Media frenzy fixating on the controversial publications of Wikileaks and the scandals of forerunner Julian Assange has eclipsed focus on the mechanics of the unprecedented whistle-blowing outlet in recent news, leaving the public with a dim vision of how such a heavily opposed entity proceeds to exist.
Grinding on against an international army of governmental scrutiny, the operation continues to publish, begging the questions: How does it work and how is it still alive?
The strategy that has protected the Wikileaks phenomenon involves a complex machine of technological loopholes, alliances with nations supporting the free press and a well-maintained veil of secrecy shrouding the operation’s sources, staff and technicalities.
Wikileaks launched in October 2006, calling itself “an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking.” It has since published a steady feed of secret documents from around the world, illuminating the darker realms of a variety of issues, political and otherwise.
Wikileaks is a nonprofit entity funded by donors and sustained through a network of activists and volunteers. The tightly knit operation currently has no official headquarters and is staffed by a five-person team of full-time administrators along with more than 800 volunteer journalists, who aren’t financially compensated.
The name “Wikileaks” took root when the operation began as a wiki-based organization that allowed users to edit information and submit comments. “Wiki” is not a brand name, and the relationship between Wikileaks and Wikipedia exists only in popular confusion.
Though Wikileaks remains the organization’s title, the interactive international forum for the free press has since abandoned its wiki-based format. Bombarded with scrutiny for publishing documents and analysis with a dangerously indiscriminant lack of censorship, Wikileaks adopted an editorial policy that accepted only documents of “political, diplomatic, historical or ethical interest.”
Submissions have since been filtered and redacted by a review board of volunteers to meet these criteria, and the site no longer accepts posts, comments or editing from the readership.
These modifications have coincided with a series of denial-of-service attacks from U.S.-based hackers, forcing the operation to desert its original server and wikileaks.org domain name. After its severance from several Domain Name System providers following the initial attacks, a plethora of mirror sites made content readily available to any viewer, though submissions are temporarily not open.
To further combat censorship and ensure accessibility, Wikileaks has released a complete collection of its content to four news organizations: Le Monde, El Pais, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.
Wikileaks shields itself with a degree of legal protection by keeping servers on multiple continents and passing its content through free press nations such as Sweden, Belgium and Iceland.
“We use this state-of-the-art encryption to bounce stuff around the internet to hide trails — pass it through legal jurisdictions like Sweden and Belgium to enact those legal protections,” Assange said in an interview at the TED Global 2010 conference.
Assange also told Swiss public television TSR he is strongly considering moving the entire Wikileaks operation to Switzerland, as the neutral territory offers considerable legal protection.
The organization acquires its content by accepting classified media leaked from journalists and whistle-blowers around the globe. Sources have been able to securely submit documents through the site’s electronic drop box, which Wikileaks claimed is “currently closed for reengineering security and useablilty purposes.”
To protect its sources, Wikileaks uses military-grade encryption and employs a variety of security technologies designed to uphold anonymity. The source’s identities are anonymous even to the operators of Wikileaks.
The site’s viewers have also remained anonymous, according to public knowledge, though in recent weeks the U.S. government has demanded detailed personal information for anyone associated with Wikileaks on Twitter. This means if a person has “tweeted” about Wikileaks, they are likely being placed on a watch list complete with their address, usernames, telephone numbers, and payment information.
To further secure the continued accessibility of its content, Wikileaks has also released a heavily encrypted “insurance” file to its Afghanistan War Logs site and a select torrent site. The file, speculated to contain many unpublished controversial diplomatic cables and political documents, has been downloaded more than 100,000 times according to Wikileaks.
Assange has announced the password to the file will be released in the event that Wikileaks ceases to function as an organization, further complicating all efforts aimed at shutting the organization down.
