←Older revision
Revision as of 09:55, 26 April 2013
(6 intermediate revisions by one user not shown)
Line 15:
Line 15:
===Daniel Domscheit-Berg===
===Daniel Domscheit-Berg===
−
Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a German computer scientist, served as Wikileaks’ second-in-command until mid-2010. Domscheit-Berg left the organization after arguments with Assange over many topics, ranging from Assange’s handling of finances to his exaggeration of the organization’s size and influence.
In 2011, Domscheit-Berg released a tell-all book entitled Inside Wikileaks. He also started a document sharing website to rival Wikileaks, entitled Openleaks. Hrafnsson disputed the claims that Domscheit-Berg held a position of power within Wikileaks and stated that Wikileaks would sue Domscheit-Berg over the book and taking documents from Wikileaks upon his departure.
+
Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a German computer scientist, served as Wikileaks’ second-in-command until mid-2010.
Ravi Somaiya, "[ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/world/europe/11wikileaks.html?_r=0 Wikileaks Angry About Ex-Staff Member's Book]," "The New York Times", February 10, 2011.
Domscheit-Berg left the organization after arguments with Assange over many topics, ranging from Assange’s handling of finances to his exaggeration of the organization’s size and influence.
Kim Zetter, "[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/wikileaks-book/ Wikileaks Defector Slams Assange in Tell-All Book]," "Wired", February 10, 2011.
In 2011, Domscheit-Berg released a tell-all book entitled Inside Wikileaks.
He also started a document sharing website to rival Wikileaks, entitled
[[
Openleaks
]]
.
Kevin Gosztola, "[http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2011/08/21/openleaks-founder-destroys-cache-of-unreleased-wikileaks-documents/ OpenLeaks Founder Destroys Cache of Unreleased WikiLeaks Documents]," "The Dissenter", August 21, 2011.
Hrafnsson disputed the claims that Domscheit-Berg held a position of power within Wikileaks and stated that Wikileaks would sue Domscheit-Berg over the book and taking documents from Wikileaks upon his departure.
Jerome Taylor, "[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/wikileaks-threatens-action-against-excolleague-of-assange-2212175.html Wikileaks Threatens Actions Against Ex-Colleague of Assange]," "The Independent", February 11, 2011.
===Wikileaks Employee Confidentiality Agreement===
===Wikileaks Employee Confidentiality Agreement===
−
In 2011, a confidentiality agreement that Wikileaks forces its employees to sign was leaked to the public. The agreement attempted to prevent employees from divulging leaked information in a way which could interfere with would cause "loss of opportunity to sell the information to other news broadcasters and publishers" and "loss of value of the information." Domscheit-Berg stated that the confidentiality agreement was evidence that "WikiLeaks has become what it despises: a repressive organisation, using restrictive contracts to gag its staffers, cultivating intransparency and unaccountability.”
+
In 2011, a confidentiality agreement that Wikileaks forces its employees to sign was leaked to the public.
David Allen Green, "[http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-allen-green/2011/05/wikileaks-information-legal The £12m question: how WikiLeaks gags its own staff]," "The New Statesman", May 1, 2011.
The agreement attempted to prevent employees from divulging leaked information in a way which could interfere with would cause "loss of opportunity to sell the information to other news broadcasters and publishers" and "loss of value of the information."
Domscheit-Berg stated that the confidentiality agreement was evidence that "WikiLeaks has become what it despises: a repressive organisation, using restrictive contracts to gag its staffers, cultivating intransparency and unaccountability.”
David Batty, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/13/wikileaks-spokesman-assange-gagging-order Ex-WikiLeaks spokesman criticises Assange's gagging order for staff]," "The Guardian", Friday 13, 2011.
+
==Legal Status==
+
+
Wikileaks has its physical headquarters located in a former bomb shelter in Sweden, a country with strong laws protecting the identity of confidential sources.
Ann Wolner, "[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-28/wikileaks-secret-records-dump-stays-in-legal-clear-ann-woolner.html Wikileaks Secret Record Dump Stays in Clear]," "Bloomberg", July 28, 2010.
Wikileaks has been hosted by several Domain Name Service (DNS) providers. Until August 2010 it was hosted by Swedish-based PRQ, the same provider that hosts the Pirate Bay bit torrent site.
Dan Goodin, "[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/21/wikileaks_bulletproof_hosting/ Wikileaks Judge Gets Pirate Bay Treatment]," "The Register", February 21, 2008.
For only a few weeks in August 2010, [[Amazon]] hosted Wikileaks. Amazon discontinued service citing violations of the terms of use agreement, but also likely bowing to US government pressure.
Doug Gross, "[ http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/12/01/wikileaks.amazon/index.html?eref=edition Wikileaks cut off from Amazon Servers]," "CNN", December 2, 2010.
Wikileaks then moved to French company OVH, which survived an attempt to shut it down from the French Ministry of the Interior.
"[http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iojKm00N9vMvjVGwO2ZNko9rVpBw French Web Host Need Not Shut Down Wikileaks Site: Judge]," "AFP", December 6, 2010.
