Military and government documents, once that were kept completely undisclosed from the public, are now becoming available to the world. Wikileaks, an International media organization, is leaking top-secret files regarding events such as conflict in the Middle East and occurrences on the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Founded in 2006 by Australian journalist and computer hacker Julian Assange, the website helps advocate against censorship and greater freedoms amongst the press.
Assange started Wikileaks with the help of Chinese dissidents, fellow journalist, mathematicians and International start-up companies. However, he denies that he is the “founder” and prefers to call himself as the “editor and chief” of Wikileaks. He sits on the website’s nine-member advisory board and is a top media spokesperson on its behalf.
Unsurprisingly, Wikileaks has caused quite a bit of controversy. In April 2010, a graphic video was posted on the website, which showed an incident from 2007 where two US Army helicopters captured footage of the deaths of2 Reuters reporters, a driver, photographer and Iraqi civilians. The website also received criticism from other nations and government organizations whose files were leaked. In November 2010, they released United States diplomatic cables, which Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said “this disclosure is not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests; it is an attack on the international community.”
Wikileaks will not be slowing down anytime soon. In an interview with Forbes magazine, Assange was quoted as saying another “megaleak” was in the works for the beginning of 2011. He said this would involve “a big U.S. bank”, suspected to be the Bank of America. As a result of this rumor, Bank of America’s stock price fell.