Julian Assange - WikiLeaks (15 page)

As for me, I'm interested in his mysteriousness. The more I'm interested in him, the more I think he has a loveable side. Julian is like a gifted child bordering on autism. He sees the world the way he sees it and tries to make the people he wants enter into it. On his blog Iq.org, we see that he sometimes felt alone and misunderstood. He quotes this sentence by Aldous Huxley about Isaac Newton to which he seemed to identify: “Newton paid for his supreme intelligence […] incapable of friendship, love, fatherhood, and many other desirable things. As a man he was a failure; as a monster he was superb.”

And in another posting in June 2006, he wrote: “I have a special fondness for women caught in thunderstorms,” again showing his protective side. He has the ability to go very far for a woman. In the same posting he explains that he was going out with a girl
who was a coffee addict and who drank tons of coffee. He would watch her drink coffee with such envy that he wanted to be in the cup. He went as far as making a watery paste of finely ground coffee to seduce her.

Julian is pathetic and poetic at the same time. Underneath his Don Juan exterior he'll talk to anything in a mini-skirt. I figure this guy needs a ‘quality woman'!

I'm going to sign up to OkCupid!!

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see

–John Lennon

The media coverage of WikiLeaks was cautious about its launch and about going live with the first leak on Somalia at the start of 2007. As one of the organization members anticipated, press agencies didn't know them and were not used to that type of sources. A few websites related their press release or a few passages from the site. The
Washington Post
pushed the analysis a bit further. A journalist from the American newspaper e-mailed the organizers who presented the site as follows: “WikiLeaks is becoming, as planned, although unexpectedly early, an international movement of people who facilitate ethical leaking and open government.”

Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News was also questioned by the newspaper and admitted that the members of WikiLeaks “have the potential to make a difference.” He warned against the fact that “indiscriminate disclosure can be as problematic as indiscriminate secrecy.” He finished by saying, “I want to see how they launch and what direction they go in.” WikiLeaks organizers said that the site was self-policing. “WikiLeaks would provide a forum for the entire global community to examine any document relentlessly for credibility, plausibility, veracity and falsification.”

The
Washington Post
ended with a few sentences on the first leak whose Internet link was offered as a conclusion. On the other
hand,
Time
magazine chose to comment on the launch of the site by interviewing a professor of Rutgers University specialized in African history. He declared that the article was well written, but the events mentioned afterward were obsolete.

Not much effect for the launch of the site and their first leak. The posting of e-mails online between the organization and John Young by Cryptome had people talking about it and was better covered.
Wired
magazine had an article entitled “WikiLeaks spilled,” which ironically opened with “The first big leak has come out of WikiLeaks – of the archive of their internal mailing list,” while the first conspiratorial suspicions were suggested on other sites. The very serious BBC also had some doubts, expressed by Bill Thompson, independent journalist and digital specialist. Not knowing their sources, this organization could not verify the veracity of the documents received. He also admitted to not trusting the people of the site, and even if the trust were there, he doubted that the site was able to ensure the security, anonymity and immunity that it promised.

WikiLeaks started off slowly during its first months, and the leaks had a moderate impact. In August 2007, a report of the international crisis analysis agency Kroll was published on the site. This report was submitted in 2004 to the Kenyan government who rejected it, judging it incomplete. Though it concerned the corruption perpetrated by the former leader of the country, Daniel Arap Moi, who had embezzled more than three billion dollars. The report also provided the list of his riches spread throughout the world. British newspaper
The Guardian
used the material supplied to write an article on the former Kenyan president, but didn't make any reference to WikiLeaks.

Posted on the site three months before the presidential elections in Kenya, this leak brought about tragic events, causing 5,000 deaths and almost 600,000 displaced people.
WikiLeaks was criticized and judged responsible, but Julian defended himself in
The Guardian
: “One thousand three hundred people were eventually killed, and 350,000 were displaced. That was a result of our leak,” says Assange. It's a chilling statistic: “On the other hand, the Kenyan people had a right to that information and 40,000 children a year die of malaria in Kenya. And many more die of money being pulled out of Kenya, and as a result of the Kenyan shilling being debased.” Even though it had a little impact on public interest, these leaks propelled WikiLeaks to the rank of world media.

In September 2007, WikiLeaks published a database listing equipment purchases made by the American army for the war in Afghanistan. This publication shed some light on the use of the army budget, but beyond that, it also showed that chemical equipment are used in this war.

The database was published on the site in its original SQL format and can be read in an ordinary text editor, albeit not that easily. It's a list of codes and equipment names. To understand it properly you need to be a specialist in military jargon.

The New York Sun
analyzed the information as follows: “They provide a completely objective window into the functioning of various U.S. units, from psy-ops (psychological operations) to Kabul headquarters. They indicate that America is using two types of chemical weapons in that country, including 72 M7 grenade dischargers – gas grenade launchers – and eight FN303s, ‘which can fire pepper-spray impregnated projectiles,' according to the unsigned WikiLeaks article.”

