I think we are witnessing the death of the US as a country that supports freedom. Despite their flaws, Wikileaks and Anonymous represent freedom and are each good tests of just how free we are--they are abrasive, not particularly pleasant, and they act against those in power, yes, but it's easy to give someone freedom of speech if you agree with what they're saying. The true test of how highly we value free speech comes when we have to defend the right of one we DISAGREE with.
Wikileaks is an organization that many people disagree with. But disagreement does not mean you should use force to close them down. People can condemn them all they want, and try to convince other people why they are bad and should not be trusted. I disagree with anti-abortion activists, Lyndon LaRouche people, and with Neonazis, but I still think all of these groups have the right to gather, speak their minds, and express themselves in accordance with the First Amendment.
But the forceful, authoritarian way the US government has come down on Wikileaks shows just how little they care about our freedom. And the cooperation they got from big corporations shows just how little difference there is between government and big business interests.
And the heat Anonymous is likely to take from their raids on the Paypal site is ridiculous. If they catch anybody they are probably going to try to treat them as terrorists (because that's what they do with anyone who opposes them). But the way I see it, those DDOS attacks were like an internet equivalent of a sit-in--protest by interference. Civil Rights activists in the 50's and 60's went into white-only restaurants (which was a violation of the law at the time) and got in the way of normal service. They forced people to acknowledge them by interfering with their normal daily lives. How is what Anonymous did to Paypal any different?
Now, I won't condone the theft and posting of peoples' credit card numbers (which Anonymous did with Mastercard)--that is private information. What a lot of people don't understand in regards to Anonymous and Wikileaks is that there is a difference between Private information and Public information. People try to drum up fear about Wikileaks by saying things like "you wouldn't want your private, embarrassing secrets posted on the internet--that's what Wikileaks does! So, look the other way while we crush them!" But Wikileaks isn't really posting private information (at least not very much, and the private info that has gone up is not what is generating the craziness). Government information--even the most highly classified, secret information--is public information. It is owned by the tax payer/voters. The government is not a person. Publishing its secrets is NOT like publishing a person's social security number or bizarre sexual behavior. There is a categorical difference between government information--which belongs to the voters and should only be kept from us for the most important of reasons--and the personal information of private citizens.
The US government needs to be reminded that it serves us, the taxpayer/voters. It exists solely to help us and protect us, and exists solely at our convenience. The power it wields is not its own--it belongs to the people. The government simply wields it on our behalf. It's job is to protect our freedoms, whether that is our freedom from dying at the hands of a foreign power or whether it is our freedom to express unpopular ideas. It is wrong to think of the government as an entity independent of the people--it is ours! Wikileaks and Anonymous--regardless of their faults and regardless of whether you think their stated purposes are worthy--have forced the government to tip its hand and show just how badly it is failing at its job of protecting the freedoms of the US citizens (true, Assange is Australian, and therefore the government does not have to protect his freedom to post the leaks, but because so many Americans support Wikileaks and desire continued access the government should be preserving the right of US citizens to read and access Wikileaks as a source of information). It is high time we put our government back in its place!