insisted no such advice had been sent out formally. Its spokesman, PJ Crowley, in an email to the Huffington Post, which had posted the Columbia University warning on its site, wrote: "This is not true. We have instructed state department employees not to access the WikiLeaks site and download posted documents using an unclassified network since these documents are still classified."

The US social security administration has joined the list of federal departments warning its employees not to browse WikiLeaks. It says in a circular: "Despite these documents being publicly accessible over the internet, the documents remain classified and SSA employees should not access, download, or transmit them. Individuals may be subject to applicable federal criminal statutes for unlawful access to or transmission of classified information."

The US government is really freaking out about this...vaguely threatening members of the military, censoring wikileaks, pressuring amazon and paypal to cut all ties with wikileaks...

Good thing they seem to have found a good host. I suggest everybody download their "Insurance" files to a safe place and get ready. This is going to be an interesting few months.

Comments

  • MayberryMayberry Regular
    edited December 2010
    lol the terrorists are winning
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited December 2010
    Mayberry wrote: »
    lol the terrorists are winning
    lol! :D
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited December 2010
    Already have the insurance file:thumbsup: I thought we were supposedly the land of the free?? This has the government scared and its great. Finally some of the corruption is coming to light.
  • 1357913579 Death Cog Machine
    edited December 2010
    Mayberry wrote: »
    lol the terrorists are winning

    Sure seems that way...although, I think it's time everybody takes a step back and rethinks who the real terrorists are, and stop using 'Terrorism' as a buzz word.

    Here's an example:

    ____________________________________________
    Part of the definition of domestic terrorism in the patriot act is
    “The term `domestic terrorism’ means . . . activities that appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.”

    You may read the pertinent passage by going to the text of the Patriot Act here and searching for "Sec. 802".

    This is interesting because, by our own governments definition, they could be considered domestic terrorists. See Does TSA Behavior Fall under Definition of Terrorism?
    ____________________________________________


    Part of the founding principals of our <American> Government is free speech, yet we have people such as Stephen Harper's former campaign manager, Tom Flanagan openly calling for the assassination of Julian Assange. Since when is it acceptable practice to publicly advocate the assassination of an individual who is merely the messenger?

    If wikileaks was targeting china, they would be hailed in the US as freedom fighters. But now that they're targeting the secrets of the American government and exposing embarrassing (and potentially damaging) secrets, we completely change the meaning of what we believe in and what we were founded on.

    Everybody seems to have forgotten the French philosopher, Voltaire:

    "I do not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

    Our government should at least have the spine to stay true to its founding principals.

    Lastly, there are many definitions of terrorism. Although, seeing as the base word is Terror, and looking at a few accepted definitions, we can conclude that "Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion." is a acceptable definition (Tell me if you disagree).

    Personally, it is our government that terrifies me. Not guys making bombs in the middle east.
  • 1357913579 Death Cog Machine
    edited December 2010
    Already have the insurance file:thumbsup: I thought we were supposedly the land of the free?? This has the government scared and its great. Finally some of the corruption is coming to light.

    They must be hiding something big, take a look at this:

    Bank Of America Sets Up Swat Team To Combat Wikileaks

    They wouldn't be this scared unless some serious shit was about to go down.

    Shows how stupid they really are, this could have all been passed off as fake or inaccurate information, but it's too late for that, their reaction alone tells a lot about the validity of the leaks.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited December 2010
    13579 wrote: »

    If wikileaks was targeting china, they would be hailed in the US as freedom fighters. But now that they're targeting the secrets of the American government and exposing embarrassing (and potentially damaging) secrets, we completely change the meaning of what we believe in and what we were founded on.

    If wikileaks could get access to Chinas information, they would put up.
    wikileaks isn't just a thorn in the US governments ass, it's a thorn in the ass of every government world wide. They'd all like to close it down except for the Swiss who are the only country willing to host it. (Thank gawd for the "PirateBay"):thumbsup:
  • 1357913579 Death Cog Machine
    edited December 2010
    bornkiller wrote: »
    If wikileaks could get access to Chinas information, they would put up.
    wikileaks isn't just a thorn in the US governments ass, it's a thorn in the ass of every government world wide. They'd all like to close it down except for the Swiss who are the only country willing to host it. (Thank gawd for the "PirateBay"):thumbsup:

    Switzerland keeps sounding better and better...makes me want to go there someday.
  • edited September 2011
    As George Carlin put it, 'it's called the American dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it'.
  • TheWitchDoctorTheWitchDoctor Regular
    edited September 2011
    What are the "insurance" files?
  • edited September 2011
    What are the "insurance" files?

    They were files which were released when the Wikileaks dude (I forgot his name) was arrested and shit. They were encrypted, containing a LOT of cables and the key was going to be released so that everyone could torrent the file and read the cables, spreading knowledge.

    Or something like that, anyway.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited September 2011
    trx100 wrote: »
    They were files which were released when the Wikileaks dude (I forgot his name) was arrested and shit. They were encrypted, containing a LOT of cables and the key was going to be released so that everyone could torrent the file and read the cables, spreading knowledge.
    Or something like that, anyway.
    OK! Hands up who downloaded the zip.......Hold them hands up high so the fbi can get a good number count. ... PcGf1.jpg
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