OpenLeaks can be seen as a kind of sober, neutral infrastructure. We see ourselves as technological engineers, not as media stars or global galactic saviors. Some people may even think we’re boring. That’s just how we want to be. The main thing is that the system works.
TODAY, in January 2011, I’m at much the same point as I was a year ago, when we thought it would be possible to reestablish WL on a new footing. With OpenLeaks, we’re trying to build up something we believe is the best way to solve a few of the world’s problems. If 2010 was the year of media hype, 2011, we hope, will be the year of substance.
As I was writing my story, new facts were revealed and some of my questions were answered. At the same time, the picture of WikiLeaks’s actual situation has become increasingly opaque. We are flooded by media information, and this encourages conspiracy theories, rumors, and myths, creating confusion and deflecting attention from the genuine issues.
In order to dispel the confusion and clear up the mysteries surrounding WL, we need answers to certain questions. They include:
• What is WikiLeaks’s financial situation? What have donations been used for? And who decides how money is allocated?
• What is the current organizational and decision-making structure? How are responsibilities divided up?
• What did Julian mean when he reportedly told the Guardian that he had a financial interest in how and when the diplomatic cables were published?
• What roles do WL’s representatives in Russia and Scandinavia, Israel Shamir and Johannes Wahlström, a father an son with a record of anti-Semitism, play at WikiLeaks?
• What kinds of deals have Wahlström and Shamir arranged with media outlets?
• Are there other WL brokers who have provided media outlets with material, and if so, on what terms?
• Do Julian Assange, other people involved with WikiLeaks, or their companies profit from any such deals?
Only when the specific facts are sorted out will we understand how things have come to be the way they are. Only then can we answer the question of what went wrong with WikiLeaks and the brilliant idea of using a state-of-the-art tool to make matters of urgent public concern truly transparent.
Our society needs citizens capable of thinking and acting on their own. People who do not shy away from critical questions because they’re afraid of being disappointed. Our society needs individuals who are able to distinguish good information from bad and to make good decisions based on that knowledge, instead of relinquishing all personal responsibility to messiahs, leaders, and alpha wolves.
I have often been asked if my departure from WikiLeaks was disillusioning. I always answered in the affirmative. In the beginning, I was particularly disillusioned in an emotional sense. But in the past few weeks, especially in the course of working on this book, I came to realize that disillusionment also means being freed from illusions. That is constructive. It helps you to better understand your reality. And that, perhaps, is a truly good omen.
A LOT of people are responsible for the existence of this book and the story behind it, and I would like to give my thanks especially to:
Tina Klopp for sharing two productive months and writing out all my stories in such a short time.
My editor, Silvie Horch, and the rest of the excellent team at Econ Books, without whose expertise and flexibility there would have been no way this book could have been published so quickly.
My agent, Barbara Wenner, for her first-rate assistance from the genesis of this book to its publication and beyond.
The colleagues at the foreign publishers who translated this book so that it could be published in seventeen countries thus far. In particular, Charlie Conrad from Crown Publishers in America for valuable feedback on the book’s content.
The attorneys Markus Kompa and Dr. Sven Krüger, as well as Amanda Telfer and Matthew Martin, for invaluable feedback on the content.
My family, for giving me the values that make me who I am.
My wife, Anke, who is my equal, and my son, Jacob.
The Chaos Computer Club and its chaotic members, for too many things to list.
The makers of Club-Mate. What would I be without you? Probably very tired.
The Internet, for always striking back.
Everyone who was directly or indirectly involved in the WL show over the past three years. Without you, nothing would have been possible.
The numerous sources whose material we published. If a few more people had your courage, the world would be a much better place.
Julian Assange, for manifesting an idea and bringing it into my life.
The OpenLeaks team, for keeping up the good work!
DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG is a computer scientist who worked in IT security prior to devoting himself full-time to WikiLeaks. He remains committed to freedom of information on the Internet. Today he and other former WikiLeaks people are working on a more transparent secret-sharing website called OpenLeaks to be launched in early 2011. He lives in Berlin with his family.
TINA KLOPP was born in 1976 in Hamburg. She received a degree from the German School of Journalism in Munich and was the recipient of the Friedwart Bruckhaus Prize in 2006 and the 2010 Radio Play Prize of the German Literary Foundation. She currently works as a journalist at Zeit Online.
Inside WikiLeaks Page 24