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Wikileaks Posts Massive 'Insurance' File, Eyebrows Are Raised

by Amar Toor on August 5, 2010 at 05:35 PM

Julian AssangeWell, it looks like storm clouds are brewing over the Wikileaks horizon once again. Just a few days after leaking more than 77,000 classified military documents about Afghanistan, the mysterious whistle-blowing site has now posted a far larger, encrypted file, entitled 'Insurance.' Weighing in at 1.4 gigabytes, the file is about 20 times larger than the pile of military documents leaked earlier, although the file's contents are still unclear, as is why the site would post it. Some are speculating that 'Insurance' may be a way for Wikileaks to protect itself against potential cyber attacks, or may even be a veiled threat to release more documents, should any of the site's staff be detained by government or intelligence authorities. According to the AP, programmer Jacob Appelbaum has already been detained and interrogated by U.S. authorities about the Afghanistan leak, while Defense Secretary Robert Gates has publicly acknowledged that site founder Julian Assange may be responsible for putting American lives in danger.

In an e-mail response to inquiries about the file, Wikileaks said only, "As a matter of policy, we do not discuss security procedures." And Assange revealed little more than that when questioned about the file during a recent TV interview. "I think it's better that we don't comment on that," Assange told independent news network Democracy Now!. "But, you know, one could imagine in a similar situation that it might be worth ensuring that important parts of history do not disappear."

Clearly, Assange and his Wikileaks staff realize that they could find themselves under fire very soon, and 'Insurance' may very well be their way to fend off any future attacks or interrogations. Whether or not the file ever balloons into another national crisis remains to be seen, but, either way, Assange has certainly let everyone know that his brainchild won't go down without a fight. [From: AP]

Tags: afghanistan, AfghanistanWar, confidential, documents, JulianAssange, privacy, top, whistleblower, Wikileaks

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