| Since the US is the most powerful nation, of course it will be the target of some of the politically motivated leaks. With respect to Vault 7, once the secrecy of the tools was compromised they already had zero value to the US arsenal. In fact, I would not be surprised if the US Government leaked Vault 7 itself, to prevent the thief from being able to use them effectively. Consider the value of the Vault 7 tools if they were known only by a small group of hackers with a halfway decent budget. They'd be worth many billions of dollars. But once leaked, their value decreases substantially, since the zero days can be patched and the exploits mitigated. Any state actor who stole Vault 7 would have no interest in releasing it to Wikileaks. Even Russia would benefit more by knowing about it and leveraging that knowledge than by leaking it in its entirety. Also don't forget about the government hoarding zero days which put American firms at risk. Per your last point, let's not worry too much about Assange's personality or character. The important thing to focus on is the leaked information, not the messenger. |
The post I was responding to was saying they wished Assange were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Don't you think somebody's personality and character is relevant to that?