WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks /ˈwɪkiliːks/ is an international non-profit organisation that publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. Its website, initiated in 2006 in Iceland by the organisation Sunshine Press, claims a database of 10 million documents in 10 years since its launch. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder, editor-in-chief, and director.

The group has released a number of significant documents that have become front-page news items. Early releases included documentation of equipment expenditures and holdings in the Afghanistan war and a report informing a corruption investigation in Kenya. In April 2010, WikiLeaks published gunsight footage from the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike in which Iraqi journalists were among those killed by an AH-64 Apache helicopter, known as the Collateral Murder video. In July of the same year, WikiLeaks released Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the War in Afghanistan not previously available to the public. In October 2010, the group released a set of almost 400,000 documents called the "Iraq War Logs" in coordination with major commercial media organisations. This allowed the mapping of 109,032 deaths in "significant" attacks by insurgents in Iraq that had been reported to Multi-National Force – Iraq, including about 15,000 that had not been previously published. In April 2011, WikiLeaks began publishing 779 secret files relating to prisoners detained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. In November 2010, WikiLeaks collaborated with major global media organisations to release U.S. State Department diplomatic "cables" in redacted format.

During the 2016 US presidential election campaign, Wikileaks released e-mails and other documents from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta. These releases caused significant damage to the Clinton campaign and may have contributed to the Democratic Party's loss. The U.S. intelligence community expressed "high confidence" that the leaked e-mails had been hacked by Russia and supplied to Wikileaks, while Wikileaks denied their source was Russia or any other state. During the campaign, Wikileaks promoted conspiracy theories about Clinton and the Democratic Party.

Wikileaks has drawn criticism for its absence of whistleblowing on or criticism of Russia, and for criticizing the Panama Papers' exposé of Russian businesses and individuals with offshore bank accounts. Wikileaks has also been criticized for inadequately curating its content and violating the personal privacy of individuals. Wikileaks has, for instance, revealed Social Security numbers, medical information, credit card numbers, and other sensitive personal information.

External links

• WikiLeaks @ Wikipedia
• WikiLeaks publishes huge trove of CIA spying documents in 'Vault 7' release @ The Independent, March 2017