Not to mention a dismissal of the case by the plaintiff bank: http://www.eff.org/cases/bank-julius-baer-co-v-wikileaks
*UPDATE:* Following the hearing, Judge White dissolved his previous orders<http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/baer_v_wikileaks/wikileaks102.pdf>-- citing First Amendment concerns and other arguments raised by the proposed intervenors and amici curiae -- allowing the wikileaks.org domain name to go back up. Julius Baer has subsequently moved to dismiss the case<http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/baer_v_wikileaks/wikileaks105.pdf> . On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 1:10 PM, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Have you heard of the decentralised (no HQ, no office, no CEO) WIKILEAKS?? > > [This has since been started up again due to a change of heart by the > judge in question.] > > http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1545 > Wikileaks Exposes Corporate and Government Secrecy, So It Has Been > Shut Down in the U.S. > Submitted by BuzzFlash on Sat, 02/23/2008 - 9:43am. Guest Contribution > A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION (Special to BuzzFlash.com) > By Jonathan Franklin > > An attempt by a Swiss bank to shut down Wikileaks, a website that > publishes secret military and corporate documents, has backfired into > a fiery debate over Internet freedom. On February 15, Bank Julius Baer > won a court order in San Francisco Federal Court to have the US domain > for the site shuttered, after the controversial whistleblower site > published hundreds of pages of internal bank documents. > > The documents, allegedly given to Wikileaks by a former bank vice > president, purport to show money laundering and tax evasion by the > venerable Geneva-based institution, which manages an estimated 405 > billion Swiss francs (GBP 189.7 billion). Following the court victory, > however, Bank Julius Baer instantly lost what may have been its most > valuable asset – anonymity. > > Hundreds of bloggers, online columnists and websites decried the > bank's move as they launched a counterattack and lobbied in favor of > Wikileaks right to anonymously publish secrets. By Wednesday evening, > less than a week after the court decision, a Google search for the > court case turned up a staggering 69,000 hits. Four hours later, the > tally was 78,000 hits. > > "The infrastructure that wikileaks uses is easily replicated. It is > not unique but potentially very important as it is a format that is > simple, inexpensive to design and easily mirrored. …from a technical > standpoint it is trivial," said John Paulfrey, Executive Director of > the Berkman Center at Harvard. "In a way it is a censors nightmare and > a very good friend to democracy activists in repressive regimes." > > While the Judge's order has blocked the US website address, the banned > documents were plastered around the world on websites from South > Africa to Switzerland. Founders of Wikileaks long ago made contingency > plans by setting up sites around the world including here that > continued to publish thousands of documents and promote what the > website calls "an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document > leaking and public analysis." > > Whether the controversy will also derail Julius Baer's attempt to spin > off Julius Baer Americas, its $73 billion US subsidiary in an IPO > remains unclear. With thousands of Internet users and the worldwide > media now carousing through the bank's internal records, however, > Goldman Sachs will bring a most unusual IPO to market – a secretive > Swiss bank with a controversial Caymen Islands subsidiary under > worldwide scrutiny. > > "The bank is in a tough position. They've gotten an order out of a > judge on very short notice and without Wikileaks represented; as the > case matures, I think the American courts will be reluctant to > maintain the broad remedy of trying to block access to an entire Web > site," says Oxford's Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet > Governance and Regulation. "Wikileaks is just a small example of a > larger phenomenon on today's Internet - data is treated as just heaps > of information, whether it's a song recording or a sensitive bank > document or someone's medical records." > > Wikileaks itself is amorphous. The site has no office. There is no > CEO, no staff list, no organizational chart, just a skeleton advisory > committee that includes Chinese dissidents, an Australian broadcaster, > a Brazilian human rights activist and CJ Hinge, an American draft > resister now living in Thailand. "Wikileaks is a decentralized > phenomenon and that means there are wikileaks volunteers in dozens of > countries. These volunteers form a very loose network so that in fact, > government can't home in on anybody and take drastic action against > them," said Hinge, in a telephone interview from Thailand. "Ordinary > people come across things that governments or companies or individuals > would prefer to keep secret. I think it is possible for almost > everybody to expose these kinds of events on wikileaks." > > The idea of leaking secrets over the web is hardly new. Sites like > www.thesmokinggun have been publishing government secrets for years, > but often stuck between party picturess of drunk celebrities those > documents get lost in the cleavage. John Young's one man > www.cryptome.org has thousands of secret government documents posted, > but the format is so user unfriendly that the information is > practically encrypted to the average internet user. Enter wiki – not > wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopaedia which allows > everyday readers to edit and post encyclopaedic information. No, this > is wiki, the concept of collaborative intelligence. Much like open > source software designs, the wiki concept is based on the simple > premise that thousands of people working together through loose peer > review and public participation can create brilliant results. > Wikileaks has no official relation to the wikipedia site, though both > websites share a faith in free forming