Political reforms are driven by fresh information.

Julian Assange *)

WikiLeaks (WL) has brought the "freedom of information" to an entire new level: global media awareness. A handful of technologists collected and published classified information received from whistle blowers on the WL Internet platform. Coordinated with traditional media they released a number of major government as well as corporate secrets to the public.

Julian Assange, the spokesman and face of WL - sometimes also called "the most dangerous man in the world" (a reference to Daniel Ellsberg) - is considered to be the leading figure behind the closed curtains of WL. Besides Daniel Domscheit-Berg who was representing WL next to Assange until 2010, the people who designed and maintained system and helped whistle blowers are not sharing their identities with the public.

In May 2010 Bradley Manning got arrested after being tipped off by Adrian Lamo, an American Government hacker. Manning was accused of having transferred the video material that was later used by WL to produce the film "Collateral Murder". The release of the film made WL "famous" and prepared the grounds for the "Cablegate" release later that year.

With the publicity came not only fame. WL was attacked technically, politically and financially by shutting down its funding channels via PayPal and VISA. Anonymous, a group of hacktivists, stepped in the light of public awareness by running denial-of-service attacks on the companies websites. Later in 2010, WL spokesman Assange became alleged of sexual misconduct in Sweden. Today, he remains in London after a hearing on the 12th and 13th of July 2011 as the court deferred its decision to a later date.

WL last publication was the Guantánamo Bay files leak in April 2011. The electronic submission of files on WL remains closed since early 2011.

*) Source: "The subtle roar of online whistle-blowing" at the New Media Days 2009, http://newmediadays.dk/2009/julian-assange/

Technique Oil on canvas
Size 160cm x 90cm