[WikiEN-l] Re: Classified information in Wikipedia

Fri Apr 1 19:33:54 UTC 2005

Blair P. Houghton wrote:

> Information is classified because divulging it will place people in 
> harm's way.  In some cases, it will place millions of people in harm's 
> way.  There are politicized exceptions to this, but for the huge 
> majority of classified items keeping the information secret will save 
> lives, as will hindering its dissemination if it is somehow leaked.

Unless Wikipedians are personally leaking classified information from 
government agencies, I don't see how this is even remotely a 
consideration.  If we can get our hands on the information through 
public sources, then so can anybody else who would want to use it for 
harmful purposes.  They don't need to go through us to get it.

-Mark