networks of Internet users to > produce a better world. > > The first wikileak came in late 2006, as a network of Chinese > dissidents and privacy activists sought to create a public advisory > board. They approached Stephen Aftergood from Secrecy News who not > only refused the offer but criticized the concept, saying "without > accountable editorial oversight, publication can more easily become an > act of aggression or an incitement to violence, not to mention an > invasion of privacy or an offense against good taste." Another > recruit, Young, of Cryptome, went a step further and published on his > website, the private emails from wikileaks soliciting his involvement. > Both incidents created a buzz online. > > "The website essentially exploded," said David Zetland, who was > involved in early planning of the wikileaks site in December 2007. "I > looked at it one day and it was nothing and 3 months later it was > packed with stuff, that was mainly due to Julian's efforts," said > Zetland, founder of www.Rumor-Mill.org, a site that also promotes > whistleblowing. "Julian is the face (of wikileaks). Every once in a > while there were other people's emails ,but he is the one responsible > party. Julian is it." > > "Julian", is Julian Assange, an Australian activist who is widely > credited with being the organizing force behind wikileaks. Assange who > spent years researching the world of computer hacking helped write > "Undercover", the acclaimed history of a band of hackers. In writing > "Undercover," Assange was given front row access to the power of > untraceable computer networks and the splash of releasing secret > information. Assange harvested his knowledge of untraceable computer > networks and the thrill of releasing secret information into his dream > website, creating what one wikileaks press release calls "the most > powerful "intelligence agency" on earth -- an intelligence agency of > the people. "It will be an open source, democratic intelligence > agency." > > With the unanticipated leak by Young, wikileaks lept into the internet > age. Before the site was even working, thousands of internet users > were looking for the page and so by Spring 2007, the website was > public. Wikileaks grew rapidly as activists worldwide turned to its > simple system, log onto a secure server and drop documents. "I got on > board because I saw the perfect opportunity to publish the block > lists. We (Freedom Against Censorship Thailand) were one of the first > aboard. The minute wikileaks was announced we sent them a huge trove > of secret documents," said Hinke, the advisory board member who had > spent years meticulously compiling lists of websites which the Thai > Kingdom deemed off limits for its subjects. > > "Their censorship was not that smart, pretty much anyone with a > rudimentary knowledge of computing could get around it, so we provided > the tools to do it," says Hinke, who noted that in Thailand he could > publicly fight for censorship without fearing for his life. "There are > a lot of countries in the world where wikileaks has exposed government > corruption such as Kenya…as the current slaughter shows, it is not > difficult to be disappeared, tortured or extra judicially murdered in > Kenya right now," explained Hinke. "By decentralizing the network, > whistleblowers are never exposed." > > Kenya is one example of how wikileaks can affect public policy. On > August 31, 2007 , an article in The Guardian cited wikileaks in a > front page story that outlined massive corruption evidence against > former Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi. The 110-page document > prepared by Kroll Associates detailed an estimated US $2 billion in > shell companies, offshore investments and properties run by members of > the Moi administration and its allies. The report destroyed the > anti-corruption platform of Kenyan President Kibaki and helped shift > support to opposition candidate Raila Odinga. > > "In countries where the institutions of power are so entrenched and > the media relatively weak, this is a tremendous leveller of the > playing field," said David Ardia, Director, Citizen Media Law Project > at Harvard law school. "These sites can play a critical role just as > major newspapers in prior decades have in showing abuses of power." > Ardia, who confidently predicted that the current court stipulations > against wikileaks will be overturned, expects that wikileaks-type > sites will proliferate in the future. "There has been a > democratization of the power to publish and users can go to wikileaks > and make their own decision." > While wikileaks founders designed the system to counter the power of > states censors and authoritarian regimes, the website has been hugely > succesful at breaking news in Western democracies. In November 2007, > wikileaks made a huge media splash in the US with the publication of > the 238-page manual for the US Army´s prison at Guantanamo Bay. > Entitled, "Standard Operating Procedures for Camp Delta" the document > is still the most comprehensive guide to day-to-day operations at the > controversial prison. The Guantanamo document, including detailed > descriptions of everything from transfering prisoners to evading > protocols of the Geneva Convention was cited by The New York Times and > The Washington Post. > > Following the Guantanamo revelations, wikileaks continued to publish > sensitive government documents, ranging from lists of military > equipment in Afghanistan to procedures for chasing insurgents from > Iraq into Iran. Earlier this week, wikileaks posted a Homeland > Security guide to the sensitive missile shootdown by the US Navy. "It > used to be a lot easier to deal with whistleblowers you could fire > them, attack them and leave them defenseless," said Greg Mitchell, the > top editor at US magazine Editor & Publisher. "Now the stuff goes up > on the web and when you try and take it down it doesn't go down." > A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION > Jonathan Franklin also writes for the Guardian (UK) and GQ. He can be > reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
