Wikileaks

A Theoretical Model for the Wikileaks Phenomenon

by Rebeca Pop

Accepted as a top paper at ICA (International Communication Association conference) 2012.

Wikileaks was launched in 2006 and has shortly become a controversial non-profit media organization aiming to leak... more Wikileaks was launched in 2006 and has shortly become a controversial non-profit media organization aiming to leak information from censored or restricted documents by using anonymous sources. Soon after it was launched, Wikileaks developed partnerships with international media outlets such as New York Times, The Guardian, and Der Spiegel, so that the leaks would be republished. This phenomenon raises questions concerning the credibility of the source and the double gatekeeping process (through Wikileaks in the first instance and then through the international media publications named above). The existing theoretical body of knowledge and its concepts (Westley & MacLean, 1957; Shoemaker, & Reese, 1996) seem to be unable to explain the Wikileaks phenomenon. Thus, this paper aims to merge the Westley and MacLean model (1957), the credibility theory (Gass & Seiter, 1999; Perloff, 1993; Whitehead, 1968), the news sociology concepts (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996) in order to create a new gatekeeping model.

America: An Empire In Decline (Part 3)

by Devon DB

Current foreign policy under the Obama administration is examined (from the Cheonan incident to the Arab Spring) and... more Current foreign policy under the Obama administration is examined (from the Cheonan incident to the Arab Spring) and there is a brief examination of what may lay in store for America's future.

La crisis contemporánea de la privacidad de la información: el Maquiavelo de Rousseau como precursor del criptoanarquismo actual liderado por Julian Assange.

by Carlos Yebra Lopez

“Pls Call, Love, Your Wife”: the online response to WikiLeaks’ 9/11 pager messages (2011)

by Lisa Lynch

"We're Going To Crack The World Open;" Wikileaks and the Future of Investigative Journalism (2010)

by Lisa Lynch

Emerging issues in Internet Regulation: The unstable role of WikiLeaks and cyber-vigilantism

by Alison Powell

Presented at OII@10 conference, 2011
**Based on an upcoming chapter entitled “Argument-by-technology: How technical activism
contributes to internet governance” to be published in Research Handbook on Internet Governance,
edited by Ian Brown.**

This paper outlines the emerging issues in internet regulation introduced by distributed organizations and... more This paper outlines the emerging issues in internet regulation introduced by distributed organizations and cyber-vigilantism: notably, the contributions of WikiLeaks and Anonymous to the problematics of internet governance through an uneven disruption of the power held by existing institutions including the state, but also the mass media. Drawing on Christopher Kelty's (2004) observation that persuasive arguments can be made both through language and by technology, it examines how existing definitions of governance, which are often focused on rule-making, engage with this broader set of 'arguments-by-technology' and what the consequences of these new arguments might be. It concludes that WikiLeaks as an exploit of the features of cyberlocker technology and Anonymous' cyber-vigilantism destabilize the historical arguments linking features of internet technology with political features and introduce more nuanced possibilities, including the ability of activist organizations to discredit state-level actors and to influence the process of media production.

Wikipedia and the Utopia of Openness: How Wikipedia Becomes Less Open to Improve its Quality

by Joris Pekel

Final paper for the Digital Methods Course of the MA New Media at the University of Amsterdam

Wikipedia has become an enormous source of information in the last decade. Because of its ubiquitous presence on the... more Wikipedia has become an enormous source of information in the last decade. Because of its ubiquitous presence on the internet and the speed of which it is updated, it has become more than a reference. It becomes 'a first rough draft of history'. In this study the changing politics of openness are analyzed. By looking at both small articles, as well as one extremely popular, the role of openness and transparency within Wikipedia is discussed. In this study I point out that in order to improve the quality of Wikipedia, it is sometimes necessary to limit the amount of openness, which is not a problem as long as the process remains completely transparent. At the same time, more transparency is needed to improve the smaller articles, which are often created by a single person.

Leaving Iraq: Immunity, Impunity, and the End of the War

by Ronald Osborn

Commonweal Magazine, Vol.139, No.5, March 9, 2012 (cover story)

If the logic of empire dictates that U.S. soldiers be placed above or beyond the laws of any land they occupy, even in... more If the logic of empire dictates that U.S. soldiers be placed above or beyond the laws of any land they occupy, even in peaceful, modern, and democratic nations that are close American allies, how much more so in still war-torn Iraq—a country in which documented war crimes involving U.S. forces during the past nine years continue to go unpunished. There are obvious political reasons why the Obama administration refused to leave troops stationed in Iraq without guarantees of immunity from Iraqi law. There are also obvious reasons why the Iraqis refused to accept the neocolonial logic that U.S. soldiers must be granted immunity from the legal jurisdiction of any country that “hosts” them.

