> I don't think they can put the genie back in the bottle. Even if they
> kill Assange (not unlikely) and shut down his web site, the example
> has been set and there will be many more wikileaks type of outlets.
>
The problem is that the pool of diplomatic cables in the hands of Wikileaks will dry out, and getting new ones will be made almost impossible... embassy employees will be likely short of strip-searched when leaving each embassy´s premises, and pen drives, mp3 players, and even cell phones will be banned for embassy personnel, plus access to those databases will likely be cut off (if not already) for military personnel abroad, which was likely the source of Assange´s leaks.
According to The Guardian, it was likely Bradley Manning from his post in Baghdad. And he´s already in custody.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/how-us-embassy-cables-leaked?intcmp=239
Plus, it´d be trivial for them to add a "hidden watermark in plain text" of sorts -add certain data to each message (like adding a certain extra adjective, switching words on a given paragraph without altering the meaning of it etc)- so when there´s a leak, it´d be possible to track back from which computer or terminal it was extracted....
Another would be to require biometric ie iris scans before reading the memos,or using a terminal with goggles, making the use of cameras or copy-pasting information impossible.
Evildoers can be very creative when it comes to preventing people from distributing information... :) FC