If you thought the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would bring an end to the “Let’s Leak it to the World” phenomenon, not to mention the subsequent fighting about how we should react to these leaks, think again.
OpenLeaks, a similar type of service launched by a former management member of WikiLeaks, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, is launching, and it promises even better protection for would-be whistleblowers.
Before we continue, this article is not to discuss the “right or wrong” implications of these whistleblower sites. Nothing about the launch of OpenLeaks is going to change the way people feel about these entities, nor should it.
This article is merely a conduit explaining the next step in Internet leak life-cycle.
Granted, those out there who thought it began and ended with Assange will be disappointed or possibly angered by this news, but I digress. As for OpenLeaks, again, they are firmly in the camp of protecting those who leak information to them, something the mission statement reveals quite well, as does the above video:
Just in case you can’t decide where the OpenLeaks founder stands, the following responses to Reuters will eliminate any confusion. As far as the leaks themselves, Domscheit-Berg wants total transparency and in today’s world of technology and never-ending strife, especially in the Middle East, his position is easier to understand, at least, to this writer.
"We have to create transparency where it is refused.” Domscheit-Berg goes on to say, “it is our obligation as a society to give these people [the whistleblowers] whatever protection we can give."
Currently, OpenLeaks is still collecting funds needed for its operation, and while the site is currently live, there are no leaks contained within.