I have often found Larry Lessig a bit hard to swallow, but this is surely a principled stand he made when two Clinton staffers said mean things about him in an email leaked by Wikileaks:
I’m a big believer in leaks for the public interest. That’s why I support Snowden, and why I believe the President should pardon him. But I can’t for the life of me see the public good in a leak like this — at least one that reveals no crime or violation of any important public policy.
We all deserve privacy. The burdens of public service are insane enough without the perpetual threat that every thought shared with a friend becomes Twitter fodder.
Neera has only ever served in the public (and public interest) sector. Her work has always and only been devoted to advancing her vision of the public good. It is not right that she should bear the burden of this sort of breach.
Oh, and for the record? I wish I’d never donated a dime to Wikileaks.
The agenda of Wikileaks and Assange is a little foggy of late as they seem intent on sliming everyone they can and making sure no one has any illusions about privacy in communication. However, they have done enormous good. Your donations in the past were well earned. I certainly have no regrets about mine, or about avoiding Amazon and Paypal whenever possible.
Don’t care about Wikileaks agenda. I do care about the constant self-aggrandizing sensation seeking ‘journalists’ who care more about ‘oh, look someone said something mean about someone else’ over ‘oh shit, this is shocking abuse of power.’