Ask HN: Would you sell to Wikileaks?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15435541

by ReedJessen • 9 years ago

2 2 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Let's say that you ran a SaaS company that provides a service which would very helpful for a group like Wikileaks to parse and mine their data better. Would you sell you service to Wikileaks given the potential risks to you company? How would you think through this decision from a risk/reward standpoint?

dmitrygr• 9 years ago

What risk would that be? Last I checked they were not a country and USA has no embargo against them

greenyoda• 9 years ago

Let's look at it from Wikileaks' point of view: Would Wikileaks want to use your (or any) SaaS, given the potential risks to them? Much of their data is very sensitive, so why would they risk compromising their data by passing it through an untrusted third-party service?

For example, Wikileaks may have received documents that reveal the true identities of people who could be killed if their identities were known. They wouldn't want such documents to be seen before they had a chance to redact them. Some documents may be considered too sensitive to ever release to the public, even in redacted form. Why should they trust you with this sensitive information? Would you be able to protect this information from the various intelligence agencies around the world who might be interested in getting it (which could involve compromising you to get at it)?

Ask HN: Would you sell to Wikileaks?

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