Our leaders have roundly encouraged the freedom of information when it suited their purposes. But as soon as such information threatened their power, they quickly changed their tune.

This past Jan. 21, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. She said then:

"In many respects, information has never been so free. There are more ways to spread more ideas to more people than at any moment in history. Even in authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable.

"During his visit to China, President Obama held a town hall meeting with an online component to highlight the importance of the Internet. In response to a question that was sent in over the Internet, he defended the right of people to freely access information, and said that the more freely information flows, the stronger societies become. He spoke about how access to information helps citizens to hold their governments accountable, to generate new ideas, and to encourage creativity. The United States' belief in that truth is what brings me here today."

Little more needs to be said.

The few diplomatic cables already published by WikiLeaks -- which have provided valuable insights to American citizens about the activities of world governments and the misinformation spread by their own leadership -- will hardly be the last leak of sensitive information. We all know that, in this age, such leaks are just getting started.

"Privacy is dead; deal with it," said Sun MicroSystems' CEO, Scott McNealy, a few years ago. This stricture pertains to governments no less than individuals. It will always be trivial to copy information, as long as that information is shared with enough individuals for it to make a difference.

The same goes for songs, movies and books: As long as they can be played or displayed on some device, they can be hacked and diverted away. As was realized long ago, information wants to be free.

The United States is now clearly engaged in a vendetta against Julian Assange, encouraging multiple corporations like PayPal, Amazon and Mastercard to deny WiliLeaks their services, even as Amazon gladly sells e-books about the WikiLeaks phenomenon.

And the Swedish sex charges brought against Assange stink strongly of collusion and conspiracy (the women involved are already backing away from their tenuous claims).

The United States will insist on prosecuting Assange, no matter what. Yet if WiliLeaks were publishing Chinese diplomatic cables, it would surely now be lauded by the same government officials.

The New York Times, among other media outlets, now has the same information that WikiLeaks has, but the Justice Department will not dare prosecute them. Nor did it seem to mind when WikiLeaks released earlier "secret" information, such as the report of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights about police killings in Kenya.

But because WiliLeaks is now exposing the questionable practices of the U.S. government, it must be eliminated. Thus power has ever ruled.

Such hypocrisy. Not everyone in this world believes that American hegemony is a force for good. In fact, not even all Americans believe it.

The U.S. might yet get its way and bully foreign countries into restraining Assange, by whatever crooked means are necessary. But this is hardly the last time such leaks will be broadcast across the globe. The information age is here, in all its glory and difficulty.

Less than a year ago our president claimed this was a good thing. Funny how quickly such positions can change.

David Appell is a freelance writer in St Helens.