Micah L Sifry wrote a book called “WikiLeaks and the Age of Transparency,” that has received a lot of attention as of late. Sifry wrote this book to inform people about the necessity of digital transparency in the constantly changing digital world. His focus was on how technology is influencing government, and the way legislation is being carried out because of this. It has become virtually impossible to hide anymore, with everything being recorded and archived. Wikileaks, a team of journalists who investigate and expose controversial subjects in society and government, have dedicated their lives to push for totally transparency in all party of society. Their goal is to reach an age where all aspects of government are of file for public view. While most believe this is a noble ambition, but an unattainable one. Expecting complete government transparency is seen as unrealistic.

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has stated that his goal with the enterprise is to keep governments and authoritative figures honest. The days of having enough power to sweep scandal under the rug are perceived to be over. I personally don’t see this age of transparency to be unrealistic. Twitter and Facebook are used by billions of people who are constantly sharing information worldwide on a second to second basis. Information spreads through there forums like wildfire, making it virtually impossible to keep information under wraps. Even in countries like China and Egypt we have seen and uproar in online knowledge profiling the injustices of their nation’s governments.

While I whole-heartedly believe that transparency is essential for a nation to trust their government, at the same time I believe that some things need to be kept under wraps. Military strategy, and foreign policy are two big things that don’t need to be brought into the public light until they have been safely executed. While freedom of speech is part of what makes our nation so great, sometimes the public should be kept in the dark. There will never come a day where the government is completely transparent, but I certainly hope a day comes when scandal is brought to the surface immediately.

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/micah-sifry/wikileaks-assange-micah-sifry_b_820671.html