Free Essay

Wikileaks

In:

Submitted By Stefan87
Words 588
Pages 3
Wikileaks

Even though, it uses the “wiki” technology, Wikileaks is completely independent from Wikipedia or any Wikimedia services. It is a combination of high-tech security, free journalism and ethical principles. At the beginning, it was very similar to Wikipedia, people from all over the world could share the information, opinions and news with everyone, but since the new beginning in 2010, the things have changed. Now, the news and confidential reports that are coming from all over the world are double checked and analyzed by Wikileaks journalist. After they read them, they verify them and decide whether they are “important” enough to be published. Sometimes, those documents are so confidential, they need to delay their publication, or wait for some significant time to pass, so they could protect people who are mentioned in them and so they could save innocent lives of people who are mentioned in documents (WikiLeaks, 2010). As I already said, Wikileaks has no head-quarter. Organization is financed with the money of people with good will. The main goal of this revolutionary organization is to keep their sources anonyms. Even though, there have already been some problems. Earlier this year, a 20 years old student hacked into Sarah Palin’s e-mail. Later on, he was arrested and convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice after WikiLeaks published e-mails. Furthermore, the lawyers are now trying to build a defense of Bradley Manning, who has sent an extremely graphic, high-quality video of a fatal U.S. aerial attack on civilians in Iraq, titled “Collateral Murder” (Yao, 2010) Recently, lots of critics have been made, which questioned the reliability of WikiLeaks. All the leaders now agree that the relations between countries will be much different, but based on what? On some articles that can be found on the internet? If the sources of the documents are anonymous, and if we don’t know what was the position and importance of the person who revealed them, how can we know if everything that is written is truth? (CanberraTimes, 2010) The answer might be in the WikiLeaks’ efforts to test the veracity of all news. They use traditional investigative journalism techniques and modern-technology methods to analyze that. They investigate motives, opportunities and claims of the apparent authors and they ask them to answer the set of questions. Even though they claim that they have identified the veracity of every document they’ve published so far, they leave some space for possible mistakes by saying that it doesn’t mean that they will never make a mistake (WikiLeaks, 2010). But if they do, even a small one, what will be the price? The important thing in their organization, which makes them different from the other organizations, is the inflow of the informations. Informations are gathered from all over the world, but strictly on voluntary base. After the information is in possession of Wikileaks, five people cooperate and decide whether it is important enough to publish it. The informations are shared with the whole world and anyone can access them for free. This structure would appear to be organic, but Julian Assange is considered to be the only and ultimate leader. He is founder, financier and only person who is making important decisions about the future of Wikileaks, so is it really typical organic?

Image No.

The image shows from what places around the world the informations are collected.

Image No.

This is the way information is collected and distributed according to author of this project

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Coms

...come from whistle blowing… Such as freedom of speech, and the closure of knowing what is happening out side of everyone’s basic life. Edward Snowden was known for “blowing the whistle on the NSA for wire tapping into our phones and e-mails” this was a major controversy for the people of America. Instead of Snowden being rewarded for what he did he was arrested. Later he was released there was a short press conference with him and he told the reporters that no one should be arrested for telling the truth. What the NSA did was horribly wrong in my eyes the people of America should have the rights to privacy, and the rights to the freedom of speech. Another major whistle blower was Julian Assange he developed the web site wikileaks. Wikileaks had information that has been held out from the people...

Words: 573 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Wikileaks

...Abstract In this paper we will discuss the ethics and issues surrounding Wikileaks and Facebook and attempt to resolve the question of “Would our group work for both, either, or neither”? Particular focus shall be given in the following aspects; Privacy, Freedom of expression, online activism or slacktivism and social media, core principles of Wikileaks and Facebook and whether they have changed, and finally a conclusion drawing on the former to discuss the key moral issues and come to a statement of who, if any, our group would work for. PRIVACY Although as (Quinn, 2012) states we have more privacy today than what our forefathers had; it appears that Privacy may have reached its peak and is now beginning to recede. There are two main factors to consider with privacy, one is the Information that we give away, the other is the information that is taken. (Rauhofer, 2008) raises the idea that any ignorance towards privacy loss could be associated with a group mentality towards risk acceptance. In other words “all of my friends do it so it must be ok”. You could even go so far to say that there is Social Contract Theory within most ICT and Social Medial sites. (Quinn, 2012) states that Social Contract Theory has two components, moral rules (Privacy agreements, and privacy legislation) and an entity to enforce the rules (the site provider and the Government). The issue with this thinking is that very few people read or even understand the privacy agreements or law and everyone...

