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CLASSIFIED government information, big business cover-ups and a man on the run from big brother. It sounds like the plot of a Jason Bourne movie or Tom Clancy novel - but there is no fiction in the story of Wikileaks and its founder.
The site that facilitates the publication of sensitive corporate and government information has dominated the news this week as it continues to roll out a spate of cover-ups and other information relating to global politics, business and military affairs.
It started off slowly, and over the past fortnight the Wikileaks exposé picked up speed and gravity. A deluge of US diplomatic communications - or "cables" - were leaked. These revealed tension between the USA and China, among many other foreign affairs matters America would have preferred not to have been made public.
The leaks are not limited to government entities, however. Religious organisations and companies such as the Bank of America and Apple have also been the subject. But the most remarkable information has referred to US government agencies.
One of the more recent cable leaks exposed a list of critical infrastructure the US government has deemed vital to homeland security. This ranges from shipping facilities in Asia to oil pipelines in the Middle East, US embassies and other key sites.
Some have suggested that the list is a print-and-go inventory of targets for terrorists and that its leaking was highly irresponsible.
And this brings us to the ideological debate surrounding Wikileaks that is unavoidable when raising the topic. Most people I have discussed Wikileaks with seem to feel that some information should be confidential, when secrecy is in the public interest.
However, one cannot overlook the good that has come from Wikileaks. The site revealed how global warming research data was manipulated in order to make it seem more consequential, showed that the CIA kidnapped an innocent German citizen and tortured him for months, sparked an inquiry into the handling of war prisoners in Iraq and exposed operating manuals for the Church of Scientology showing it to be an outright fraudulent operation - the list goes on.
Ideology aside, Wikileaks has changed the way we regard organisational information forever. It is forcing both governments and big business to rethink the way they classify, store and disseminate information.
One wonders if Julian Assange, the Australian journalist who founded Wikileaks, had any idea of the profound impact his creation would have on global information economics when he first conceived the idea.
Assange is a wanted man. Interpol is after him over trumped-up rape charges in Europe. The assertion is that he had consensual sex with a woman in Sweden but that the condom they were using broke, a fact that Assange allegedly did not disclose to his partner.
Under local law, tricking someone into having unprotected sex that they believed was safe can be classified as rape. It seems a bizarre allegation and I find it hard to believe that Interpol would pursue an arrest for your average traveller accused of it.
Clearly the powers that be want their hands on Assange and will use any reason to get him.
The Wikileaks site itself has been under attack too, and there have been numerous attempts to block access to it. Online pay engine Paypal has stopped payments of donations to Wikileaks and Amazon ousted the site from its data centre, saying that Wikileaks contravened its terms of service.
Wikileaks is still alive and well, however. The heart of the system has been moved into an underground Cold War bunker in Sweden that looks like something James Bond would be au fait with. The CEO of the data centre company that owns the bunker said he supports Wikileaks because he believes in open access to information.
Wikileaks supporters have also set up mirrors of the site around the world. It is literally impossible to stop Wikileaks now without shutting down the entire internet. I have no doubt that the US will use diplomatic sway to have as many of the mirrors shut down as possible and the site blocked wherever it can.
In South Africa, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said that there would be no attempt to block access to Wikileaks. It is especially interesting to look at the website and the movement it represents, in the light of the protection of information bill the ANC hopes to turn into law.
If the bill is passed in its current form, South Africa will rely on Wikileaks-like systems to keep our democracy honest in lieu of investigative journalism.
Over the weekend Assange deployed a "poison pill" of encrypted information he says he will unlock should he or the site become compromised.
The information bundle is said to include photographs of US forces bombing civilians in Afghanistan, documents relating to the detainment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and sensitive information for BP and the Bank of America. The bundle is encrypted but can be decoded with a password.
It really is like watching a movie. In fact, I'm certain there are various discussions taking place in Hollywood as I write this over securing film rights.
- Fin24
The site that facilitates the publication of sensitive corporate and government information has dominated the news this week as it continues to roll out a spate of cover-ups and other information relating to global politics, business and military affairs.
It started off slowly, and over the past fortnight the Wikileaks exposé picked up speed and gravity. A deluge of US diplomatic communications - or "cables" - were leaked. These revealed tension between the USA and China, among many other foreign affairs matters America would have preferred not to have been made public.
The leaks are not limited to government entities, however. Religious organisations and companies such as the Bank of America and Apple have also been the subject. But the most remarkable information has referred to US government agencies.
One of the more recent cable leaks exposed a list of critical infrastructure the US government has deemed vital to homeland security. This ranges from shipping facilities in Asia to oil pipelines in the Middle East, US embassies and other key sites.
Some have suggested that the list is a print-and-go inventory of targets for terrorists and that its leaking was highly irresponsible.
And this brings us to the ideological debate surrounding Wikileaks that is unavoidable when raising the topic. Most people I have discussed Wikileaks with seem to feel that some information should be confidential, when secrecy is in the public interest.
However, one cannot overlook the good that has come from Wikileaks. The site revealed how global warming research data was manipulated in order to make it seem more consequential, showed that the CIA kidnapped an innocent German citizen and tortured him for months, sparked an inquiry into the handling of war prisoners in Iraq and exposed operating manuals for the Church of Scientology showing it to be an outright fraudulent operation - the list goes on.
Ideology aside, Wikileaks has changed the way we regard organisational information forever. It is forcing both governments and big business to rethink the way they classify, store and disseminate information.
One wonders if Julian Assange, the Australian journalist who founded Wikileaks, had any idea of the profound impact his creation would have on global information economics when he first conceived the idea.
Assange is a wanted man. Interpol is after him over trumped-up rape charges in Europe. The assertion is that he had consensual sex with a woman in Sweden but that the condom they were using broke, a fact that Assange allegedly did not disclose to his partner.
Under local law, tricking someone into having unprotected sex that they believed was safe can be classified as rape. It seems a bizarre allegation and I find it hard to believe that Interpol would pursue an arrest for your average traveller accused of it.
Clearly the powers that be want their hands on Assange and will use any reason to get him.
The Wikileaks site itself has been under attack too, and there have been numerous attempts to block access to it. Online pay engine Paypal has stopped payments of donations to Wikileaks and Amazon ousted the site from its data centre, saying that Wikileaks contravened its terms of service.
Wikileaks is still alive and well, however. The heart of the system has been moved into an underground Cold War bunker in Sweden that looks like something James Bond would be au fait with. The CEO of the data centre company that owns the bunker said he supports Wikileaks because he believes in open access to information.
Wikileaks supporters have also set up mirrors of the site around the world. It is literally impossible to stop Wikileaks now without shutting down the entire internet. I have no doubt that the US will use diplomatic sway to have as many of the mirrors shut down as possible and the site blocked wherever it can.
In South Africa, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said that there would be no attempt to block access to Wikileaks. It is especially interesting to look at the website and the movement it represents, in the light of the protection of information bill the ANC hopes to turn into law.
If the bill is passed in its current form, South Africa will rely on Wikileaks-like systems to keep our democracy honest in lieu of investigative journalism.
Over the weekend Assange deployed a "poison pill" of encrypted information he says he will unlock should he or the site become compromised.
The information bundle is said to include photographs of US forces bombing civilians in Afghanistan, documents relating to the detainment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and sensitive information for BP and the Bank of America. The bundle is encrypted but can be decoded with a password.
It really is like watching a movie. In fact, I'm certain there are various discussions taking place in Hollywood as I write this over securing film rights.
- Fin24
