WikiLeaks encouraged Guccifer 2.0, the online persona of the Russian operatives, to provide it with the Democratic documents because it would have a much higher impact, according to court papers.

Whether anyone connected with the Trump campaign worked with Mr. Assange or others to carry out Russias scheme to interfere in the 2016 presidential race is at the heart of Mr. Muellers inquiry.

So far, no evidence has publicly emerged that anyone in the Trump campaign conspired with Moscows disruption, and Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia. But the special counsels office continues to summon witnesses before a federal grand jury, asking about interactions between allies of Mr. Trump and Mr. Assange through intermediaries or other means.

What has become abundantly clear since the election is that various associates of Mr. Trumps tried their best to figure out what information Mr. Assange possessed, how it might harm the Clinton campaign and when he planned to release it.

About a month before the election, for instance, Donald Trump Jr., a key adviser to his father, sent WikiLeaks a private message on Twitter asking about speculation that Mr. Assange planned to soon release documents that would prove devastating to Mrs. Clinton. Whats behind this Wed leak I keep reading about? he asked. He has said he got no response and never corresponded with WikiLeaks again.

Charges against Mr. Assange would be a big step, said Joshua Geltzer, a former official in the Justice Departments national security division. But, he added, the precise nature of the charges may not be known until Mr. Assange is in the custody of American officials. Mr. Assange has lived in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, forced there as he sought refuge from Swedish prosecutors who pursued him on charges of sexual abuse.

The government has certainly been concerned about and looking at Assange for a long time, Mr. Geltzer said. Ultimately, the stakes are high in this one, given the complexities of the case, and the government must be prepared for that going in.

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How the Trump Administration Stepped Up Pursuit of WikiLeaks ...

Julian Assange's decision to run for the Australian Senate was announced via the WikiLeaks Twitter account in March 2012.[7] The intent to form a WikiLeaks Party was announced by Assange in late 2012,[5][8] and Assange stated that the party was to be a vehicle for his candidacy for a seat in the Australian Senate in the 2013 election.[5][9]

On 23 March 2013 the WikiLeaks Party submitted its registrations to the Australian Electoral Commission. The party had over 1300 fee-paying members.[10] The application was accepted and the party was registered as a political party on 2 July 2013.[11]

The party was involved in Glenn Druery's Minor Party Alliance around the 2013 federal election, but left after deciding not to preference as per Druery's advice.[12][13][14]

Assange is a native of Australia.[5] Since July 2012 Assange has lived in the Embassy of Ecuador, London, having been granted political asylum by Ecuador in an attempt to avoid arrest by UK authorities.[15] Assange is unable to leave the Embassy without being arrested by the Police Forces of the United Kingdom acting on an extradition order placed on him to travel to Sweden to answer allegations of rape and sexual molestation of two Swedish women. Assange fought the extradition order in the UK Court system from December 2010, however, subsequently both the UK High Court of Justice and the UK Supreme Court ruled that the extradition order had been lawfully made and duly dismissed Assange's request for an appeal against the extradition warrant.[17][18]

The party fielded candidates for the Australian Senate in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.[19] Two polling experts rated the WikiLeaks Party's electoral chances as highly unlikely.[20]

Christine Milne, leader of the Australian Greens, was positive about the emergence of the WikiLeaks Party as part of a move away from Australia's two-party system. However, the Greens said they had no intention of stepping aside for Assange in the Victoria Senate election.[21] Similarly, the Socialist Equality Party reaffirmed its intention to defend Assange against persecution but refused to endorse the WikiLeaks Party, stating that this position represents the "interests of the working class".[22]

Professor Anne Twomey, an expert on Australian constitutional law at the University of Sydney, suggested that if Assange were elected, this could be found invalid in the event of a legal challenge if a court ruled that his relationship with Ecuador breached the prohibition against the election of people "under any [acknowledgement] of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power".[23]

The party's campaign was thrown into turmoil just weeks before the election when members objected strongly to the party's voting preferences - see single transferable vote. In New South Wales, a fascist group was placed above the Greens, while in Western Australia the National Party was placed above Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, a strong supporter of WikiLeaks and Assange. The WikiLeaks Party blamed an unspecified "admin error" and announced an independent review would be held after the election.[24] When National Council members complained, CEO John Shipton attempted to subvert them and create a new power base. Leslie Cannold, Assange's running mate in Victoria, resigned along with many volunteers and members of the National Council.

