Well, Julian Assange makes me nervous, mostly because I've never seen or read an interview with him where he doesn't come off like an all knowing, egotistical anarchist bent on re-shaping the world into one giant fishbowl where no one can hide anything from anyone else.
If George Orwell were writing today he might have coined the term WikiBrother rather than Big Brother.
http://www.britethorn.com
Julian Assange is, after all, a Hacker -- a profession (or obsession) with an overwhelmingly negative image on the world stage. When Chinese hackers, supported by their government, hack into the databases of Western businesses and governments their activities are reviled. They steal for economic and political profit and are therefore almost universally condemned by governments, businesses and individuals.
So what is the difference between Assange and the Chinese government? Does the fact that he obtains his secrets with the willing cooperation of leakers make his publication of that information more moral or ethical than the shadowy methods of the Chinese? Put it another way, if you steal from someone is the act made moral by giving the loot to a stranger in need? Certainly Robin Hood would argue that it was in his own, nuanced tale. But in the case of WikiLeaks I never get the feeling that anyone in the organization ever agonizes about the consequences of their leaks.
WikiLeaks is a strange beast by anyone's definition. Its been called a News Gathering Organization, but unlike Reuters or CNN or the New York Times, WikiLiks doesn't seem to be bothered by something as pesky as journalistic ethics or standards. In many ways Julian Assange is a skewered, real world version of some dark comic book super hero who's put himself above and outside the law, and its too early to tell weather he'll morph into "Batman: The Dark Knight" or Spiderman's most recent incarnation on Broadway.
Part of me is rooting for him, but another part is just creeped out (which is where my video comes in.)