Julian Assange and Richard Stallman a few days ago

Summary: In the age when information is a virtual weapon, a war on FOIA requests or forced transparency (e.g. leaks of policy) takes centre stage

There is a war on dissent going on and also collusion among nations and their security services that are secretive and sometimes bypass the law (hence the need for secrecy). Those who are in power (plutocrats and those who represent them) run political systems that are not perfect and there are inherent flaws and sources and friction within them. They know this.

A noteworthy observation is increasingly being made and that observation depends on those with knowledge of how to keep and control information to better counter those in power, potentially to offer alternatives, which of course frightens the status quo. In a way, those who know how to encrypt and generally dodge surveillance are well-equipped in challenging power amidst an information war, where state propaganda for instance struggles against hearsay or independent thinking. The biggest threat to plutocrats is information. Remember: a plutocrat's first line of defence is public ignorance. ⬆