In The News

The Post-WikiLeaks World – Part II

Rebecca Wexler December 17, 2010
After WikiLeaks released secret diplomatic cables, the US government strives to apologize for sensitive breaches in confidences and punish all involved. Internet privacy is elusive for both individuals and powerful institutions, and this two-part series examines responses to leaks from governments and internet chat forums. The second article describes a motley group of strangers who apply...

The Post-WikiLeaks World – Part I

Jamsheed K. Choksy December 15, 2010
Behind closed doors, government officials often relay sentiments that differ from public proclamations, and the public takes this for granted. But release of classified US State Department cables via WikiLeaks has exposed hundreds of specific examples, shocking in their rawness. The release underlines the promises and perils of fast global communications. It is a world where an individual can...

Military Bans Disks, Threatens Courts-Martial to Stop New Leaks

Noah Shachtman December 15, 2010
In a classic case of closing the barn door after the horse has run off, the Pentagon has ordered troops against using CDs, flash drives or other removable devices on the Department of Defense system for classified documents. The military is targeting what it labels an “insider threat,” after the release of thousands of classified US State Department cables. The US suspects a young Army private,...

WikiLeaks and the Long Haul

Clay Shirky December 14, 2010
WikiLeaks continues to surprise US allies and opponents alike on how foreign officials aided and informed US embassy staff. Of course, informants expected confidentiality, and the US government was unprepared for sudden exposure. “For negotiation to work, people’s stated positions have to change, but change is seen, almost universally, as weakness,” explains Professor Clay Shirky in an essay,...

WikiLeaks Battle: A New Amateur Face of Cyber War?

Peter Apps December 9, 2010
Angry amateurs have emerged to disrupt websites of companies that decline to do business with WikiLeaks as it continues gradual release of more than 250,000 US State Department documents. Targets include credit-card companies that decline to accept donated funds to WikiLeaks and technology companies that have dropped their server support. Governments have long anticipated battle with terrorists...

The WikiLeaks Ravage – Part II

Johan Lagerkvist December 8, 2010
WikiLeaks taunt the US government with a daily release of classified diplomatic cables. The US has reacted with fury – far more intense than during previous releases of military documents – and with unprecedented censorship that heightens curiosity and counters democratic values. US leaders simultaneously apologize to foreign counterparts whose confidentiality was compromised and pressure them...

The WikiLeaks Ravage – Part I

Shyam Saran December 6, 2010
WikiLeaks has set out to display 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables, dated 1966 to 2010, exposing blunt US assessments, tactics and conjecture. For the well read, the cables reveal much hypocrisy, but few surprises. This two-part YaleGlobal series explores the consequences of the unprecedented leak from the points of view of diplomacy and internet freedom. The latest release about vital US...