From smh.com.au
Asher Moses
July 8, 2008 - 11:51AM
In the past year and a half, Australian-born Julian Assange and his band of online dissidents have helped swing the Kenyan Presidential election, embarrassed the US Government and sparked international scandal.
His site, Wikileaks, provides a safe haven for whistleblowers to anonymously upload confidential documents and, after 18 months of operation, Assange says no source has ever been exposed and no document - now over 1.2 million and counting - has ever been censored or removed.
Now, the site is expanding its focus from oppressive regimes and shady corporate dealings to religion and even the cult of celebrity.
Recently published documents include an early version of the movie script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Wesley Snipes's tax bill and documents from the Church of Scientology and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
"In every negotiation, in every planning meeting and in every workplace dispute a perception is slowly building that the public interest may have a number of silent advocates in the room," Assange said in an email interview.
In August last year, The Guardian ran a front page report about widespread corruption by the family of the former Kenyan leader Daniel Arap Moi, including evidence Moi siphoned off billions in government money. The report stated it was based on a document obtained from Wikileaks.
Assange says the revelation changed the result of the Kenyan presidential election, swinging the vote by 10 per cent towards the opposition, which won the election by 1-3 per cent of the vote.
Other previously confidential documents published by Wikileaks include the US Rules of Engagement for Iraq and the primary operations manual for the running of the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, which revealed that it was US policy to hide some detainees from the International Red Cross and use dogs to intimidate inmates.
The documents were reported on in the world's most respected papers including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Wikileaks has been referenced 662 times on nytimes.com, 207 times on guardian.co.uk, 86 times on washingtonpost.com and 54 times on speigel.de.
Assange, who grew up in Australia but moved to East Africa two years ago and now splits his time between Kenya and Tanzania, has worked as a security consultant, professional hacker, activist and researcher.
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