Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
marginalrevolution.com
Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
1–10 of 72 posts
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#2Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#3That comparison makes no sense to me. There's a world of difference between blowing the whistle and subverting due process.
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
My first thought as well.
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
This is one of the least appropriate use of Betteridge's Law of Headlines.
The article starts with 'yes' and waters it down to 'maybe' and a real discussion could be had about whether or not the ends justifies the means, especially when it comes to criminal acts revealing dubious but legal acts.
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#6> probably did nothing illegal, but rather they were trying to minimize their tax burden through (mostly) legal
Mostly legal and nothing illegal are contradicting.
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#7The difference between sharing information about ordinary people charged with crimes and about the rich and powerful, is that the rich and powerful people are rich and powerful. These are people who exert power over the rest of society and therefore their business dealings - especially shady, quasi-legal or outright illegal business dealings - are in the public interest.
The fact some random person has been charged with a DUI is not comparable with the fact the Icelandic prime minister engaged in questionable business practices and possibly a conflict of interest, especially from the perspective of Iceland's citizens.
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#8I like how his comparison implies that of course everyone exposed by the Panama papers is already under criminal investigation.
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#9> probably did nothing illegal, but rather they were trying to minimize their tax burden through (mostly) legal Mostly legal and nothing illegal are contradicting.
"The internet is used for (mostly) legal purposes"
Re: Was it wrong to hack and leak the Panama Papers?
#10Slowly but surely, I'm coming to the position that "hacking and leaking" is never "wrong". It's a form of speech, and I'm a free speech absolutist. Let's stipulate that some things are illegal and not "wrong", just as others are legal and "wrong".
It's not clear to me, however, that this case actually is a hack, in the sense that whoever released this material might have had legitimate access to it as a part of doing business. In that case this is certainly an unethical failure to uphold terms of contract. Who's going to enforce that contract, however? Certainly not IRS or any other USA agency.
[EDIT:] In case it's not clear, I don't think that society in general is ethically limited by any "poison tree" doctrine in situations like this. Once this information is public, however it came to be so, we are free to use it as we see fit.