Journalism After WikiLeaks Experience

by Aydın Çam

Wikileaks Paranoyası

by Sevket Uyanik

Wikileaks Chaos

Time dergisi Assange’ı kapak yapmış ve altında sormuş; “bir sır bilmek istiyor musunuz?”diye. Evet ben istiyorum!... more Time dergisi Assange’ı kapak yapmış ve altında sormuş; “bir sır bilmek istiyor musunuz?”diye. Evet ben istiyorum! Devlet büyüklerinin(!) o ünlü G-8’lerden G-20’lerden sonra objektiflere gülümsemelerinin ardında ki tüm savaş çığırtkanlıklarının ortaya çıkmasını istiyorum. Tüm devlet liderlerinin birbirlerinin ardından ne numaralar çevirdiklerinin ortaya dökülmesini izlemek istiyorum. ABD’nin ve diğer tüm sömürücü ülkelerin demokrasi adı altında ne tür savaş suçlarını işlediklerini, sivil ölümlerine sebep olduklarını belgeleriyle görmek, bir kez daha onlara lanet okumak istiyorum. Wikileaks paranoyasının, yönetenlerin tüm hücrelerine bulaşmasını istiyorum!

‘War on Terror’ and other counter-measures against terrorism; A threat to human rights?

by Anna Dąbrowska

The essay seeks to answer a question related to US foreign policy during the period from 2001 to the present day, with... more The essay seeks to answer a question related to US foreign policy during the period from 2001 to the present day, with regard to violations that have been committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay. Is the “war on terror” a direct challenge and violation of international law?

Going native or growing cynical: US diplomats' changing sentiment examined using Wikileaks release of US diplomatic cables

by Jon Mellon

Draft only.

The beliefs of leaders regarding the world and the intentions of other countries is strongly influenced by the... more The beliefs of leaders regarding the world and the intentions of other countries is strongly influenced by the information available to them. Much of this information comes through diplomats who provide regular reports on political developments in their host countries. It is widely believed that diplomats who stay too long in a host country have a tendency to sympathise too closely with it or ``go native''. This belief motivates many countries to limit diplomatic tenure in a country to three or four years. If the tendency to sympathise with a host country is true this would provide a source of bias in the beliefs of international policy makers. Conversely, if the belief is false it suggests that many governments are squandering area expertise which may also lead to biases in the information policy makers receive. The tendency for diplomats to go native was tested by coding 240,000 US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks in 2011 according to the sentiment expressed between 2003 and 2010. A negative relationship between the sentiment of diplomat's cables and the length of time they have served was found providing strong evidence against the ``going native'' hypothesis.

Private power and new media: the case of the corporate suppression of WikiLeaks and its implications for the exercise of fundamental rights on the Internet

by Angela Daly

Presented at 4th international conference on Information Law, ICIL 2011, 20-21 May 2011, Thessaloniki, Greece. Go to website, click 'Daly Angela' in the list of speakers and there are links to the abstract, full text of the paper and conference presentation.

An updated version of this piece is included in 'Human Rights and Risks in the Digital Era' published by IGI in April 2012 (http://www.igi-global.com/book/human-rights-risks-digital-era/60788).

The focus of this paper will be the recent conduct of various corporations in withdrawing Internet services provided... more The focus of this paper will be the recent conduct of various corporations in withdrawing Internet services provided to information portal WikiLeaks in light of the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks publishing classified documents of correspondence between the US State Department and its diplomatic missions around the world in late 2010. The implications for freedom of expression (especially the right to access information) on the Internet will be examined in the wake of WikiLeaks, particularly in the context of the infringer being a private actor, and one comprising a mono- or oligopoly. The motivation of these private actors in contributing to the suppression of WikiLeaks will be assessed to examine whether it constitutes an example of Birnhack and Elkin-Koren's 'invisible handshake' i.e. the 'emerging collaboration' between the state and multinational corporations on the Internet that they posit is producing 'the ultimate threat'. The legal recourse open to WikiLeaks and its users for the infringement of fundamental rights will be examined, especially the First Amendment to the US Constitution since the geographic location for these events has mostly been the USA. Finally, the postscript to the WikiLeaks controversy will be considered: the “information warfare” conducted by hackers will be examined to determine whether the exercise of power of these Internet corporations in a way which infringes fundamental rights can be checked by technological means, and whether hackers are indeed the true electronic defenders of freedom of expression.

The Regulation of New Media in Europe

by Angela Daly

Território e materialidade: Wikileaks eo controle do espaço informacional//Territory and materiality: Wikileaks and the control of the informational space

by rodrigo firmino

O fenômeno wikileaks tem despertado a atenção da mídia internacional e vários estudiosos das redes e das tecnologias... more O fenômeno wikileaks tem despertado a atenção da mídia internacional e vários estudiosos das redes e das tecnologias da informação e comunicação, mas tem recebido pouca atenção de geógrafos, urbanistas e arquitetos, ou outros pesquisadores preocupados com o espaço. Pouco ou nada se lê sobre possíveis interpretações territoriais deste caso, ou sobre as condicionantes e conseqüências espaciais deste fenômeno geopolítico, jornalístico e das comunicações. Neste ensaio, discute-se uma abordagem espacial, ou mais especificamente territorial, para explicar a paradoxal coexistência entre a liberdade com que se multiplicam estratégias de protesto, ciberativismo e contra-vigilância no espaço informacional e as tentativas de controle jurídico – e portanto territorial, ou nos limites de territórios de Estados-nação – desses “desvios” nas atividades da rede. O território enquanto conceito geográfico é usado aqui como parâmetro de compreensão do vínculo entre controle e espaço informacional, tendo como referência o caso wikileaks.