The party published a short, inconclusive review by a party member five months later.[25] Former member Gary Lord responded with a comprehensive 20-page report fully examining the party's failures.[26]

Assange failed in his bid for a Senate seat. It is difficult to separate out his personal vote under the single transferable vote system. The party received 33,683 votes in Victoria from electors who voted the WikiLeaks ticket, with Assange at its head, and Assange received an additional 8,016 first preference votes from electors who numbered the candidates individually.[27] The party as a whole received 1.24%, the 7th highest primary vote in Victoria, and reached the 26th round of ballot before being eliminated without the opportunity to receive preference flows. The party received 88,100 votes or 0.66% nationally but only contested seats in three States. Gerry Georgatos came closest to winning a Senate seat for the WikiLeaks Party, reaching the 19th round with only seven rounds to go before being eliminated, also before any opportunity to receive preference flows. He fell about 3,000 primary votes short of being elected, but given that the party received only 9,767 primary votes in Western Australia, this was a large gap.[28]

The WikiLeaks Party candidates for the 2013 election were as follows:[29]

Victoria

New South Wales

Western Australia

The WikiLeaks Party subscribes to a libertarian ideology. Specific policies for the 2013 election included: introduction of a national shield law to protect a reporter's right not to reveal a source[39] and; "promoting free information and protection for whistle-blowers."[40]

CEO John Shipton stated that "The party stands for what Julian espouses transparency and accountability in government and of course human rights."[41] Assange himself has said the WikiLeaks Party would combine "a small, centralised leadership with maximum grassroots involvement," and that the party would advance WikiLeaks' objectives of promoting openness in government and politics, and that it would combat intrusions on individual privacy.[5][8][42][43] The Voice of Russia stated that Shipton in an interview "praised Russian diplomatic skills and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Shipton and the WikiLeaks Party believe that the Russian President and Foreign Ministry are forces for peace."[44]

Assange has been reported as saying that he envisions the WikiLeaks Party as bound together by unswerving commitment to the core principles of civic courage nourished by understanding and truthfulness and the free flow of information, and one that will practise in politics what WikiLeaks has done in the field of information.[45] The Constitution of the WikiLeaks Party lists objectives, including: the protection of human rights and freedoms; transparency of governmental and corporate action, policy and information; recognition of the need for equality between generations; and support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination.[45] The WikiLeaks Political party has criticised the Telstra Group's relationship with the FBI and US Department of Justice.[46][47]

In December 2013 a delegation from the party, including its chairman John Shipton, visited Syria and met with President Bashar al-Assad with the goals of demonstrating "solidarity with the Syrian people and their nation" and improving the party's understanding of the country's civil war. In a statement issued shortly before the visit, the WikiLeaks Party stated that it opposed outside intervention in the war, supported a negotiated peace process, and described reports of the Ghouta chemical attack by forces loyal to al-Assad in August 2013 as being "unsubstantiated" and comparable to the concerns which were raised over the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction program prior to the Iraq War.[48][49] The meeting with President al-Assad was attended by National Council members John Shipton, Gail Malone and by former National Council member Jamal Daoud.[4]

The meeting with Assad was criticized by the Australian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and many WikiLeaks supporters. Shipton stated that the meeting with al-Assad was "just a matter of good manners", and that the delegation had also met with members of the Syrian opposition.[50] These meetings with the opposition have not been verified. Former National Council member and advocate for Shias in Sydney,[51][52] Jamal Daoud (resigned from the Greens over differences), who accompanied Shipton on the trip, expressed support for Assad on Twitter and on his blog.[53][54][55]

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WikiLeaks Party - Wikipedia

2. Act normal

If you are a high-risk source, avoid saying anything or doing anything after submitting which might promote suspicion. In particular, you should try to stick to your normal routine and behaviour.

If you are a high-risk source and the computer you prepared your submission on, or uploaded it from, could subsequently be audited in an investigation, we recommend that you format and dispose of the computer hard drive and any other storage media you used.

In particular, hard drives retain data after formatting which may be visible to a digital forensics team and flash media (USB sticks, memory cards and SSD drives) retain data even after a secure erasure. If you used flash media to store sensitive data, it is important to destroy the media.

If you do this and are a high-risk source you should make sure there are no traces of the clean-up, since such traces themselves may draw suspicion.

If a legal action is brought against you as a result of your submission, there are organisations that may help you. The Courage Foundation is an international organisation dedicated to the protection of journalistic sources. You can find more details at https://www.couragefound.org.

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WikiLeaks - Leaks

There have been reports that a government inquiry prompted us not to serve WikiLeaks any longer. That is inaccurate.

