You have to love this story. Apparently, WikiLeaks is plagued by … you guessed it, leaks!
Confronted with the fact that some of its volunteers and employees are talking to outsiders about WikiLeaks and about some of the materials it has collected but hasn’t yet published, WikiLeaks is now demanding that everyone sign a confidentiality agreement and promise to keep everything about WikiLeaks secret unless authorized to release the information.
The agreement says that anyone who violates its terms will be subject to a penalty of $20 million (we kid you not). In fact, even the confidentiality agreement itself is supposed to be secret. Oops.
A year ago, WikiLeaks looked like an important (and maybe even disturbing) new trend in cyberspace. Now, as its leader, Julian Assange, self-destructs in a haze of conspiracy theories, the organization he founded seems to be sinking into irrelevance. It certainly seems to have a penchant for self-parody—or did nobody at WikiLeaks notice the irony and hypocrisy of opposing leaks?
In any event, it is good to know the WikiLeaks formula for protecting secrets. If only the army had made PFC Bradley Manning (or whoever is eventually determined to be the source of the leaked data) sign an agreement just like that. Wait—we did. Oh well.