Bitcoin: censorship-resistant currency and domain name system to the people

by Barak Dusanson

Bitcoin, the first decentralised currency was launched in 2009. Adopters use free software distributed in peer-to-peer... more Bitcoin, the first decentralised currency was launched in 2009. Adopters use free software distributed in peer-to-peer computer network. The infrastructure provides a unique framework which allows pseudonymous users to make financial transactions stored transparently in the public record. User accounts and transactions cannot be controlled by the third party since the network does not depend upon any money issuing and processing central authority. The convergence of anonymity, transparency and decentralisation has long attracted technological libertarians criticising state interventionism and censorship. Bitcoin created a stir among activists pursuing cryptography in service of empowering civil liberties. It was adopted as a censorship-resistant donation system by organisations including Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freenet, and WikiLeaks. The paper explores the chain of events leading to this situation and examines the libertarian assumptions behind emancipatory promise of the new technology.

Sourced in, unsourced out: Leaking as the common knowledge production

by Barak Dusanson

Essay on Wikileaks' and Wikipedia's seemingly incompatible models of common knowledge production. Essay on Wikileaks' and Wikipedia's seemingly incompatible models of common knowledge production.

Wikileaks versus Capitalism?

by Gulseren Adakli

Angriff auf die letze Bastion: WikiLeaks und die Staatenwelt

by Georg Simmerl

published in: Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte, 03/2011, pp. 61 - 63.

There are two central cleavages at the heart of the dispute between WikiLeaks and the "international... more There are two central cleavages at the heart of the dispute between WikiLeaks and the "international community" of states: on the one hand, there is the contentious relationship between state and non-state actors as dominant theme of globalization. On the other, there is the conflict between secret diplomacy and democratic transparency as the traditional philosophical topos of international relations. What lessons can a progressive social democratic foreign policy in the 21st century draw from this?


Der Auseinandersetzung zwischen Wikileaks und der Staatenwelt liegen zwei zentrale Konfliktlinien zugrunde: das gespannte Verhältnis zwischen staatlichen und nicht-staatlichen Akteuren als dominantes Thema der Globalisierung einerseits, und der Konflikt zwischen diplomatischer Geheimhaltung und demokratischem Transparenzgebot als philosophisches Urtopos der internationalen Beziehungen andererseits. Welche Lehren kann ein progressive sozialdemokratische Außenpolitik im 21. Jahrhundert daraus ziehen?

विकीलीक्स - अराजकतावाद, दहशतवाद, हेरगिरी की निव्वळ वार्तांकन?

by Abhijeet Ranadive

A Marathi article I wrote recently evaluating Wikileaks. Published in the magazine "Aajcha Sudharak" - March 2011.

२८ नोव्हेंबर २०१० रोजी जगभरातल्या अमेरिकी दूतावासांच्या अडीच लाख केबल्समधली गोपनीय माहिती प्रसारमाध्यमांतर्फे जगासमोर... more २८ नोव्हेंबर २०१० रोजी जगभरातल्या अमेरिकी दूतावासांच्या अडीच लाख केबल्समधली गोपनीय माहिती प्रसारमाध्यमांतर्फे जगासमोर उघड होऊ लागली. अनेकांना `विकीलीक्स'च्या अस्तित्वाचा तेव्हा शोध लागला, पण विकीलीक्सचा सर्वेसर्वा असणाऱ्या ज्यूलिअन असांज याने २००६पासून विकीलीक्समार्फत विविध प्रकारची गोपनीय माहिती उघड केलेली आहे. पाश्चिमात्य देशांनी, विशेषत: अमेरिकेने त्याची वेळोवेळी दखलही घेतलेली आहे. आताच्या परिस्थितीत पूर्वीपेक्षा एक फरक मात्र दिसतो आहे : असांजला गौप्यस्फोट करता येऊ नये यासाठी अनेकांनी आता कंबर कसलेली आहे. असांजला आणि त्याच्या विकीलीक्सला जगभरात मिळालेली प्रसिद्धी आणि त्यांना संपवण्याचे होणारे प्रयत्न, यांमुळे या सर्व प्रकाराविषयी विविध मते आणि विचार मांडण्याची अहमहमिका लागलेली आज सर्वत्र दिसते आहे. त्या गदारोळात न सापडता थोडे गंभीर मूल्यमापन करण्याचा प्रयत्न या लेखात केलेला आहे.

पूर्वप्रकाशन: 'आजचा सुधारक' मार्च २०११