WikiLeaks Strikes Again

By Daniel Diggins

Staff Reporter

WikiLeaks, a self-proclaimed multi-national media organization, has recently released a new set of leaked confidential documents that belong to the United States.

WikiLeaks.org stated that it begins its new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named Vault 7, it will be the largest publication of confidential documents on the agency.

According to the press release on WikiLeaks.org, this leak contains 8,761 documents that originally belonged to the Center for Cyber Intelligence of the CIA located in Langley, Virginia.

“It blows my mind that people are able to obtain highly classified government documents, you’d think that the government would have extremely high security for those type of things,” said senior Sean Flanagan.

The source of these leaks is something that remains confidential to the WikiLeaks organization, although there is plenty of speculation from various national security experts.

Deb Riechmann states that some experts believe foreign countries are behind the leaks, while others believe the leaks are caused internally.

The Vault 7 leak exposed documents concerning the CIA’s ability to spy. It exposed information about cellphones, computers, laptops, various electronic items and their abilities to act as spying tools for the CIA.

Some students think that the government should be able to monitor us for our safety.

“I really hope the government isn’t watching every move I make, that would be very concerning,” said sophomore Shane O’Toole. “I understand when the government may need to spy as a safety precaution, I just really hope they aren’t abusing their power.”

The CIA is not confirming the documents as authentic. They also generally believe that their founder, Julian Assange, is trying to aim his efforts towards damaging the United States Intelligence agencies and their reputations.

Assange stated in the article that WikiLeaks has released the files so that the public could talk about issues that need to be discussed immediately. The source is intending to cause public debate concerning the issue.

“I want to know the truth about this, the idea that they could know everything I have done is unbelievable,” said senior Jill Lopez. “It is an extreme violation of privacy if they are spying on us through our devices.”

The United States’ regulations on spying became weaker after 2001.

Agencies have been able to spy on who they are targeting with limited laws protecting the individuals. These laws became weaker due to increased safety measures.

“I have nothing to hide from the government, so if they want to spy on me they’re wasting their own time. I assume they use those types of spying tools in more efficient manners,” said sophomore Don Briggs. “I hope that we are given the truth at some point soon, it’s hard to know what to believe these days.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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