Comic book villains aren’t the only ones who can be two-faced. Actually, politicians could teach them a thing or two.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech about Internet freedom on Tuesday. After Egypt’s revolution, it seemed especially pertinent for her to chide foreign governments about limiting online communication at the risk of debilitating their nations.
Although she had the speech planned for weeks, the ample preparation time didn’t stop her from glossing over her own Internet policy debacle — namely the actions taken with WikiLeaks.
The original transcriber of the classified information committed a criminal act. That much we can agree with Clinton on. We start to see some hypocrisy because she targeted the distributors of said information. While the records were ill-gotten, journalists are legally allowed to publish anything they themselves did not commit a crime to retrieve. Once information is out, holding the messenger responsible is like closing the gate after the horse has bolted.
Some may argue people involved with WikiLeaks are nothing akin to journalists, but it is the same mechanism Clinton says is the key to the future that is broadening that definition day by day.
If the records were handed over to and published online by a “traditional” media outlet — say, a large student newspaper — would Clinton’s actions have seemed warranted? Before she critiqued another nation, she should give her own country’s policies a look.
