WikiLeaks and Privacy

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opinion/wikileaks-and-privacy.html

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To the Editor:

Re “The World Needs WikiLeaks” (Op-Ed, Nov. 17): While Sarah Harrison sees WikiLeaks as a force for good (“the best way to shed light on a whole system is to fully uncover the mechanisms around it”), she is rather dismissive of the need and importance of privacy (“such concerns have mostly been disingenuous”).

People will say and communicate things in private that they would never say in public; we all do that. WikiLeaks operates under the idea that erasing the wall that separates private and public discussions is beneficial. The opposite is more likely to be the case.

The sanctity of our private conversations and communications must be maintained. A future in which all of our private utterances are subject to public review is a nightmare right out of Orwell’s bleak vision of a possible future.

LARRY HOFFNER

New York