撇开这些邮件的真实性仍待考证不谈，发布这些多的邮件本身就带来了各种各样的潜在问题。这些邮件就那样发布在网上，没有点评，没有来龙去脉，也没有任何解释。比如，可口可乐和PETA的邮件，如果只看维基解密的标题《可口可乐雇Stratfor调查PETA的底细》（Coca Cola Contracting Stratfor to Spy on Peta.），听起来似乎有些不可告人。但作为企业，搜集一些可能给它们带来公关问题的组织和团体的信息是普遍的做法，而且此案中可口可乐希望了解的信息似乎也无关紧要：PETA在加拿大有多大影响力？美国PETA活跃分子会不会前往温哥华？不清楚Stratfor究竟有何发现，或者对搜集到的信息做了什么处理。最让人吃惊的是，一位据称是Stratfor员工的人在讨论的最后写道：“美国联邦调查局（FBI）对PETA的行动进行了秘密调查。我看看挖出什么消息。”

    目前不清楚这些行为是否违反了某些法律。陶氏化学已就Yes Men事宜发表了声明：

    “包括陶氏化学在内的大公司常常有义务采取适当的措施来保护员工和全球范围内的设施安全，避免公司及员工受到某些组织和个人的威胁、干扰和歪曲宣传。陶氏化学非常重视在法律允许的范围内确保员工和设施安全的职责，并将继续依法履行这一职责。我们坚决支持言论自由，鼓励公众对重大事宜展开讨论。虽然我们还没有看到具体所涉文件，但我们绝不容忍窃取私密文件，。”

    维基解密宣称已与25家媒体公司达成合作来发布这些电子邮件，包括美国两家合作伙伴：麦克莱齐报业（McClatchy Newspapers）和《滚石》杂志（Rolling Stone）。迄今为止，这两个合作伙伴都未刊登任何与邮件有关的内容，因此记者们和其他人只能从海量的原始信息中慢慢揣摩。

    去年年底，Stratfor的电脑显然曾遭到黑客组织Anonymous（具体来说，是其旗下的AntiSec）的入侵，数千位Stratfor用户的信用卡数据、电子邮件地址等个人信息泄露。虽然维基解密没有披露获取这些邮件的渠道，但维基解密这次发布的电子邮件看来很可能就是从那次入侵中获得的。

    Stratfor发布声明称，散布这些电子邮件“严重侵犯隐私，是应该遭到谴责的非法行为。”

    “其中有些电子邮件可能是捏造的，或者遭到了篡改，含有不准确的信息；有些可能是真的，”这项声明称。“我们不会对此进行确认。我们也不会解释当初的考虑。我们的文件已经被盗，我们不会回答关于这些文件的问题，那无异于二次伤害。”

    Beyond the fact that the authenticity of the emails has not yet been confirmed, the mere fact of such a data dump poses all kinds of potential problems. The emails are just sitting there, uncommented upon, with no context or interpretation given. The emails about Coke and PETA, for example, sound somewhat sinister judging by the WikiLeaks headline, "Coca Cola Contracting Stratfor to Spy on Peta." But it's common practice for companies to gather information on groups that might cause them PR problems, and the information Coke sought in this case seems fairly mundane: How strong is Peta in Canada? Might U.S. Peta activists travel to Vancouver? It's not clear what if anything Stratfor found out or what, if anything, was done about any information that it gathered. What's most striking is that a Stratfor employee purportedly wrote toward the end of the discussions: "The FBI has a classified investigation on PETA operatives. I'll see what I can uncover."

    It's not at all clear that any laws were broken by these activities. Dow Chemical has issued a statement on the Yes Men matter:

    "Major companies, including Dow, are often required to take appropriate action to protect their people and safeguard their facilities around the world from those who would threaten, disrupt and misrepresent the company and its employees. Dow takes the obligations to ensure the safety of its people and facilities seriously and will continue to do so within the bounds of the law. We are strong proponents of free speech and encourage public debate on important issues. However, while we have not yet seen the specific documents in question, the theft of any private documents cannot be condoned."

    WikiLeaks says it has partnerships with 25 media companies to disseminate the emails. That includes two partners in the United States: McClatchy Newspapers and Rolling Stone magazine. So far, neither partner has published anything about the emails, leaving journalists and others to scramble to make sense out of the enormous amount of raw information.

    Stratfor's computers were invaded late last year apparently by the hacker/vandal group Anonymous (specifically, by its AntiSec wing), which revealed personal information such as credit-card data and email addresses of thousands of Stratfor customers. It seems likely that the emails posted by WikiLeaks came from that intrusion, though WikiLeaks isn't saying where it got them.

    Stratfor issued a statement calling the publication of the emails "a deplorable, unfortunate -- and illegal-- breach of privacy."

    "Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic," the statement continued. "We will not validate either. Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them."