I am reminded of something someone* said about leaks in 2006:<p><i>The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive "secrecy tax") and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption.</i><p><i>Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.</i><p>In other words, in an increasingly digital world, its gets easier and easier for large scale leaks to happen, and although you can take measures to try and stop that, overall those measures will damage your effectiveness even more. Some leaks are 'good' and some are 'bad', but over time, in a leaky world, the overall long term effect should be positive - a move towards more openness.<p>* its pretty obvious who, but I don't want to derail.