The release of sensitive information to the public by individuals who are sometimes called whistleblowers and dubbed traitor or hero, is termed to be a data leak.
The most notable data leaks in the world include those facilitated by Wikileaks that showed the inner workings of US diplomacy, while the NSA files leak revealed that the NSA extensively tapped into the communication systems of American citizens and made use of court orders to coarse network providers to turn in the call, messaging and browsing data of its users.
Now, the Panama Papers is another notable leak in world history. A collection of 11.5 million files leaked from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The Panama Papers reveals the task evading practices of the rich, who create offshore companies in tax havens around the world.
The data leaks of the past years have shown the increased use of the internet to police government. We are set to see more data leaks in the future, perhaps ones larger than that of the Panama papers, even in areas such as the Middle East and Pakistan, where freedom of information access is restricted and the media is muzzled.
Recent data leaks are encouraging a future in which citizens of the Middle East and Pakistan carry out fact-finding hacks on suspected shady companies and personalities through the web.
The popularization of browsing tools that ensure anonymity has increased the possibility that more people will use the internet to access and share restricted information in the Middle East and Pakistan. We are also poised to see people going to the media with information on the shady activities of governments, because recent data leaks have increased the popularity of encrypted messages and internet-cloaking tools as tools instrumental in leaking information to the media anonymously.
News organizations in the Middle East and Pakistan are set to borrow a leaf from media companies that have facilitated leaks in the past. These media organizations were able to receive leaked files, communicate with whistle blowers, and hide these activities from the government using internet cloaking tools and encrypted messages.
If there is anything data leaks do so well, it is shocking citizens into vigilantes and the Middle East and Pakistan citizens are slowly but surely becoming vigilantes who can display courage by using tools at their disposal in accessing undiluted information, investigating and making their voices heard on the web space.