Former staff fed up with Julian Assange go solo
A rival whistle-blower web site to embattled WikiLeaks is being set up by former staff disillusioned with the organisation.
OpenLeaks will be a non-political web site aimed at publishing information in a low key way, according to a report in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The site will not publish information directly, but disperse it on request to publishing outlets.
"We intend to split the work in a way where we handle only the anonymity and receiving end of the information," a staff member said.
"As a result of our intention not to publish any document directly and in our own name, we do not expect to experience the kind of political pressure which WikiLeaks is under at this time.
"In that aspect, it is quite interesting to see how little of politicians’ anger seems directed at the newspapers using WikiLeaks sources."
The report claimed that there have been long-term problems within WikiLeaks concerning the organisation’s management structure.
Disagreements were so intense that staff intentionally sabotaged the site earlier this year as a protest, an OpenLeaks project member claimed.
"Our long-term goal is to build a strong, transparent platform to support whistle-blowers in terms of technology and politics while encouraging others to start similar projects," said a team member.
"As a short-term goal, this is about completing the technical infrastructure and ensuring that the organisation continues to be democratically governed by all its members, rather than limited to one group or individual."
