Wikileaks is attempting to provide transparency in a world where that doesn't much exist so boo-fucking-hoo if somebody's Mastercard gets leaked in the process.
Mass dumps aren't adding any more "ammunition" for their detractors than some sort of filtered dump would. Detractors don't need much of a reason to dislike what Wikileaks is doing beyond the fact that they've been exposed.
You also assume everyone is already split into either the pro-Wikileaks camp or their detractors. As someone who has mixed feelings about Wikileaks, this definitely affected my view of them negatively. (Full disclosure - my card was among those leaked. But even if it hadn't been, if I had just been someone who knew about Stratfor rather than a subscriber, this would have put Wikileaks in a bad light for me).
I'm pretty sure if you checked his email you'd find some pretty shocking stuff as well.
This is in fact a solid argument for why transparency of this kind is a Good Thing.
"Two wrongs don't make a right"
EDIT: people understand that Stratfor is a small publishing company, right? They sell subscriptions to a security-focused newsletter of debatable influence. They have no operational capability.
I had a much better opinion of Stratfor until now. They were plotting how to best sell misinformation. Misinformation that could start a war in which millions could die. They thought they could get away with this shit.
I'm sure many HNers have sent joking emails concerning their work to fellow coworkers. It happens in almost every office. I'm not saying that's the case here, but you never know.
"To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from the other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."
The 'transparency' is only of value for people who are too fucking stupid to understand that people are people no matter what job they are in, and should absolutely be expected to behave this way if there are not checks and balances in place.
Spamming out people's personal details is not just sloppy, it is giving ammunition to criminals and maybe even the target of this press release...
Personally I consider that to be very /wrong/ it may be legal or illegal or whatever, but its just wrong - people can come to some kind of harm as a result of this action. Conversely the benefit is that stupid people get their eyes opened? You can fuck right off frankly...
Noble intentions or not, wikileaks should not give people genuine reasons to attack them. This is precisely one.
(And putting "people" in scare quotes as if there's some doubt that they're human? Grow up.)
A lot of the time. For example, it's fair to rat out a cop who acts inappropriately or give a negative review to an eBay seller who scams you.
Please, tell this to everybody claiming "I've nothing to hide". They will realize that YES, they've got something to hide, and then they possibly would shut the fuck up.
Where I live the full no is not stored on receipts, and in dbs it must be encrypted. I think emailing CC numbers around would be breaking PCI compliance, and that would be a big deal. There's no way I'd email a CC number.