A database of contributors to former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman has been released via the Web site Wikileaks.org. What is Wikileaks?
According to the Wikileaks.org Web site and Wikipedia (which says it has no connection to Wikileaks), Wikileaks launched a little more than two years ago, primarily as a venue for publicizing information from repressive regimes. The early focus, according to the site’s self-description quoted in Secrecy News, was on:
China, Russia, central eurasia, the middle east and sub-saharan Africa, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations.
Key to the enterprise is the claimed ability to shield the source of the leaked information. An early wiki format allowing wide access to posting and editing information on the site quickly changed to a more restrictive structure, governed by a staff and advisory board who mostly remain anonymous.
The site claims to have leaked more than 1.2 million documents, including the U.S. Army handbook for Guantanamo Bay detention camp, secrets of the Church of Scientology and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s e-mails on Yahoo. In the last 24 hours, besides announcing the Coleman leak via Twitter at about 7:30 Tuesday night, wikileaks.org has announced leaks as varied as national press salaries in the United Arab Emirates, a Pentagon memo regarding exposure of U.S. soldiers to toxic waste and information about the Handelsblad Bank.
Last month the tables were turned on Wikileaks when an e-mail listing some of its own financial donors was revealed on the site. They included convicted and reformed hacker Adrian Lamo.
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