From Wikileaks

Science in Africa: Wikileaks: corruption busting technology?

Link

http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2007/february/wikileaks.htm

Country

South Africa

Date

Thursday February 01, 2007

Note

Science in Africa is "Africa's First On-Line Science Magazine"

A new online service dedicated to exposing corruption aims to give whistleblowers the opportunity to do so without being caught.

Still under development, Wikileaks has created a stir on the Internet community, promising to be a safe space for the rapid dissemmination of information exposing corrupt organisations, governments or companies, while the sender remains anonymous and safe.

The identities of the team behind the site are being kept secret, but information posted at the site says that those spearheading the initiative includes dissidents and technologists from China, Europe and South Africa.

The site developers draw their inspiration from the power of public scrutiny to keep governments, officials and corporations toeing the ethical line. The prospect of exposure may be enough incentive they argue to stop corrupt officials taking a risk, or governments misleading their citizens. The owners of the site believe that this form of principled leaking of information can have a positive spin for global governance citing the authoritarian governments in place across much of the world and the increasing authoritarianism of governments in the first world. Targeted primarily at exposing corruption in sub-Sharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the site states that "we also expect to be of assistance to those in the West who wish to reveal unethical behavior of their own governments and corporations".

Anybody can post to the site and also read and comment on other documents. Critics have noted that this opens the site to abuse and misinformation, however the site owners say that this can be controlled through reviewers in each country who will rapidly be able to assess the veracity of documentation submitted. In this way they hope the site will function much as Wikipedia, though there is no formal relation between the two sites.

Placing information on the internet or sending an email is easily traced back to the last sever's IP address. Wikileaks will keep users identity secret and untraceable using mathematical and cryptographic techniques to keep the informant anonymous. According to reports on NewScientist.com, WikiLeaks will exploit an anonymising protocol known as The Onion Router (Tor), which routes data through a network of servers that use cryptography to hide the path that the packets took.

The site which will launch in February or March can be viewed at http://wikileaks.org/