<nettime> typology of leaking (was The Nefertiti 3D Scan Heist Is A Hoax)

[Felix Stalder <felix@openflows.com>]

On 2016-03-09 02:29, nettime's_scanner wrote:
>  
> https://cosmowenman.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/the-nefertiti-3d-scan-heist-is-a-hoax/
> 
> The Nefertiti 3D Scan Heist Is A Hoax

I'm not sure I would call it a hoax. I think -- though I have no
inside knowledge -- the most likely case is that of a leak, that is,
someone with access to the official scan gave it to the artists and
the story of the guerilla scanning was created as cover to protect the
source. In the same way that it's likely that some of the hacks of
anonymous where actually leaks by the sysadmins who used story of the
anonymous hack as device to cover their tracks.

Perhaps time that we think of a typology of leaking.

For example, the most basic distinction could be:

leaking as a strategy of power or leaking as a strategy of counter
power. To the latter, belongs:

- Politically motivated whistle-blowing (Wikileaks, Snowden,
footballleaks etc)

- Economically & politically motivated data brokering (most of the
banking leaks, where an insider copies information and then sells it
to the tax authorities)

- Disguised leaks (anonymous hacks, Nefertiti scan etc)

I think underlying motivation is in all cases the same, the
discrepancy between the official mission of an institution and the
its actual behavior that either creates a moral dilemma for some if
its members, or, I guess amounts to the same, an opportunity for
arbitrage.

To the former, which is the most frequent forms of leaking, belongs,

- leaks for character assassination

- leaks for testing for controversial plans.

The main function of leaking in the arsenal of power is to trigger
controversial processes without having to take responsibility for it.






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