Wikileaks — Anonymous Whistle-Blowing

too_old_to_be_irate writes to tell us about a site that word got out on before they were ready. Wikileaks aims to be an anonymous and uncensorable repository of leaked documents, posted for commentary by interested parties. It's expected to go live in a month or two. From the site: "Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable version of Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact; this means our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by non-technical people. We have received over 1.1 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources."

Better Information

[Roofus]

For some real information, check out the 'Leaked' WikiLeak mailing list via (my favorite) Cryptome:

http://cryptome.org/wikileaks/wikileaks-leak.htm [cryptome.org]
http://cryptome.org/wikileaks/wikileaks-leak2.htm [cryptome.org]

Baloney

[earnest murderer]

I'm curious how this repository of uncensorable documents intends to keep their credibility when the 9/11 conspiracy, and moon landing was a hoax crowd move in.

Spamy

[The Z Master]

Sounds great and all, but I still remember the 8 emails I got from them, all to the same mailing list (which has no business being exposed beyond its members). A company that's willing to spam to promote its cause is not one that I'd be willing to support.

Re:Where is the wiki?

[Roofus]

That's the hilarity of it all. John Young (owner of Cryptome) was asked by the people behind Wikileaks to be the owner of the domain (since it would end up being public, and Mr Young is no stranger to Government intimidation). He agreed and participated in the private mailing list, but became disillusioned after it appeared the creators had no actual product and were only interested in funding. He posted all the private and internal conversation his own site.

Read the two links I provided, and you'll get the story.

Short Version: This 'secure and untraceable' Wiki software probably doesn't exist, it's a PR ploy for cash.

Important!!! This isn't Wikipedia

[Teancum]

This group, whomever they are, is improperly using the trademark "Wikipedia" as a buzz word to try and gin up support for this very dubious sort of project.

Say what you might about Wikipedia, but this does not involve either the Wikimedia Foundation, its employees, or frankly much of anybody even involved with the day to day running of Wikipedia either.

And slashdot is hardly the best place to announce something like this if you wanted to involve the Wikipedia user base. While this is a sort of "geek news" that might get some notice, it is disingenuious to suggest any association with Wikipedia.

Besides, on those Wikimedia projects where I have admin privileges, I would delete most of this content on the spot as unverifiable rumors and gossip, and expect the same on the other Wikimedia projects.

While this might be something rather interesting in terms of a web server to host this material, and invite some anonymous method of gathering these documents, I don't even see that they are going to be using a Wiki to gather this information.

In short, move along.... there is nothing here to see.

Re:Baloney

[ms1234]

Not to mention those who are falsely accused. How do they check the stories?

Re:Suck it, fascist AC

[drinkypoo]

Leaked documents that are traceable and verifiable will be publicised anyway, that's what a free press means.

What free press? There's no free press. That's a fucking myth. You can and will be hauled off to gitmo for what you write or publish if the powers-that-be deem that it should be so. Of course, first they'll paint you as some kind of secret terrorist to justify it, and that will be enough for the majority of the population to accept their actions.

Sarbanes-Oxley vs. European Privacy Laws

[G4from128k]

This type of anonymous whistle-blower system is mandated by U.S. Sarbanes Oxley Act, but is illegal under European privacy laws. SarBox says thou shalt support anonymous informants as a means of preventing fraud, corruption, etc. The EU says thou shalt NOT permit anonymous tipsters because that's how the Nazi's found so many Jews.

It's a real conundrum for multinational companies.

Re:I should've guessed

[Kazoo the Clown]

My first thought about this was the possibility that the Bush administration, pissed about leaks, may have pressured the intelligence community to do something about it, and such a honeypot setup one of their solutions because it could increase their ability to locate the sources of such leaks. The idea being, that if it becomes well known as a place to host leaks, potential leakers would make sure they get their info in and in the process expose themselves.

Then I thought about it a little more-- if that were the case, it would be a BIG mistake. They would end up having to host gobs uninteresting to them and not-illegal but uncomfortable, controversial or litigious information and/or deal with lawsuits galore-- it would end up far more trouble than it's worth in that regard. In any event it is no doubt going to be a lawyer magnet. If the site actually survives, the spooks would do better to just tap their systems and let someone else stick their necks out.

Also, the temptation to post some made up inflammatory crap will be irresistable for many yahoos, and you'll start seeing all manner of liable and paranoid theories appear-- the Protocols of the Elders of ...

Re:One word was missing - verifiable

[nautical9]

"Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an unidentified source."
- Ron Nessen [wikipedia.org] (circa 1980's)

Re:Important!!! This isn't Wikipedia

[Teancum]

It is right out of their FAQ that they intend to use Wikipedia for the delivery of this content. Or that they intend to "mirror" Wikipedia.

Frankly, I don't even see where the word "wiki" comes in for this project, as they aren't even going to be using HTML servers at all, but rather intend to use Freenet or something similar. Good luck! They are going to need it if they choose Freenet as the underlying technology. That is good for about 1000 pages total, if they are very, very lucky. There is no way you are going to deliver the "over 1 million" documents (assuming multiple pages and with photos).... roughly on the order of several GB of data.

No, these guys simply don't have a clue as to what they are talking about, and they certainly are not using a Wiki to help put this thing together. It is just a pipe dream on a e-mailing list, and that is hardly new. Nor even novel technology, let's get real.

Perhaps something will come from this, but at the moment it is pure, unadulturated vapourware. Nothing more.

Re:uncensorable, etc WTF?

[jbdigriz]

Well, you're right, talk is cheap, and they are promsing an awful lot. It's certainly technically concievable what they propose. but whether they have an actual working system yet that is ready for prime time, I dunno, I haven't seen it. They are going to have to produce something demostrable RSN as a result of the premature publicity, but it's not a scam. They've been soliciting server operators for at least 3-4 years now, and at that time openly under some of their own names, though the exact nature of the project was not disclosed at that time.

Whether it's a good idea or not, nobody can really say. Nothing even close to this has ever been done before. A historical experiment of incalculable proportions. I'm thinking we ought to at least have the opportunity to find out, and there's only one way to do that. Just do it. I'm ready to offer up a server or two if it'll help, and I can afford it. Would be nice, though, if Soros, the CIA, a bunch of dissaffected Republicans who lost their seats last year, the Russian mafia, Sprint, Verizon, or whoever, would put up some funds to pay for hosting bills, backbone access, routers, switches, modem banks, WiFi, EVDO, and Wimax gateways, antennas, server spares, disk, RAM, and processor upgrades, admin and programmer salaries, backup generators, security, plant, etc. I might do even more, then. And just let the chips fall where they may. We're all on the side of the angels here, right?

So far no answer, though. I do hope they can get the show on the road. Their previous work has been top-notch.

jbdigriz

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"The time has come...to say "fair's fair"...to pay the rent...to pay our share"
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