[drapper]

"This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation. It is newsworthy and at the centre of a geo-political conflict. It belongs in the public domain."

Yeah, right. Some of is of public interest, sure, but then find it, edit it and publish the results. Ah, I forgot, it's not how wikileaks operate. For them making everything public is good in itself (except, of course, when it's about themselves).

[nitrogen]

The armchair historian and anthropologist in me wishes we had something like this for the corporations of the 1800s. To a historian or anthropologist, the mundane, everyday interactions are every bit as important to study as the momentous occasions.

[frozenport]

My browser history might be useful, but I dont want you looking at it until my children are dead.

[borgia]

>The armchair historian and anthropologist in me wishes we had something like this for the corporations of the 1800s.

What we do have from this time though are a huge number of private journals written/kept by very powerful and influential people. We also have huge troves of their mail correspondence that, without a doubt, was intended to be kept private.

We have since made these things public, written books about them, published the letters reprinted, etc.

So perhaps the release of such correspondence is merely a function of the time since its authorship, or the time since the author (and recipient?) died. The way things operate today though, the future historians are unlikely to get such content.