EclecticLip

(Originally written May 25 — posted July 9) 

One of the earlier book club selections, The Starfish and the Spider, discussed the contrast between centralized and decentralized groups.  One of the major points was that centralized groups are rarely able to overwhelm decentralized opponents, as exemplified by the entertainment industry’s innumerable failed attempts to shut down peer-to-peer file-sharing, or the fact that guerrilla groups give military opponents so much trouble.  A recent story in Australian paper The Age, shows another example, this time how WikiLeaks gives governments headaches.

WikiLeaks is essentially a guerrilla publisher; they make it possible for insiders to leak sensitive information, anonymously.  As per the article, “[the] fact that the website has no headquarters, also means the conventional retaliatory measures - phones tapped, a raid by the authorities - are impossible.”

As an extraordinarily decentralized organization, WikiLeaks would therefore qualify as a “starfish”.