Words: 1305 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Wikileaks

...I would like to propose to write a paper on WikiLeaks. Since its creation in 2006 WikiLeaks has been a lightning rod of controversy and a big topic in the news. Since the launch of the website WikiLeaks in 2006 under The Sunshine Press Organization it has been at the center of hotly debated issues concerning constitutional rights. This non profit organization is operated by a number of volunteers. These volunteers research and verify leaks provided to them and deny leaks of a false nature. The organization claims to be a noble force empowering and protecting whistleblowers who reveal corruption in corporations and governments. What exactly is WikiLeaks, however? “WikiLeaks is an international, online, non-profit organization which publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. (Wikipedia October 2014)” The website is not affiliated with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation. The original intent of the organization was claimed to be the exposure of oppressive regimes and also, the protection of those who make that exposure possible. By publishing submitted documents and other materials on the website, the source of those materials is protected from criminal charges and also from anyone damaged by these leaks with the power to cause harm to the provider. While there is certainly great potential for benefit through WikiLeaks it has also become clear that the organization can cause just as many issues as it wishes to solve...

Words: 708 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Wikileak

...Login              Username: « Is the UK Torture Inquiry an Attempt to Limit Further Disclosure? Another Obama Recess Appointment For Someone Not Named Johnsen » Wikileaks Leaker Bradley Manning Finally Charged By: emptywheel Tuesday July 6, 2010 12:14 pm submit Tweet 93 The government has finally charged Bradley Manning, the Wikileaks leaker. He is charged with two counts of violating the UCMJ, one related to loading onto his own unsecure computer a set of information and adding unauthorized software to a military network computer, and the other related to accessing and passing information onto someone not entitled to have it. I find the charge sheet particularly interesting for two reasons. What the government says that Manning did with the material he accessed, and an apparent discrepancy between the government’s depiction of the timing and Wired’s depiction of it. What the government knows about what Manning did with the information First, it describes the information he accessed differently as follows:   The video of the July 12, 2007 Apache killing of Reuters journalists (obtained via unauthorized access, loaded onto his unsecured computer, transmitted to someone unauthorized to receive it) The Rejkjavik State Department cable leaked by WikiLeaks (obtained via unauthorized access, transmitted to someone unauthorized to receive it) 50 State Department cables (loaded onto his unsecured computer, transmitted to someone unauthorized...

Words: 8363 - Pages: 34

Free Essay

Patiño Reafirma a Assange Compromiso de Ecuador de Protegerlo

...El canciller de Ecuador, Ricardo Patiño, visitó por primera vez este domingo al fundador de WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, quien el miércoles cumplirá un año refugiado en la embajada del país andino en Londres, antes de tratar de buscar una salida al caso con su homólogo británico, William Hague. Antes de iniciar su reunión, Patiño y Assange se asomaron brevemente a una ventana de la legación a saludar al centenar de personas que se habían congregado en la calle para expresar su apoyo al australiano, y posaron para los fotógrafos conversando amigablemente mientras la multitud coreaba en español "Julian, amigo, el pueblo está contigo". El canciller, el más alto representante del gobierno ecuatoriano que visita a Assange en la legación, había llegado a las 18:30 locales (13:30 de Ecuador) acompañado de la embajadora, Ana Albán, sin hacer declaraciones a los medios de comunicación. La llegada de Patiño a Londres despertó esperanzas de una resolución del caso entre los partidarios del creador de WikiLeaks, entre ellos una mayoría de ecuatorianos y otros ciudadanos latinoamericanos. "En este país, siendo pionero de los derechos humanos, nunca se ha dado semejante injusticia", declaró Edwin Pazmiño, miembro del Movimiento Ecuador en el Reino Unido. "Esperemos que mañana en la reunión con el ministro británico salga algo positivo y el gobierno acepte otorgar el salvoconducto a Julian Assange para que viaje a Ecuador", agregó este hombre de 43 años, vestido con una camiseta...

Words: 639 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Censura Gubernamental En Internet

...Gabriela Bastidas Rodríguez Universidad de Los Andes Las mil caras de internet Censura de contenidos en internet: Gobiernos temen lo que sus ciudadanos puedan saber Internet en las dos últimas décadas ha presentado un crecimiento exponencial. Actualmente, es uno de los medios de comunicación más usados en el mundo, pues alrededor del 30% de la población mundial es usuaria y comparte información en línea, haciéndose así internet cada vez más asequible a la población. De esta manera, en internet se encuentran publicados una infinidad de contenidos disponibles para todos los usuarios, representando un espacio apto para la libre expresión. Es consecuente preguntarnos ¿Es verdad que todas las personas que tiene acceso a internet también tienen acceso a todos los contenidos disponibles? ¿Cualquier persona puede publicar el contenido que desee en la red? ¿La censura de contenidos en un determinado país en verdad apoya la seguridad nacional de un país? Para dar respuesta a estas preguntas es necesario que las personas conozcan tanto sus derechos como la ley del país en que residen. Así, este ensayo tiene como propósito mostrar las leyes y censuras gubernamentales que cobijan los contenidos disponibles en la red. Algunos países en el mundo tienen leyes estrictas respecto a estos aspectos, pues no sólo censuran contenidos sino la publicación de ideas que vayan en contra del pensamiento impuesto por los gobiernos. Estos hechos nos llevan a preguntarnos ¿Por qué algunos países...

