Openleaks, WikiLeaks Rival, To Launch As Break Away From 'Slave Driver' Assange: Report

Several key members involved with online whistleblower WikiLeaks are said to be deserting beleaguered founder Julian Assange to form their own rival site, Openleaks, reportedly expected to launch Monday.

According to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the new site will be called "Openleaks," and like its predecessor, will allow whistleblowers to leak information to the public anonymously. However, the new site will differ in that it won't be responsible for hosting the information itself directly for the public eye, but will instead act as an intermediary between whistleblowers and media organizations.

"Our long term goal is to build a strong, transparent platform to support whistleblowers--both in terms of technology and politics--while at the same time encouraging others to start similar projects," a colleague wishing to remain anonymous is quoted by Dagens Nyheter as saying.

In a documentary by Swedish broadcaster SVT, obtained in advance by the Associated Press, former WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg said the new website will work as an outlet for anonymous sources. The AP quotes some excerpts of the documentary:

"Openleaks is a technology project that is aiming to be a service provider for third parties that want to be able to accept material from anonymous sources," Domscheit-Berg said.

Domscheit-Berg, who during his time with WikiLeaks often went under the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt, said he quit the project after falling out with Assange over what he described as the lack of transparency in the group's decision-making process. "If you preach transparency to everyone else you have to be transparent yourself. You have to fulfill the same standards you expect from others, and I think that's where we've not been heading in the same direction philosophically anymore," he said in the documentary.

Members involved in the new site's formation are also reportedly incensed by what they describe as Assange's "autocratic" behavior, and believe the rival site will be more "democratically governed." In addition, many believe Assange's ongoing rape controversy is damaging WikiLeaks' reputation worldwide, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Comments

[Jamf]

05:17 PM on 01/28/2011

I don't care who leaks information, I just want to see it done. Assange is sitting on way too much information, and he needs to let some of it out if he is to be taken seriously. He might want to start with the bank documents that were promised for early 2011. (That's right now, by the way.) The only Assange can make the story about the information rather than himself is to start actually giving us something. It's way past time.

[landskroon]

04:35 PM on 12/14/2010

story of the 30 silver coins ??

[one1byke]

01:20 PM on 12/14/2010

Mousetrap V2.0.

[YouDontWantMeHere]

11:54 AM on 12/14/2010

here's my thinkin' on this1 & it comes from sumthing attributed ta picasso(& no i ain't gonna get the wordin' exactly right) when ya do sumthing for the 1st time it's bound taB ugly cause hayu! it's the 1st time ya did it! sumtimes it's up ta those who come after ta make it better

[gorgeyours]

11:02 PM on 12/13/2010

Did you guys see the sourcecode of site check out here http://bit.ly/fcMJ6T

[mc chileanseabass]

08:54 PM on 12/13/2010

That guy doesn't look as James Bond as Assange does. More like a humorless David Cross.

[Kald]

10:39 AM on 12/14/2010

This guy looks EXACTLY like this fellow here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40

[Josh NC]

02:59 PM on 12/13/2010

A couple of points:
1. Having more is a good thing
2. Daniel could have done this at a later time. Really bad timing for what seems to me an ego problem to say the least. There may be other, darker reasons at play here. In my dictionary he was a d.i.c.k for doing this at a critical moment with Assange in jail.

3. Assange seems likely to be scooped by the CIA to be prosecuted in Virginia. Since these goons are getting a grand jury in place to try and get him convicted in the Espionage Act of 1917, it seems to me that they know something we don't. We shall see tomorrow. BTW, this a waste of taxpayer's money! If those clowns prosecute him they must also prosecute the NY Times and all others. I want to see that happen!

King Obama, you've lost it completely!

[Phil Sapphire]

01:14 AM on 12/13/2010

This article seems to be trying to characteristic the creation of OpenLeaks as bad for Wikileaks rather than a validation of their journalistic method.

I very much welcome new organizations willing to show as much raw information is possible without revealing their sources. I for one am sick and tired of the US mainstream media "interpreting away the facts". I cannot count the number of times I have read articles in papers like the NYT to find the facts of the case are completely at odds with the title of the piece.

It is vital that people know the truth of what goes on, otherwise no rational decision process is possible (which of course is why we are not usually told).
Phil

[Builders]

01:18 PM on 12/12/2010

Has somebody bought the wikileaks staff away from wiki? Involving big money will be the ruin of this information source. The power of money and the free flow of information are conflicting interests.

[Jamf]

05:18 PM on 01/28/2011

And throw some big egos in there, too.

Hey Leaker Dudes: It's about the information, not about you. Get it?

Fanned.

[Gambare]

11:14 AM on 12/12/2010

I really don't care if Openleaks is or isn't a "rival" to Wikileaks. In fact, it sounds like "rival" is a misnomer, a mischaracterization, of what Openleaks seeks to be or the reason for its founding. The reason for its founding seems to be personality clashes. Such is life. It's platform seems to be slightly different in form, but not in substance, to Wikileaks.

A true "rival" site/organization would be one that seeks to shut-down or otherwise gag Wikileaks and thwart its purpose. That would be more like, say, various governments and their pet credit card companies.

[condor101]

11:07 AM on 12/12/2010

Don't trust this guy. He probably works for the CIA.
Don't believe the hype from media outlets about the demise of Wikileaks; It's all Lies.
Wikileaks is the best place to post anonymously.
Can't wait to see more of the cables.

[jspkim]

11:08 AM on 12/12/2010

x2, fanned

[Jdaddy1951]

08:27 AM on 12/12/2010

Presumably the people involved with starting the new group will not have been involved with anything that could get them charged with rape, either ...

[SiameseTrainer]

05:30 PM on 12/14/2010

Just look at the guy, I am sure that there is no broken condom in HIS past.

[Jdaddy1951]

08:51 PM on 12/14/2010

All these names --- Wikileaks, Openleaks --- they do not suggest practicioners of safe sex ...

[Earl Davis]

01:53 AM on 12/12/2010

The only things Openleaks are going to expose are the names of the leakers to the proper authorities. Don't fall for it.

[Earl Davis]

01:51 AM on 12/12/2010

Wow. Now THAT is an ingenious CIA scam to funnel leaks into it's own open maw. This guy looks like an intelligence asset if I've ever seen one. This sting might be bigger than the phony Nigerian prince emails.

[Gambare]

11:19 AM on 12/12/2010

Phony? What? I just wired $20,000 to the first cousin of Prince Ojulabi, who, as I understand from cousin "Mr. Namuju's" email, needs that in order to turn around a transfer of funds back to the Bank of Montreal, a transfer of $2.5 million, out of which I'll get my $20k back plus an additional $15,000 for my assistance.

Phony? No way. Mr. Namuju's email came straight to my Inbox and say "Urgent."
.

[Gambare]

11:20 AM on 12/12/2010

Uh, "say" = "said."

[doneflyin]

12:03 AM on 12/12/2010

"openleaks will act as an intermediary between whistleblowers and media organizations."

The truth don't need no 'stinking middleman'

[Jamf]

05:19 PM on 01/28/2011

Copy that.