There have also been reports that it was prompted by massive DDOS attacks. That too is inaccurate. There were indeed large-scale DDOS attacks, but they were successfully defended against.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) rents computer infrastructure on a self-service basis. AWS does not pre-screen its customers, but it does have terms of service that must be followed. WikiLeaks was not following them. There were several parts they were violating. For example, our terms of service state that you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity. Its clear that WikiLeaks doesnt own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content. Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they werent putting innocent people in jeopardy. Human rights organizations have in fact written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution and not release the names or identities of human rights defenders who might be persecuted by their governments.

Weve been running AWS for over four years and have hundreds of thousands of customers storing all kinds of data on AWS. Some of this data is controversial, and thats perfectly fine. But, when companies or people go about securing and storing large quantities of data that isnt rightfully theirs, and publishing this data without ensuring it wont injure others, its a violation of our terms of service, and folks need to go operate elsewhere.

We look forward to continuing to serve our AWS customers and are excited about several new things we have coming your way in the next few months.

Amazon Web Services

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WikiLeaks - aws.amazon.com

Long after the debate over the publication of these cables has been forgotten, the documents themselves will remain a valuable archive for scholars and students of US foreign policy. The essays that make up The WikiLeaks Files shed critical light on a once secret history. Edward J. Snowden, July 2015

Adeep dive into what the cables reveal about Americas dealings with a variety of states. It will be left to other books to argue whether WikiLeaks is right or wrong in their mission and approach. This one gives solid context to the cables themselves, explaining what they mean to the wider world.Kirkus Reviews

Takes on a huge amount of data and delivers a thorough introduction to the narratives of US policy that the cables reveal [and] makes the information in the cables accessible to a wide audience of readers who may not otherwise have the time or background knowledge to search through the data themselves.Publishers Weekly

Provides accessible insight into nearly every major news topic of today. Portland Press Herald

From government to big business, if you have a dirty secret, WikiLeaks is your nightmare. Guardian

Ive heard the impact of these releases on our foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer and so on ... Is this embarrassing? Yes. Is it awkward? Yes. Bob Gates, US Secretary of Defense, 2010

The guy ought to be ... and Im not for the death penalty, so if Im not for the death penalty, theres only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch. Bob Beckel, Fox News

The whole weighty book is a missile aimed at breaking the plate glass of US diplomacy and revealing its motivations. Sydney Morning Herald

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The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire ...

Newswire articleTuesday, March 07, 2017 Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools RevealedToday, Tuesday 7 March 2017, WikiLeaks begins its new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named "Vault 7" by WikiLeaks, it is the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency. The first full part of the series, "Year Zero", comprises 8,761 documents and...Read more Newswire articleFriday, November 25, 2016The Yemen FilesToday, Friday 25th November, WikiLeaks releases The Yemen Files. The Yemen Files are a collection of over 500 documents from the United States embassy in Sana'a, Yemen. Comprising of over 200 emails and 300 PDFs, the collection details official documents and correspondence pertaining to the Office...Read more Newswire articleFriday, October 09, 2015TPP Treaty: Intellectual Property Rights Chapter - 5 October 2015Today, 9 October, 2015 WikiLeaks releases the final negotiated text for the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP encompasses 12 nations representing more than 40 per cent of global GDP. Despite a final agreement, the text is still being withheld from the...Read more Newswire articleFriday, July 31, 2015Target TokyoToday, Friday 31 July 2015, 9am CEST, WikiLeaks publishes "Target Tokyo", 35 Top Secret NSA targets in Japan including the Japanese cabinet and Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi, together with intercepts relating to US-Japan relations, trade negotiations and sensitive climate change strategy...Read more Newswire articleWednesday, July 08, 2015All The Chancellor's MenToday, Wednesday 8 July at 1800 CEST, WikiLeaks publishes three NSA intercepts of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, together with a list of 56 National Security Agency (NSA) target selectors for the Chancellor and the Chancellery. It lists not only confidential numbers for the Chancellor, but also...Read more Newswire articleTuesday, June 02, 2015WikiLeaks Issues Call for $100,000 Bounty on Monster Trade TreatyToday, WikiLeaks has launched a campaign to crowd-source a $100,000 reward for America's Most Wanted Secret: the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Over the last two years, WikiLeaks has published three chapters of this super-secret global deal, despite unprecedented efforts by negotiating...Read more Newswire articleThursday, December 18, 2014CIA Report Warned Assassination Programme Might Backfire WikiLeaks today, Thursday 18th December, publishes a review by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of its "High Value Target" (HVT) assassination programme. The report weighs the pros and cons of killing "insurgent" leaders in assassination plots. After the report was prepared, US drone strike...Read more Newswire articleThursday, June 19, 2014Wikileaks Publish Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services AnnexToday, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Financial Services Annex, which covers 50 countries and 68.2%1 of world trade in services. The US and the EU are the main proponents of the agreement, and the authors of most joint changes, which also covers cross-border data flow. In a significant anti-transparency manoeuvre by the parties, the draft has been classified to keep it secret not just during the negotiations but for five years after the TISA enters into force.Read more Newswire articleTuesday, June 17, 201459 International Organizations Call Upon UN to Remedy Human Rights Violations in Pre-Charge Detention of Wikileaks Publisher Julian AssangeBefore the United Nations this Sunday, 26 international human rights, fair trial, and jurist organizations, and 33 Latin American civil society organisations, condemned Swedens violation of the fundamental human rights of WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, who has experienced protracted pre-charge detention stemming from a Swedish investigation which has yet to charge him. Mr. Assanges pre-charge detention has spanned nearly four years as US Federal Grand Jury prepares a criminal case against WikiLeaks and its officers.Read more Newswire articleFriday, May 23, 2014WikiLeaks Statement on the Mass Recording of Afghan Telephone Calls by the NSAThe National Security Agency has been recording and storing nearly all the domestic (and international) phone calls from two or more target countries as of 2013. Both the Washington Post and The Intercept (based in the US and published by eBay chairman Pierre Omidyar) have censored the name of one of the victim states, which the latter publication refers to as country "X".Read more