Words: 1413 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Whistle Blower

...Jairo Magdaleno 3/10/2014 ENG-101-B New Aged Paul Reveres The term whistle blower defines a person who exposes misconduct, alleged dishonesty or illegal activity within an organization. In plain English, this means, someone exposing an organization of wrong doing. However, should a person who exposes wrong doing be punished? Or should they be praised and thanked? Two most recent, possibly the biggest, whistle blowing events include two individuals with high rank within the US government. The question was, should these individuals be punished for their actions? Being portrayed and explained by the mainstream media most people would say "Yes, lock him up!". With a little research, however, one might not find it necessary to punish these individuals so severely. One might even find this move, patriotic. Bradley Manning is an individual convicted of Espionage and sentenced to thirty-five years in federal prison for the largest disclosure of secret government documents. Manning was a Computer Intelligence Analyst with the United States Army. From the seat of his computer work station in Iraq, Manning had access to SIPRNET(The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network). This is the private computer network that the government uses to transmit government files around the world. With a few key strokes, Manning had access to countless "secret" government files. When these files became too much to bare, Manning felt that the public needed to know the truth in order...

Words: 491 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Wikileaks Ethics

...Wikileaks 2006 saw the formation of what would soon become a world player in journalism. Julian Assange created Wikileaks as a whistle-blower's resource, a place where those with something important to share could do so without retribution and with full anonymity. Information dumps from the United States government, corporations, and even private groups and individuals drew mixed results and painted a strange picture of this organization. Its proponents tout it as returning to journalism's roots, a second Pentagon Papers. Its opponents cite damaged international relations and mass invasions of privacy as grounds to declare this organization anathema. This paper will explore the impact that Mr. Assange has had on the last decade of world development. What has Wikileaks done to garner such ire from its opponents? George Washington (1777) once wrote to Elias Dayton that “upon secrecy, success depends in most enterprizes [sic] of the kind, and for want of it, they are generally defeated.“ Unfortunately, Wikileaks facilitated the release of over half a million documents from the American government, to include hundreds of thousands on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Diplomatic emails released by Assange stirred controversy and saw the international opinion of the States plummet. Some say that these releases spurred change and transparency in the government. Others would argue, successfully, that they changed the methods used to keep the secrets rather than...

Words: 1548 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Wikileaks Business Ethics

...FINAL PAPER –BUSINESS ETHICS- WIKILEAKS: Heroes or villains? Present a critical assessment. INTRODUCTION: Wikileaks is an international, online, non profitable organization, which publishes secret information, new leaks, political, social and military reality analysis (that can be hide), and classified media from anonymous sources for protecting them. They work for the protection of the freedom of expression and its diffusion through the media, and improve History of everyone and the right for each person to create it. The problem is that wikileaks generates different reactions. A lot of its publications generates violent polemics and intimidations. Even the website is threaten and had to to face to technical and financial problems. However, there are also people who defend the website like: “reporters sans frontiers”, or “le parti pirate suédois”, etc… In 2011 wikileaks had to face to a big financial problem, and had to accept the bitcoins, the electronic money. Morever, in August 2012, wikileaks is attacked and people couldn’t connect to the website for few days. Wiki had to register a complaint. After explaining the objective and the reason why of their existence, we can now expose the ethical dilemmas of Wikileaks. It can be defined by choosing between the right and wrong when there is no clear answer, and it’s hard to resolve. The problem implanted here is that those last months Wikileaks reveals shocking informations and became a heated subject of discussion...

Words: 1047 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Case Study 1- Wikileaks

...CASE Study 1- WikiLeaks Textbook, pp. 472-473 1. The two conflicting aspects of WikiLeaks would appear to be privacy and freedom of information. Where do you stand on the issue? Discuss your views with your class. 2. One of your ethical obligations as an information security professional is confidentiality of information. Does this obligation change your position with regard to the previous question? 3. As a citizen of a democratic country, you are also concerned with freedom of information. How does this requirement affect your position? CASE Study 2- Banking on Security Textbook, pp. 513-514 1. What reason would a bank have for not wanting to adopt an online transfer delay policy? Customers can’t access their funds immediately. 2. What are the two primary lines of security defence, and why are they important to financial institutions The two primary lines of security defense are people and technology. Since banks deal with money they must offer the most advanced security features to keep their customers finances safe. According to Figure 4.17, the financial industry has the fifth highest expenditure/investment per employee for computer security. An unsafe bank will not operate long. 3. Explain the differences between the types of security offered by the banks in the examples above. Which bank would you open an account with and why? Bank of America has the best form to fit my needs with the two-factor authentication. I don’t see the need for key fobs...

