The guy behind the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, recently tweeted a link to my blog post about how some believed the US government was trying to make the case that Wikileaks was a part of a “cyberwar” because it helped further the agenda of certain government officials and defense contractors to use FUD about “cyberwar” to give the government more technological snooping powers and make those contractors tons of money supplying the tools. Of course, this is ridiculous. Wikileaks is no “cyberwar.”

But Ellsberg’s quote on the matter sums it up so eloquently, that we thought it was worthwhile to repeat here:

If @wikileaks is a “cyberwar,” then what were the Pentagon Papers, a wood pulp war?

Indeed. Wikileaks is no more a cyberwar issue than the Pentagon Papers was a wood pulp war. The infatuation with adding “cyber” to the front of things just to pretend it’s somehow “different” is really misleading.



Update: As was pointed out in the comments, I am a moron with this particular story. Ellsberg was apparently quoting my own original statement asking if the Pentagon Papers were a wood pulp war. I honestly did not remember writing those words (as you my know, I write an awful lot…). But it explains why the words resonated. Though, of course, now that makes me look egotistical. Point taken: this post shows I’m an egotistical moron. I still like the quote though.

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