Wikileaks - Where Dissidents Worldwide Can Blow The Whistle

Jan 12 2007
TODAY

PARIS - Chinese dissidents, equipped with powerful encryption software,
say they will launch a site designed to let whistleblowers in
authoritarian countries post sensitive documents on the Internet without
being traced.

"Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet
bloc, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of
assistance to those in the West who wish to reveal (the) unethical
behaviour (of) their own governments and corporations," states the site
WikiLeaks (www.wikileaks.org).

WikiLeaks is "an international collaboration, primarily of mathematicians
.. of various backgrounds, some Chinese", said site official Julian
Assange, a cryptographer and member of the advisory board. The Chinese
were not people living in China but expatriates, he added.

The site says it has already received "over 1.1 million documents from
dissident communities and anonymous sources". It maintains that its
software is foolproof and that whistleblowers and journalists will not be
thrown into jail for emailing sensitive documents.

The British weekly New Scientist says in an upcoming report that WikiLeaks
will exploit "an anonymising protocol" called Tor. This protocol routes
data through a network of servers that use cryptography to hide the data
path and make it untraceable.

Though it is not related to the successful online encyclopaedia Wikipedia,
WikiLeaks says "both share the same radically democratic philosophy".

Mr Assange said the group had hoped to launch the site in March and that
they were not fully prepared for the premature publicity that they are now
receiving. - AFP