Hackers and Freedom of Speech Online

Dear Riva Richmond and Nick Bilton,           

The report about LulzSec, a well known hacking company, shutting down was an interesting article. I do not know much about the issue of hacking government information or the companies that do it, but from what I gathered from the article LulzSec was hacking government sites. Like the article said, the hackers have not gathered any top secret information, but may have picked up little facts that the government might not have necessariliy wanted the public to know. The article goes on to link this information to a site called WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks is a space where people can anonymously share information about corruption and the government. The website is very controversial and has sparked a lot of debates about censorship online to “protect” the government. In my opinion, if information about the government can be found it should be shared among the people who care to search for it on websites like WikiLeaks. I feel that the site is a great example of freedom of speech whether or not the information on the site can be proven true. Like the article said, it is unlikely that the team of hackers is completely disbanded because there will always be people who have the knowledge to hack systems.

Sincerely,
Chelsey Berger