November 2007. The leaking of a military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay finally got international attention. It stated for example:
instructions on how to psychologically manipulate prisoners, how detainees could be rewarded by receiving extra toilet paper, or how to use military dogs to intimidate prisoners. As Lieutenant General Ricardo A. Sanchez explained in 2005, “Arabs fear of dogs!” In
Wired
magazine, Jamil Dakwar, advocacy director of the ACLU's Human Rights program, said: “That actually raises a lot of concerns about the administration's genuineness in terms of allowing ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) full access, as was promised to the world.” Dakwar added, “They are the only organization that has access to the detainees, and this raises a lot of questions.”

Finally, at the end of a promising first year, WikiLeaks published the first piece of information that would have legal repercussions. In December 2007, Rudolf Elmer, former Chief Operations Officer of the Cayman Islands branch of Swiss bank Julius Baer Group, submitted evidence that the bank was watching him and his family. Elmer tried to broadcast the details of client accounts in 2002 and again in 2005, but without any major repercussions.
The Wall Street Journal
covered the affair, but refused to disclose personal data. Naturally, he then turned to WikiLeaks, which published all the documents it received. The affair didn't get noticed until February 2008, when the bank sent an injunction to the American domain name registrar Dynadot, which hosted WikiLeaks.

Even if this trial were stressful for the organization, Julian was able to joke about it a few months later. He told of the battle between the bank's lawyers, specialized in the entertainment business (lawyers for Céline Dion and Arnold Schwarzenegger), and a collective of defenders of freedom of expression including, among others, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

The injunction to the Dynadot host was rescinded because within one month it caused enough traffic on the Internet that it became obsolete after WikiLeaks' data had been copied on dozens of other servers.

In March 2008, with its visibility on the rise, WikiLeaks published major documents subject to much controversy on the Internet and in the world of secrecy from the Church of Scientology. The release included notes from the Office of Special Affairs and the complete manual of OT Levels, degrees of evolution of the human mind according to the creator of the Church, Ron Hubbard. This posting of the criteria of hierarchical evolution within this organization highlights the perpetual debates of all those who opposed the sect.

In the same month, the site added the publication of a complete version of the international agreement ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). This project brought together several countries working on intellectual property rights. It would create a new body outside existing organizations like the United Nations or World Intellectual Property Organization. The part concerning download services like Pirate Bay sparked much debate with Internet users.

But the site had to look for new means of financing to be able to continue its mission. In August 2008, WikiLeaks tried to propose bidding on leaks about Venezuela. The idea was to sell the exclusivity of these documents to the highest bidder for a certain period. The press organizations contacted were hesitant. There's no quality assurance on the information and an exclusive in the current world of media doesn't last long enough to really
profit from any substantial spending. The offer was not taken up. Julian declared however that the idea was not totally dead, but that it needed a better structure and more resources to organize this type of operation.

At that time, the leaks site was recognized throughout the world as an interesting reference with a few nice publications, but its visibility rarely went beyond the scope of the subject it addressed and the impact was not yet really measurable.

However, in September 2008 the name of WikiLeaks made more headlines as it moved into a more global dimension. The organization aimed at a colorful public figure, one who didn't hesitate to make a scene and threats that were heard around the world. In fact, the site published the Yahoo e-mails of Sarah Palin, Republican vice-presidential candidate at the time.

The problem raised was that she used a personal e-mail account to deal with affairs of the State. In the past, a similar affair turned into a scandal when George W. Bush's team communicated outside government systems, as this is contrary to the elementary American rules that require the recording of all business communication of the State. To divert attention, Sarah Palin cried invasion of privacy because the e-mails also contained family photos.

Always looking for a stronger impact, WikiLeaks, in January 2009, tried a new publishing experience with private data. CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs' medical record could be seen on the site. The copy turned out to be fake and WikiLeaks' credibility was questioned.

February 2009 saw the issue of access to information of American citizens come to the foreground. WikiLeaks published the 6,780 reports of the US Congressional Research Services (CRS),
considered to be the brain of Congress. Only members are authorized to read the reports of this service, whose budget comes close to 100 million dollars. Since 1998, a movement has been fighting to free up access for every citizen, but governments are still not ready to tell all. Their mode of operation doesn't allow for transparency. This showing of information makes them nervous. It's as if everything in your house were suddenly exposed to the light of day, even your family conversations. You'd be weary as well, and even if you had nothing to hide, you'd still be very tense.

In March 2009, an event confronted Julian with his responsibilities and the organization's sources faced the danger of their actions.

Nairobi, Kenya. Two human rights activists were assassinated right on the street after having handed over evidence of police brutality to a United Nations investigator. These activists were also involved in writing a report entitled ‘Cry of Freedom,' denouncing the murders and tortures perpetrated by the Kenyan government. WikiLeaks published this report in November 2008.

Public opinion used these murders to emphasize the organization's inability to protect its sources. Julian defended the organization by revealing the lack of a direct link between the publication and the assassination of these two people. Nevertheless, he used these facts to argue the pressure placed on his group.

WikiLeaks' mission implied the denunciation of all forms of censorship enforced by States. The year 2009 was marked by several revelations to this effect, especially Internet censorship.