32 Interesting facts about WikiLeaks

in Matthew - Acts, New Testament, Politics, Scripture / on August 18, 2012 at 4:58 pm /
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Image of WikiLeaks flag by Graphic Tribe

“For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.”
Mark 4:22

One way secret things are being manifested, is through a website called, “WikiLeaks.”

Julian Assange launched WikiLeaks in December 2006.  The Australian programmer and internet activist created WikiLeaks.org as an international website dedicated to publishing secretive, private or classified information.

Here are 32 interesting facts about WikiLeaks.

Interesting facts about WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks purpose

  • Fact #1- The goal of Wikileaks is “to bring important news and information to the public… 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.”

WikiLeaks founder

  • Fact #2- Julian Assange was born July 3, 1971 in Queensland, Australia.
  • Fact #3- On July 19, 2010 Assange spoke at an Oxford TED conference.
  • Fact #4- In 2010 Assange received several awards including the Sam Adams Award and the Readers’ Choice Award for TIME’s Person of the Year.
  • Fact #5- Assange entered London’s Ecuadorian embassy on June 19, 2012 claiming he was persecuted and requesting political asylum.  On August 16, 2012 the British government granted Assange political asylum, but told him he would be arrested if he attempts to leave Ecuador’s embassy.

WikiLeaks staff

  • Fact #6- In 2010 the WikiLeaks team had about five full-time employees and about 800 part-time volunteers.
  • Fact #7- There is no official headquarters for WikiLeaks staff.

WikiLeaks history

  • Fact #8- In WikiLeaks first year, they obtained more than 1.2 million documents.
  • Fact #9- WikiLeaks started out as a wiki that users could edit.  Since May 2010, WikiLeaks no longer no longer allows users to comment or edit the website.

WikiLeaks.org hosting service

  • Fact #10- The domain www.WikiLeaks.org was hosted by a Swedish company PRQ until August 2010.  Now Wikileaks is mainly hosted by Bahnhof in an old Swedish nuclear bunker.
  • Fact #11- Besides it main servers in Sweden, WikiLeaks has several servers in undisclosed countries.
  • Fact #12- WikiLeaks information is encrypted to protect leak sources.
  • Fact #13- Assange said he feels Switzerland and Iceland are the only countries WikiLeaks activities can be secure.

Wikileaks funding models

  • Fact #14- WikiLeaks only source of revenue is donations.
  • Fact #15- WikiLeaks has considered auctioning off early access to documents to raise money.
  • Fact #16- Wikileaks began to auction items through Ebay to raise money in September 2011.
  • Fact #17- In 2010, WikiLeaks received about €600,000 through PayPal donations, and about €696,000 through bank transfers.
  • Fact #18- One of the major WikiLeaks donors is the Wau Holland Foundation, which has given over €370,000 to WikiLeaks.
  • Fact #19- Since June 15, 2011, WikiLeaks has accepted donations through Bitcoin.

Well-known leaks related to human rights issues

  • Fact #20- In April 2010, WikiLeaks published a 39-minute video that included a 2007 U.S. helicopter airstrike on Baghdad in which Iraqi journalists were killed and children were seriously injured.  One of the U.S. attackers said it was the children’s parents fault for bringing their children with them.
  • Fact #21- In April 2011, WikiLeaks began publishing 779 secret files about prisoners in the prison at Guantanamo Bay.  These files showed more than 150 innocent people from Afghanistan and Pakistan were detained for years without being charged.

Recent WikiLeaks

  • Fact #22- On February 27, 2012, WikiLeaks began to publish some five million emails from Stratfor, a global intelligence company in Texas.
  • Fact #23- On July 5, 2012, WikiLeaks began to publish the Syria Files, which contain over two million emails from Syrian companies and politicians.

Possible upcoming WikiLeaks

  • Fact #24- In 2009 Assange said it had 5GB of documents revealing corruption within majors banks, including the Bank of America.  Bank of America’s stock fell 3% after the announcement.
  • Fact #25- In May 2010 WikiLeaks said it had a video of a massacre of Afghan civilians by the U.S. military.

Criticism

  • Fact #26- Some U.S. officials criticized WikiLeaks for releasing classified information that could compromise national security and diplomacy.
  • Fact #27- Some human rights organizations criticized WikiLeaks for not removing people’s names from sensitive documents.
  • Fact #28- Some journalists criticized WikiLeaks’ lack of discretion in releasing thousands of documents at a time without sufficient analysis.
  • Fact #29- Some Christians criticized WikiLeaks for publishing sensitive publications only meant for church leaders.

Praise

  • Fact #30- In 2008 WikiLeaks received the New Media Award from The Economist.
  • Fact #31- In 2009 WikiLeaks received the New Media Award from Amnesty International.
  • Fact #32- In 2010, WikiLeaks was listed first among websites “that could totally change the news,” by the New York Daily News.

“True information does good.”

-Julian Assange

Personal Notes:  It’s hard for me to know what to think about WikiLeaks.  While I like the idea of exposing corruption, I don’t appreciate some of the leaks Wikileaks released.  I think there is some private information that should be kept private.  Unless there is corruption to reveal, I don’t think it’s necessary to publish private information from good-willed organizations.  I’m grateful to know God is just and will take care of any injustices that happen in this life.

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