In 2012 there were reports that Wikileaks is once again being hosted by PRQ.
Andy Greenberg, "[http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/10/01/wikileaks-and-pirate-bay-web-host-prq-raided-by-swedish-police/ PRQ, Web Host For WikiLeaks And Once For The Pirate Bay, Raided By Swedish Police]," "Forbes", October 1, 2012.
As of 2010, Wikileaks has its servers located “around the globe, including places like Sweden, Belgium and the United States that the organization considers friendly to journalists and document leakers.”
Noam Cohen & Brian Stelter, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/07wikileaks.html Iraq Video Brings Notice to a Website]," "The New York Times", April 6, 2010.
+
+
==Major Leaks==
+
+
===Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures===
+
Wikileaks released the 2003 and 2004 Standard Operating Procedures for Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay on November 7, 2007.
"[http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Camp_Delta_Standard_Operating_Procedure Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedure]," "Wikileaks", November 7, 2007.
The documents were unclassified but reserved for “Official Use Only.” The documents revealed controversial practices and potential violations of the Geneva Conventions such as giving toilet paper to prisoners as rewards and hiding certain prisoners from the [[Red Cross]].
Ryan Singel, "[http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/11/gitmo Sensitive Guantanamo Manual Leaked Through Wiki Site]," "Wired", November 14, 2007.
+
+
===Sarah Palin Emails===
+
During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, Vice Presidential Candidate [[Sarah Palin]]’s private Yahoo! email account was infiltrated by the group of hackers known as [[Anonymous]]. The hackers posted content including screenshots of emails, her inbox, contact list and family photos.
M.J. Stephen, "[http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin's_E-mail_Hacked Sarah Palin's E-mail Hacked]," "Time", September 18, 2008.
Wikileaks justified its posting of this material by asserting that Governor Palin used the Yahoo! account to conduct official state business.
Elana Schor, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2008/sep/17/uselections2008.sarahpalin Wikileaks posts a hack of Palin's e-mail account]," "The Guardian", September 18, 2008.
+
+
===British National Party Membership List===
+
The [[British National Party]] is a far-right political party, founded in 1982, which runs on a platform prioritizing the interests of native Britons over “immigrants and asylum seekers.”
"[http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/hate-groups/bnp/ What is the British National Party?]," "Hope not Hate", July, 2012.
On November 18, 2008, Wikileaks released a list containing the names and personal information of members of the British National Party. Wikileaks claimed it was able to independently verify the list’s authenticity while party president Nick Griffin called the list a “malicious forgery.”
Robert Booth, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/20/bnp-membership-list-wikileaks BNP membership list appears on Wikileaks]," "The Guardian", October 20, 2009.
+
+
===Reykjavik 13===
+
On February 18, 2010, Wikileaks published the first cable supposedly supplied by US Army Private First Class [[Bradley Manning]] known as Reykjavik 13. The cable featured communication between the US Embassy Chief in Iceland and members of the Icelandic government. In April of 2010, Wikileaks released the “Collateral Murder” video featuring US military killing two Reuters journalists who they believed were combatants because their cameras resembled weapons. In July of 2010, Wikileaks released the Afghan War Logs, containing almost 92,000 classified documents detailing the scope and scale of the war from the perspective of troops on the ground. Wikileaks followed this with the release of the Iraq War Logs which contained nearly 400,000 classified documents about the War in Iraq which discussed sensitive topics such as civilian deaths and torture.
+
+
===Cablegate===
+
The massive disclosure of US diplomatic cables from around the world which came to be known as Cablegate began on November 28, 2010. The initial leaks consisted of 1,269 of the more than 250,000 cables Wikileaks possessed. In addition, these cables were heavily redacted both by Wikileaks and the five newspapers Wikileaks chose to release them: [[Le Monde]], [[Der Speigel]], [[The New York Times]], [[The Guardian]] and [[El Pais]]. In September of 2011, Wikileaks decided to release the entirety of its cache unredacted.
+
+
===Stratfor===
+
On February 27, 2011, Wikileaks released over five million internal emails from [[Stratfor]], a Texas-based “global intelligence” firm. Wikileaks stated that the emails revealed that the firm’s primary purpose is “providing confidential intelligence services to large corporations.” Observers argued that the emails demonstrated Stratfor was “providing low quality ‘intelligence’ to governments and corporations.” Others claims the emails claims some revealing information about subjects ranging from the Pakistani’s knowledge of Osama Bin Laden’s location to the existence of a sealed indictment against Julian Assange in the U.S.
+
+
===Syria Files===
+
On July 5, 2012, Wikileaks released “more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies, dating from August 2006 to March 2012.” The emails primarily concerned the ministries of presidential affairs, foreign affairs, finance, information, transport and culture. The emails were particularly embarrassing for western companies who assisted the Bashar Al-Assad regime with propaganda or equipment that could have been used for military purposes. For example, the New York PR firm [[Brown Lloyd James]] had a contract with the Syrian government which resulted in a “puff-piece” in Vogue magazine. The piece, entitled “A Rose in the Desert” was removed from Vogue’s website once its propaganda purpose was discovered.