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WikiLeaks | Organization | Common Dreams

Facts:WikiLeaks is an organization that facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information through its website. It was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange, activist, computer programmer and hacker. Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst who provided WikiLeaks with classified documents, was convicted of violating the Espionage Act in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Her sentence was later commuted by President Barack Obama. Timeline:December 2007 - WikiLeaks posts the US Army manual for soldiers dealing with prisoners at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay.

March 2008 - WikiLeaks posts internal documents from the Church of Scientology.

November 2008 - WikiLeaks posts a list of names and addresses of people it claims belong to the far-right British National Party.

April 5, 2010 - A classified military video is posted by WikiLeaks. It shows a US Apache helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and a number of Iraqi civilians in 2007. The military claimed that the helicopter crew believed the targets were armed insurgents, not civilians.

July 6, 2010 - The military announces it has charged Manning with violating army regulations by transferring classified information to a personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system and of violating federal laws of governing the handling of classified information.

November 28, 2010 - WikiLeaks begins publishing approximately 250,000 leaked State Department cables dating back to 1966. The site says the documents will be released "in stages over the next few months."

November 28, 2010 - The WikiLeaks website suffers an attack designed to make it unavailable to users. A Twitter user called Jester claims responsibility for the attack.

December 1, 2010 - Amazon removes WikiLeaks from its servers.

April 24, 2011 - Nearly 800 classified US military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed in Guantanamo Bay.

September 2, 2011 - WikiLeaks releases its archive of more than 250,000 unredacted US diplomatic cables.

October 24, 2011 - WikiLeaks announces that it is temporarily halting publication to "aggressively fundraise." Assange states that a financial blockade by Bank of America, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union has cut off 95% of WikiLeaks' revenue.

December 16, 2011 - Manning's Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing that will determine whether enough evidence exists to merit a court-martial, begins.

February 23, 2012 - Manning is formally charged with aiding the enemy, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet, transmitting national defense information and theft of public property or records.

July 5, 2012 - WikiLeaks begins publishing more than 2.4 million emails from Syrian politicians, government ministries and companies dating back to 2006.

July 30, 2013 - Manning is acquitted of aiding the enemy, but found guilty on 20 other counts, including violations of the Espionage Act.

August 22, 2013 - Through a statement read on NBC's Today show, Manning announces he wants to live life as a woman and wants to be known by his new name, Chelsea Manning.

April 23, 2014 - A Kansas judge grants Manning's request for a formal name change from Bradley to Chelsea.

January 12, 2017 - WikiLeaks tweets that Assange will agree to be extradited to the US if Obama grants clemency to Manning.

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WikiLeaks Fast Facts - CNN

Today, 28th of April, 2017, Courage announces publishing organisation WikiLeaks as its newest beneficiary. The announcement follows reports that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is now preparing charges against WikiLeaks members, in particular its founding editor Julian Assange.

