Wiki Leaks: The Legacy Alexander Komar and Eli Chowning

Beginnings Wikileaks.org domain name was registered on 4 October Wikileaks was founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and start-up company technologists, from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa“ Wikileak’s self claimed "primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations.“ The organization's stated goal is to ensure that whistleblowers and journalists are not jailed for ing sensitive or classified documents, as happened to Chinese journalist Shi Tao, who was sentenced to 10 years in 2005 after publicizing an from Chinese officials about the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

WikiLeaks: The Facts Within a year of its launch, WikiLeaks claimed to possess over 1.2 million documents from thirteen countries. As of January 2010, the WikiLeaks team consisted of five full-time employees and about 800 volunteers ▫The employees and volunteers are spread across the world, with their identities largely unknown

Infrastructure WikiLeaks is a self describe “uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking” WikiLeaks uses many hosting services, including Swedish internet host Bahnhof AB, which is located in a Cold War Bomb shelter. Document submission and repository in hosted here.

Julian Assange Born: July 3, 1971 in Queensland, Australia Marital Status: Divorced Children: Daniel Assange, age 20 Occupation: Editor in Chief and Spokesperson for WikiLeaks Nov 18, Arrest warrant issued by a Stockholm district court on suspiscion of rap, sexual molestation, and unlawful coercion. Nov 30, Place on INTERPOL Red Notice List of wanted persons for “sex crimes” Attorney-General of Australia Robert McClelland has not ruled out the possibility of cancelling Assages’s passport due to “potential number of criminal laws that could have been breached by the release of the (US Diplomatic Cables).”

Noteworthy Leaks April Posted video from 2007 incident in which Iraqi civilians and journalists were killed by US forces. July Released 76,900 documents called Afghan War Diary. October Released 400,000 document package called the Iraq War Logs to major commercial media organizations. November Wikileaks began releasing U.S. Diplomatic Cables.

WikiLeaks’s Watchdog Infamous hacker group Anonymous has proclaimed themselves WikiLeaks’s protectors. ▫“We are not a terrorist organization… we are a collective of people who share the common goal of protecting the free flow of information on the Internet” ▫“We ask the world to support us, not for our sake, but for your own. When governments and corporations control information, they control you.” ▫“The intention of Anonymous is to protect free flow of information of all types from the control of any individual, corporation, or government entity. We will do this until our proverbial, dying breath”

FREEDOM OF SPEECH [it is] “not an ultimate freedom, however free speech is what regulates government and regulates law. That is why in the US Constitution the Bill of Rights says that Congress is to make no such law abridging the freedom of the press. It is to take the rights of the press outside the rights of the law because those rights are superior to the law because in fact they create the law. Every constitution, every bit of legislation is derived from the flow of information. Similarly every government is elected as a result of people understanding things” –Julien Assange Supporters of WikiLeaks in the media and academia have commended it for exposing state and corporate secrets, increasing transparency, supporting freedom of the press, and enhancing democratic discourse while challenging powerful institutions.

Controversy Wikileaks has been subjected to massive backlash from multiple sources because of their releases. ▫On 16 March 2009, the Australian Communications and Media Authority added WikiLeaks to their proposed blacklist of sites that will result in massive fine for all Australians if the mandatory internet filtering censorship scheme is implemented as planned. The blacklisting had been removed by 29 November ▫China has completely banned Wikileaks ▫ On 3 December 2010 the White House Office of Management and Budget sent a memo forbidding all unauthorized federal government employees and contractors from accessing classified documents publicly available on WikiLeaks and other websites. ▫The U.S. Army, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Justice Department are considering criminally prosecuting WikiLeaks and Assange "on grounds they encouraged the theft of government property"

Praise Wikileaks has received both praise and criticism. Wikileaks has won a large amount of awards such as The Economist’s New Media Award and Amnesty International’s UK Media Award. Julien Assange received the Sam Adams Award and was even named Time’s Person of the Year in The UK Information Commissioner has stated that "WikiLeaks is part of the phenomenon of the online, empowered citizen".

Works Cited john-kampfner-wikileaks-shows-up-our-media-for- their-docility-at-the-feet-of-authority htmlhttp:// john-kampfner-wikileaks-shows-up-our-media-for- their-docility-at-the-feet-of-authority html ned-hyperlinks-could-cost-you a- day/2009/03/17/ html?page=fullpage#c ontentSwap1&page=-1/ ned-hyperlinks-could-cost-you a- day/2009/03/17/ html?page=fullpage#c ontentSwap1&page=-1/

Questions When was WikiLeaks’ domain registered? How many documents had it released within 1 year of existence? What position is Julian Assange considered within the organization? Who is WikiLeaks protected by? In 2010, Julian Assange was named as what?

Answers October 4th million documents Editor and Chief and Spokesperson Anonymous Time Magazines person of the year