What will happen as a result of the WikiLeaks Cablegate? A tighter, more ruthless clampdown on information, with more serious consequences for the leakers. Imagine for example, if Julian Assange were a Chinese citizen (or worked for Apple). We would not be hearing again from him for a long, long time -- possibly ever.

I'll bet you right now the next session of Congress will introduce legislation that criminalizes what WikiLeaks has just done -- not just for government secrets, but corporate as well. I bet we also see more calls for technological ways to de-anonymize the Net, making it easier to track down people who post this kind of information. Instead of more transparency, we'll all be living behind the Great Firewall.

It's a shame, because overall I think WikiLeaks has done more good than evil over the last four years. I also don't think the U.S. government should or bully tactics to take down sites it doesn't like; that's a dangerous precedent.

But Assange surrendered the moral high ground a long time ago when that could put people in harm's way. At some point Assange stopped being a journalist and become an exhibitionist. While I agree in principle with the existence of a site like WikiLeaks, I can't agree with its practices.

What will happen as a result of Cablegate? E-mail me: .