The DOJ has been running an unprecedented and wide-ranging investigation into WikiLeaks for its publishing and sourcing work since 2010. It has involved paid informers, illegal interrogations in Europe and secret search warrants. Recently CIA Director Mike Pompeo called WikiLeaks a hostile intelligence service.

Offences cited through the investigation, and allegedly in the charges, include conspiracy, espionage and theft of government property. Recent reports cite Cablegate, the Iraq and Afghan War Logs and Vault 7 publications as well as WikiLeaks work in getting NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden asylum, as key to the investigation.

This is about more than one publisher. It is about press freedom more broadly and the steady erosion of the First Amendment in the United States. The Obama Administration prosecuted more whistleblowers than all presidents before combined, and ran the longest investigation into a publisher ever in the US with its WikiLeaks Grand Jury. It has continued to the point where Trumps Department of Justice has stated that charging WikiLeaks Editor, Julian Assange, is now a priority.

Courages chief demand is for the US to close the Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks and to drop any charges against any WikiLeaks staff. Courages campaign for WikiLeaks is launched on a new site, IamWikiLeaks.org, along with information on the continuing work of WikiLeaks and the actions taken against it. You can follow @CourageWL on Twitter for updates. Courage needs your help to fund WikiLeaks team of lawyers in multiple jurisdictions: https://iamwikileaks.org/donate

This is the first time Courage has taken on an organisation, as opposed to an individual, as a beneficiary. We are working to ensure the protection of all WikiLeaks staff, including Julian Assange, Joseph Farrell, Sarah Harrison and Kristinn Hrafnsson.

Because she is now a beneficiary, Sarah Harrison will be stepping down from her role as Acting Director of Courage and the Trustees will take on high-level managing decisions.

Julian Assange continues to be arbitrarily detained in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has asylum due to the US threats against him.

Courage Trustee and journalist John Pilger said:

In standing up for WikiLeaks, we are defending courage the courage of those who say no to the perennial bullies seeking a divine power over human affairs. Founded and led by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks has provided people all over the world with an armory of truth about wars and politics and the aims of violent, unaccountable power. This is real journalism and a principle of freedom so fundamental that its defeat would mean the conquest of all of us.

Fellow Trustee and human rights lawyer Renata Avila said:

What we are defending here is larger than Wikileaks: we are defending the ability of journalists and citizens, regardless of their nationality, to hold accountable the most powerful government in the World by exposing its secrets, uncovering wrongdoing, and keeping us all informed. The fight for press freedom is more urgent than ever. Will your voice be silenced? Or will you join us to tell them, THIS ENDS NOW.

WikiLeaks members have several lawyers in many different countries and jurisdictions, and Courage needs your help to fund them: https://iamwikileaks.org/donate

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I am WikiLeaks

Image caption Wikileaks has established a reputation for publishing sensitive materials

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has dominated the news, both because of its steady drip feed of secret documents, but also because of the dealings of its enigmatic front man Julian Assange.

The recent release of thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables is just the latest in a long list of "leaks" published by the secretive site, which has established a reputation for publishing sensitive material from governments and other high-profile organisations.

In October the site released almost 400,000 secret US military logs detailing its operations in Iraq.

They followed hot on the heels of nearly 90,000 classified military records, which gave an insight into the military strategy in Afghanistan.

And in April 2010, for example, Wikileaks posted a video on its website that shows a US Apache helicopter killing at least 12 people - including two Reuters journalists - during an attack in Baghdad in 2007.

A US military analyst is currently awaiting trial, on charges of leaking the material along with the cables and military documents.

However, the site's recent prominence is part of a longer and controversial history that started in December 2006, when it first hit the net.

Since that time it has split opinion.

Spotlight on 'sensitive' sites

For some it is lauded as the future of investigative journalism; it has been described as the world's first stateless news organisation.

For others - particularly the governments and corporations whose secrets it exposes - it is a risk.

In October 2009, it posted a list of names and addresses of people it claimed belonged to the British National Party (BNP). The BNP said the list was a "malicious forgery".

And during the 2008 US elections, it published screenshots of the e-mail inbox, pictures and address book of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Other controversial documents hosted on the site include a copy of the Standard Operating Procedures for Camp Delta, a document that detailed restrictions placed on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Many of these were uploaded to the website, which allows anyone to submit documents anonymously.

However, a team of reviewers - volunteers from the mainstream press, journalists and Wikileaks staff - decides what is published.

"We use advanced cryptographic techniques and legal techniques to protect sources," Mr Assange told the BBC in February.

