This website now hosts WikiLeaks content following Assange's plea deal
Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), a non-profit whistleblower site, has announced its plan to host all content previously published by WikiLeaks. This move comes in the wake of the plea deal of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in June, which required the deletion of any unpublished classified material. The announcement was made at the recent Hackers On Planet Earth conference, where DDoSecrets also unveiled a redesign of its website.
DDoSecrets to republish unaltered data
DDoSecrets is set to republish data identical to that initially released by WikiLeaks. The datasets include the CIA Travel Advice To Operatives, Gitmo Files, and Vaults 7 and 8 - extensive collections of information about CIA malware and hacking campaigns. Also included is a controversial dataset known as The Saudi Cables, which comprises sensitive personal medical data, and the contact details of a Saudi man who was arrested for being gay.
DDoSecrets co-founder discusses data handling
Emma Best, journalist and co-founder of DDoSecrets, spoke with 404 Media about the handling of the data. She stated that while DDoSecrets might have handled the data differently than WikiLeaks, "the data is out there and we shouldn't act as censors for it." Best also highlighted that WikiLeaks "has the problem of being a centralized point of failure." To circumvent similar issues, DDoSecrets intends to provide mirroring guidelines for other sites.
Assange returns to Australia following plea deal
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, in a US court on the Northern Mariana Islands. This plea followed a 14-year legal dispute. He was sentenced to time already served, and returned to Australia on the same day. The plea deal required Assange to delete any as-yet-unpublished classified material, but permitted previously published content to remain online.
