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The 2000s in America

WikiLeaks

by Sally Driscoll

Definition: WikiLeaks is a highly controversial organization that publishes documents and videos intended primarily to expose injustices or promote transparency in government and business

Early Scandals

As the first and largest repository in the world for documents obtained by hacking or leaks, WikiLeaks has been at the center of a flurry of controversy and lawsuits while establishing itself as a premier source for investigative journalists.

WikiLeaks is a nonprofit, activist organization founded in 2007 by Australian computer hacker and journalist Julian Assange and run by an international group of computer programmers, dissidents, journalists, academics, and other volunteers. Although its name resembles that of Wikipedia, there is no affiliation between the organizations. WikiLeaks’ stated mission at first was to expose oppression and injustices in the regimes of countries in Asia, the former Soviet Union, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East; the organization also wanted to provide assistance to whistle-blowers who were willing to expose unethical behavior in their respective governments and businesses. It later revised its mission statement to reference Article 19 of the United Nation’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states the “right to freedom of opinion and expression,” and “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media.” WikiLeaks also specified that it was open to receiving documents from the United States and elsewhere. Anyone could upload documents anonymously to WikiLeaks’ encrypted computers. The documents would then be reviewed for authenticity by a team of legal experts before being published on WikiLeaks.org.

The first major collection of sensitive documents posted on WikiLeaks.org detailed corruption by the former Kenyan leader Daniel arap Moi. In 2008, WikiLeaks posted confidential operating manuals for the treatment of detainees at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, as well as classified documents from the US military that detailed guidelines for the Iraq War. The organization also published leaked documents from an Icelandic bank that revealed sensitive information regarding its collapse. In addition to publishing government and business secrets, WikiLeaks published sensitive documents from the Church of Scientology and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In September 2008, WikiLeaks posted a log of e-mails from vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s personal Yahoo account, which had been hacked by a member of Anonymous (an anonymous activist group). While mostly personal e-mails, the log included some political e-mails that allegedly evaded public records laws. In November 2009, WikiLeaks posted e-mails and other documents composed by scientists at England’s East Anglia University Climatic Research Unit that appeared to expose unethical behavior over global warming research. The information was used by skeptics of global warming and led to major investigations of the researchers, although in the end they were cleared.

By February 2008, WikiLeaks had been targeted with a few lawsuits, but it maintained its right to publish documents based on freedom of the press and free speech, and the cases were dropped. That month, however, a California federal judge forced Dynadot, the Internet host of Wikileaks.org in the United States, to shut down the site after they refused to remove documents that allegedly revealed offshore money laundering and tax evasion by customers of the Swiss Julius Baer Bank and Trust Company. After the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and others intervened, the judge lifted the injunction and allowed WikiLeaks.org back online. As WikiLeaks hosted mirror sites at other locations in the world and its site at Dynadot could still be accessed by savvy computer users, duplicate copies quickly spread among supporters, demonstrating the challenges of removing documents in the cyber world.

Julian Assange leaving the Royal Court of Justice after losing all appeals in the United Kingdom

AUGHTS_WikiLeaks.jpg

(Courtesy Olga Talalay)

A Behind-the-Scenes Glimpse of September 11, 2001

In November 2009, Wikileaks published 573,000 lines of transcribed text that were sent on September 11 and 12, 2001, prior to, during, and after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The collection includes personal messages from individuals, work-related texts from a variety of businesses, and alerts from the military, United States Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other government agencies as they responded to the emergency. The messages were probably intercepted illegally by a scanner, although the source remains anonymous. Some of the messages are anonymous requests for their recipients to phone home, remember a doctor appointment, or pick up a child after school, eerily oblivious to the events that would unfold. Those written later refer frantically to the planes crashing, smoke-filled rooms, or equipment malfunctioning. Some of the more personal messages were probably the last text messages sent from the victims. Others are more cryptic, sent from government personnel in code and later translated by investigative journalists. Overall, the text messages represent a valuable collection for historians and a moving glimpse into humanity on a very tragic day, a departure from the incriminating or classified documents for which WikiLeaks had become known.

Impact

WikiLeaks’ pursuit of truth, transparency, and free speech has posed an unprecedented and formidable threat to governments, individuals, and businesses worldwide. By exposing immoral or illegal behavior, they have risked not only incurring the wrath of numerous people and organizations, but also igniting large-scale diplomatic debacles that could lead to serious conflicts between countries or factions. The organization’s support for hacking and whistle-blowing has caused organizations to tighten security for computer systems and to implement measures that safeguard printed documents. WikiLeaks has also tested international law, influencing investigative journalism, and changing history with their collection of provocative documents.

Further Reading

1 

Duchschere, Kevin. “Website Describes How It Got Donor List.” Star Tribune [Minneapolis] 18 Mar. 2009: B5. Print. Details WikiLeaks’ publication of Republican Norm Coleman’s donor list while he was challenging Democrat Al Franken’s win in the US Senatorial race.

2 

Liptak, Adam, and Brad Stone. “Judge Orders Wikileaks Web Site Shut.” New York Times. New York Times, 19 Feb. 2008. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. Provides the facts and an analysis of the erroneous decision made by a federal judge in the Julius Baer Bank–WikiLeaks lawsuit.

3 

Ludlow, Peter. “WikiLeaks and Hacktivist Culture.” Nation 4 Oct. 2010: 25–26. Print. Discusses the Ethics of Julian Assange and the International Hacking Culture.

4 

Ottosen, Rune. “WikiLeaks: Ethical Minefield or a Democratic Revolution in Journalism?” Journalism Studies 13.5–6 (2012): 836–46. Print. Examines the ethical issues surrounding the use of WikiLeaks as a source in reporting.

5 

Singel, Ryan. “Immune to Critics, Secret-Spilling Wikileaks Plans to Save Journalism . . . and the World.” Wired. Condé Nast, 3 July 2008. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. Explores the effects of WikiLeaks on investigative journalism and the idealistic motivations behind the organization.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Driscoll, Sally. "WikiLeaks." The 2000s in America, edited by Craig Belanger, Salem Press, 2013. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=2000_0398.
APA 7th
Driscoll, S. (2013). WikiLeaks. In C. Belanger (Ed.), The 2000s in America. Salem Press.
CMOS 17th
Driscoll, Sally. "WikiLeaks." Edited by Craig Belanger. The 2000s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2013. Accessed September 18, 2025. online.salempress.com.