Stratfor, the private intelligence outfit, clammed up Monday refusing to engage on the content of its internal emails released by Wikileaks hours before.
It did call the leaks “deplorable”. But it didn’t say if it was contemplating legal action against Wikileaks, which, it alleged, has engaged in an illegal act.
“This is a deplorable, unfortunate — and illegal — breach of privacy,” Strafor said in statement, linking the Wikileaks dump to a hacking of its computer network in December.
Wikileaks computers were hacked in December by a group that identified itself as “anonymous”. The online intelligence website has since then been distributing content for free.
Stratfor’s main worry was a perception that it’s network couldn’t be trusted. It was quick to assert the emails were not grabbed in a second hacking.
But there was not a word in the statement about its monitoring of Bhopal gas activists and a NGOs helping them.
It had a sweeping explanation for it: “Stratfor is not a government organisation, nor is it affiliated with any government. The emails are private property.”