The site says that it accepts "classified, censored or otherwise restricted material of political, diplomatic or ethical significance" but does not take "rumour, opinion or other kinds of first hand reporting or material that is already publicly available".

"We specialise in allowing whistle-blowers and journalists who have been censored to get material out to the public," said Mr Assange.

It is operated by an organisation known as the Sunshine Press and claims to be "funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the general public".

Since Wikileaks first appeared on the net, it has faced various legal challenges to take it offline. Prior to the most recent leaks, it said it had fought off more than 100 legal challenges successfully.

In 2008, for example, the Swiss bank Julius Baer won a court ruling to block the site after Wikileaks posted "several hundred" documents about its offshore activities. It was eventually overturned.

But more recently, the site has faced new challenges.

The private life of Mr Assange, its editor-in-chief, has been laid bare and it has lost key staff and supporters.

The site has also been targeted in a series of cyber attacks. Various firms - including web giant Amazon - have also terminated agreements to host the site and provide services to it.

In addition, companies - including Mastercard, Visa and PayPal - have withdrawn the ability that allows people to donate to the site. Its Swiss bank account has also been closed.

But it is not the first time that the site has faced financial problems. In February 2010 it suspended operations as it could not afford its own running costs. Donations from individuals and organisations saved the site.

Only time will tell, if it can do it again with many sources of funding now cut off.

Despite all of these setbacks, Wikileaks has largely remained defiantly online. It has moved its operations between various companies and countries. It has also encouraged volunteers to set up "mirrors" of the site - hosted on different servers around the world.

"[To] keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions," Mr Assange said earlier this year.

Throughout its history, the site has been supported and hosted by the Swedish ISP PeRiQuito (PRQ), which became famous for hosting file-sharing website The Pirate Bay.

"If it is legal in Sweden, we will host it, and will keep it up regardless of any pressure to take it down," the ISP's site says.

The ISP continues to host its most recent - and most controversial - documents.

The site also hosts documents in other jurisdictions, including France.

Its experience of different laws around the world meant that it was drafted to help Icelandic MPs draw up plans for its Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) earlier this year

The plan calls on the country's government to adopt laws protecting journalists and their sources.

Its involvement in the IMMI gave the site a new credibility.

At the same time, it has grown and gained more notoriety.

The site's rapid expansion - and the amount of material it has recently received - has meant that it has had to change its tactics.

In the past, it was able to verify and publish documents itself.

But for its most recent leaks it has adopted a new tactic - partnering with news organisations such as the Guardian, Der Spiegel and the New York Times - to help check and distribute the material.

"We take care of the source and act as a neutral intermediary and then we also take care of the publication of the material whilst the journalist that has been communicated with takes care of the verification," Mr Assange said earlier this year.

"It provides a natural connection between a journalist and a source with us in the middle performing the function that we perform best."

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What is Wikileaks? - BBC News

"Ecuador suspended Assanges communication systems in March after his pointed political comments on Twitter. Assange had tweeted messages challenging Britains accusation that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Salisbury."https://www.theguardian.com//ecuador-to-remove-julian-assa

The bottom line here is that when Wikileaks emerged on the scene, having gained access (through relatively and widely perceived secure me...thods of anonymous whistleblowing) to the US-NATO's and other governmental power elites' secrets, its existence forced the NYT, Guardian and other mainstream media to have to choose whether their loyalties were to the truth and to their claimed professional ethic of investigative reporting, i.e. their raison d'etre in furtherance of transparency and democracy or whether their top loyalty was instead to their own imperialist governments' power interests according to what Bernstein long ago revealed of incessant CIA and other government Deep State "Mockingbird" programs and how easy it is to buy up and control sycophant reporters who also make millions in profits from their governments' wars of aggression and other corporate greed. The good investigative reporters like Risen et al, what few were left, were torn for a time, given this inherent conflict of interest. But over time have gradually chosen, like moths to the light, to gravitate to the interests of perceived Power-Wealth and to abandon their old investigative ethic, support for equality under the law and First Amendment freedom of the press.

This choosing up of sides took longer than some would have imagined given how controlled the MSM is and how pervasive the Pentagon's, CIA's et al's "perception management" and psy-ops programs are. Perhaps some heads of the Press and Reporters Committee First Amendment champions were still struggling in their own minds to rationalize such overt abandonment of ethics for $$$$ and power or the simple recognition that their goal was hopeless but eventually the switch was complete. So unfortunately at this point, there is a valid fear that Assange's days are numbered.

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WikiLeaks 2 - Home | Facebook