The purpose of this paper is to gain useful information on what Wikileaks is about. This paper will give you information on who founded Wikileaks and several findings that Wikileaks published for the public to view.
Wikileaks is a non-profit organization that’s put together by several people. The purpose if wikileaks is to bring important news and information to the public “We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists (our electronic drop box). One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth. We are a young organization that has grown very quickly, relying on a network of dedicated volunteers around the globe. Since 2007, when the organization was officially launched, WikiLeaks has worked to report on and publish important information. We also develop and adapt technologies to support these activities.” (www.wikileaks.org)
In one month, the Wikileaks submitted over 400,000 secret military logs that were tied to the operation in Iraq. This gave every death in Iraq and across the boarder in Iran to be mapped. Wikileaks released 76,900 documents about the war in Afghanistan that was not available to the public. In April 2011, Wilileaks began publishing files that had to do with secret information relating to prisoners. One might ask how they get away with posting and airing such information. Wikileaks had overcome many legal pursuits to stop the website from publishing such information. They are encouraged by freedom of speech. “In particular, Article 19 inspires the work of our journalists and other volunteers. It states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. We agree, and we seek to uphold this and the other Articles of the Declaration.” (www.wikileaks.org)
The front man and editor of Wikileaks is Julian Assange. Julian is am Australian publisher. He is also a journalist and internet activist. Julian founded Wikileaks in 2006. The same year Julian wrote two essays giving the purpose of Wikileaks. "To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not. In his blog he wrote, "the more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. Since unjust systems, by their nature, induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.” (www.wikileaks.org) At a young age, Julian became a speaker and strong believer on freedom of the press. In November 2010, Wikileaks began publishing U.S. diplomatic cables. Some Nominations and awards that Julian received are the Readers Choice Award, and the Amnesty International media award. Although Assange doesn’t call himself the founder of Wikileaks, he does describe himself as the editor in chief. The Wikileaks team consists of five people working fulltime and around 800 people that work every now and then that did not get paid.

When looking at the website, Wikileaks is very organized in the way that they except information and share information. Currently they are improving their website and are not receiving submissions. They also regularly have a chat line on their website where people share information and chat about their findings and what they think about them. “Wikileaks will accept restricted or censored material of political, ethical, diplomatic or historical significance. We do not accept rumor, opinion, and other kinds of first hand accounts or material that is publicly available elsewhere. This is because our journalists write news stories based on the material, and then provide a link to the supporting documentation to prove our stories are true. It’s not news if it has been publicly available elsewhere first, and we are a news organization. However, from time to time, the editors may re-publish material that has been made public previously elsewhere if the information is in the public interest but did not have proper news analysis when first released.” (www.wikileaks.org). This information is very organized and well thought of. The research needed to collect such materials is studied and submitted with caution to avoid lawsuits. I located the wikileaks chat room and found that they were closed down for maintenance. But it did still list that the chat rooms are safe and secure. If you wanted to send a response in the chat room, you can be sure that your email address and other information is safe and secure from others, including the IRC operator, that are in the chat room. Your real name, as well as your user name, is confidential as well. Wikileaks uses a confidential drop box where people submit their information.

Of course some people use Wikileaks for entertainment purposes, Educational purposes, and others think Wikileaks is not a good site and should be shut down for airing the information of others that they thinks should be confidential.
Nearly 143,000 out of the 251,999 cables that were submitted by Wikileaks last year have been published. This last article that I found is from a website where Wikileaks posted some videos as well. Please feel free to watch the videos. Please be aware before you view this website that the video does contain certain language that is disturbing as well as people being shot at. “On July 6, 2010, Private Bradley Manning, a 22 year old intelligence analyst with the United States Army in Baghdad, was charged with disclosing this video (after allegedly speaking to an unfaithful journalist). The whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, has called Mr. Manning a 'hero'. He is currently imprisoned in Kuwait. The Apache crew and those behind the cover up depicted in the video have yet to be charged. 5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuter’s news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded. The military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured. After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement". Consequently, WikiLeaks has released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing these rules before, during, and after the killings. WikiLeaks has released both the original 38 minutes video and a shorter version with an initial analysis. Subtitles have been added to both versions from the radio transmissions. WikiLeaks obtained these video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. We have analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material. We have spoken to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident. WikiLeaks wants to ensure that all the leaked information it receives gets the attention it deserves. In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war. Iraq is a very dangerous place for journalists: from 2003- 2009, 139 journalists were killed while doing their work.” (http://www.wikileaks.ch/) This submission by Wikileaks makes you really wonder how these videos were obtained and how this information was sent to the public without consequences. But it also is amazing that it was caught on tape. But if those brave people would not have posted the videos and revealed the information then we would not know what went on and who was in charge of this terrible act. In conclusion I feel that WikiLeaks is very beneficial to the community due to the fact that the information that is being spread is news that we really need to know so that we can keep our community and world safe and informed on current things that are happening. In some cases, this information detrimental to the armed forces, because some of the things that are being leaked out can harm us if other countries are getting the inside scoop on what our country is planning. Overall the website is very informative and I gathered a lot of information that I was not knowledgeable of before.