WikiLeaks' Technology Groundbreaking?

A recent column over at TechnologyReview.com featured Jason Pontin talking about how WikiLeaks' lasting effects may be different from what many people assume.

Pontin doesn't believe WikiLeaks has a high probability of lasting very long in a world where it exposes powerful governments' secrets, but the new opportunities provided by their "secure drop box" have prompted others to use their methods in increasingly successful ways.

Pontin mentions how other organizations dedicated to leaking information (with less controversial and obstinate stances toward governments) are starting to use the drop box method with success. He believes even mainstream news organizations like Al Jazeera and The New York Times will begin using this method to get a lot more information out there that is relevant.

I would prefer to see more news and information being shared that is not thought up by a cable news network director or paparazzi or to fill up a portion of programming, but rather real news from real places that people wouldn't know about unless it was leaked.

If this drop box method ends up changing a lot of things I can see the job of a journalist in future years being more diverse as he or she seeks out what would be the most important story among thousands of anonymous submissions. That might not be a bad job to have at all.

Photo Credit: Oliver Tacke via Creative Commons