Words: 382 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Can Wikileaks Be Found Guilty of a Crime for Its Release of the Iraq War Materials?

...Can WikiLeaks be Found Guilty of a Crime for Its Release Of the Iraq War Materials, Afghanistan War Materials and Diplomatic Cables? In 2010, WikiLeaks released three large groups of information – classified documents concerning the Iraqi war, classified Pentagon documents concerning the conflict in Afghanistan, and U.S. State Department diplomatic cables. There was an outcry from members in the U.S. government, U.S. lawmakers, and U.S. citizens as they questioned how WikiLeaks could have legally obtained and released this information. There were also those who applauded WikiLeaks and saw them as part of the new media, simply carrying on the struggle between the people’s right to know versus national security. In this new Internet age, where data can be immediately published to an enormous audience from anywhere in the world with the simple push of a button, and where wars are no longer declared on a country but on generalized “terror,” is a site like WikiLeaks protected? WikiLeaks Background WikiLeaks states on its website: WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for revealing of supposed and censored injustices. WikiLeaks...

Words: 5807 - Pages: 24

Free Essay

Mr Edgy

...WikiLeaks This article is about the website and organisation. For the Australian political party, see The Wikileaks Party. Note that WikiLeaks has no connection whatsoever to Wikipedia or its parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the encyclopedia. WikiLeaks The logo of WikiLeaks, an hourglass with one globe leaking to the second | | Web address | WikiLeaks.org [1] a | Slogan | We open governments. | Commercial? | No | Type of site | Document archive and disclosure | Registration | None | Available in | English, but the documents are written in various languages | Owner | Sunshine Press | Created by | Julian Assange | Launched | 4 October 2006 | Alexa rank | 14,957 (April 2014[2]) | Current status | Online | WikiLeaks is an international, online, non-profit, journalistic organisation which publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. Its website, initiated in 2006 in Iceland by the organization Sunshine Press, claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder, editor-in-chief, and director. Kristinn Hrafnsson, Joseph Farrell, and Sarah Harrison are the only other publicly known and acknowledged associates of Julian Assange. Hrafnsson is also a member of Sunshine Press Productions along with Assange, Ingi Ragnar Ingason, and Gavin MacFadyen.[3][4] The group has released...

Words: 12383 - Pages: 50

Premium Essay

Business Ethics

...business and its patrons. Recently, Wikileaks (not affiliated with Wikipedia) has been in the national and world spotlight as a corporate bad guy because it made the decision to release what is considered vital information on several large businesses that could adversely affect those said businesses. Reportedly, the information on Wikileaks is not just assumed authentic but is actually authentic and has been vetted so that the innocent are protected. With this being said, Wikileaks reportedly has in its possession a hard drive possibly belonging to an executive with Bank of America and plans to release the information contained on the hard drive to “take down” the bank and expose an “ecosystem of corruption” (Schwartz, 2011). In today’s world, freedom of press and freedom of speech is something that is held in the highest regard and is supported fully. The question is when does this freedom go too far and cross the line of moral acceptance. In addition, does the information in question violate the privacy of those involved and is it something that is just being used to draw attention to a particular person or organization. It is possible that by releasing confidential information about a large corporation, or how an organization operates for that matter, could damage that business beyond repair, and force it to close its doors forever. Is it morally right for other corporations to target a “whistleblower” company such as Wikileaks just because they pose a possible threat...

Words: 1940 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Social Engineering Attacks and Counterintelligence

...Counterintelligence.” Social engineering attacks and counterintelligence have major impacts to our national security. In July 2010, the Afghan War Diary was released in WikiLeaks. In October 2010, WikiLeaks also released the largest military leak in history – the Iraq War Logs revealing the war occupation in Iraq. This type of information is considered as classified data by the Department of Defense. Social Engineering Attacks and Counterintelligence Describe what social engineering and counterintelligence are and their potential implications to our national security in regard to the leaked Afghan War Diary and Iraq War Logs. WikiLeaks is an open website that reveals classified documents to the general public. Voice of America stated that “WikiLeaks releases 400,000 classified US Military files (Pessin, 2010). WikiLeaks is a serious threat to national security. WikiLeaks is a threat for three reasons: reveals the identities of operatives, defaces the name of the USA to foreign countries, and threatens the safety of the USA. A danger of WikiLeaks is it reveals the identities of operatives both foreign and domestic. WikiLeaks allows the names of many allies and operative missions to be posted on a public website. This type of exposure endangers many oversea operatives’ identities and positions. WikiLeaks has openly admitted to putting the names of many operatives on their site as means to “allow an open view of the government”. The open view is endangering many more...

Words: 1115 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Wiki Leaks

...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...

Words: 1539 - Pages: 7