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Tech Podcast: WikiLeaks’ ‘Afghan War Diary’

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There were some new and interesting twists in the war in Afghanistan this week, courtesy of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, working with major newspapers such as The Guardian in London and the New York Times. They’ve released some 91,000 documents that they’re calling Afghan War Diary, 2004 – 2010. It’s a set of on-the-ground intelligence reports from Afghanistan and Pakistan that detail US military operations there during the past six years. We’ve got two tech-related takes on the leaking of these documents. Alex Gallafent tries to figure out how we can hope to make sense of this amount of material. Yours truly tackles the idea that while technology played a role in the leak, it was ultimately a human element that let these classified documents see the light of day. You can read and hear our other coverage of WikiLeaks here, and here.

Also in this episode, we’ve also got a look at how Google Maps has tried to update the way it displays some of the trickier borders around the world. We hear about “conflict minerals,” and efforts to get tech companies to better source the materials that go into your precious electronic equipment. And we end with an update on Gary McKinnon’s ongoing efforts to avoid extradition to the United States to stand trial for what American authorities call “the biggest military hack of all time.”

Here are some helpful links for WTP 296:

• What is WikiLeaks?
• Noah Schachtman on the Danger Room blog
• John Gravois’ The Agnostic Cartographer
• Conflict Minerals Trade Act
• More on Gary McKinnon

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(Photo: Cpl. James L. Yarboro)