Ryan Calo writes, in part:
The leak represents an appalling security breach—one that makes TJX look like a misplaced diary. As I argue in a previous post, the leak threatens a set of classic privacy harms. One of the central roles of privacy is to help preserve the conditions for intimacy. The leak means that leaders will be less candid with U.S. diplomats going forward, who in turn will report back insights only with great caution. No one will take U.S. promises of confidentiality seriously. At the margins, this shattering of intimacy may take certain diplomatic options off the table. All because the government failed to take minimal steps to keep information within its proper context.
The government can—and in my opinion, should—prosecute Manning. Still, the responsibility for this breach lies squarely with the state. The U.S. hired, trained, and supervised Manning, and it built the system that permitted this young adult to undermine global diplomacy with a Lady Gaga CD.
Read his entire commentary on The Center for Internet and Society