10 replies to this topic

[NonLinear]

The veil is falling away! WOW! The 'play' is starting... MANY implications here...



09/01/2011 01:00 PM

Leak at WikiLeaks
A Dispatch Disaster in Six Acts

By Christian Stöcker

Some 250,000 diplomatic dispatches from the US State Department have accidentally been made completely public. The files include the names of informants who now must fear for their lives. It is the result of a series of blunders by WikiLeaks and its supporters.

In the end, all the efforts at confidentiality came to naught. Everyone who knows a bit about computers can now have a look into the 250,000 US diplomatic dispatches that WikiLeaks made available to select news outlets late last year. All of them. What's more, they are the unedited, unredacted versions complete with the names of US diplomats' informants -- sensitive names from Iran, China, Afghanistan, the Arab world and elsewhere.

SPIEGEL reported on the secrecy slip-up last weekend, but declined to go into detail. Now, however, the story has blown up. And is one that comes as a result of a series of mistakes made by several different people. Together, they add up to a catastrophe. And the series of events reads like the script for a B movie.

Act One: The Whistleblower and the Journalist

The story began with a secret deal. When David Leigh of the Guardian finally found himself sitting across from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as the British journalist recounts in his book "Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy", the two agreed that Assange would provide Leigh with a file including all of the diplomatic dispatches received by WikiLeaks.

Assange placed the file on a server and wrote down the password on a slip of paper -- but not the entire password. To make it work, one had to complete the list of characters with a certain word. Can you remember it? Assange asked. Of course, responded Leigh.

It was the first step in a disclosure that became a worldwide sensation. As a result of Leigh's meeting with Assange, not only the Guardian, but also the New York Times, SPIEGEL and other media outlets published carefully chosen -- and redacted -- dispatches. Editors were at pains to black out the names of informants who could be endangered by the publication of the documents.

Act Two: The German Spokesman Takes the Dispatch File when Leaving WikiLeaks

At the time, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who later founded the site OpenLeaks, was the German spokesman for WikiLeaks. When he and others undertook repairs on the WikiLeaks server, he took a dataset off the server which contained all manner of files and information that had been provided to WikiLeaks. What he apparently didn't know at the time, however, was that the dataset included the complete collection of diplomatic dispatches hidden in a difficult-to-find sub-folder.

After making the data in this hidden sub-folder available to Leigh, Assange apparently simply left it there. After all, it seemed unlikely that anyone would ever find it.

But now, the dataset was in the hands of Domscheit-Berg. And the password was easy to find if one knew where to look. In his book Leigh didn't just describe his meeting with Assange, but he also printed the password Assange wrote down on the slip of paper complete with the portion he had to remember.

Act Three: Well-Meaning Helpers Accidentally Put the Cables into Circulation

Immediately after the first diplomatic dispatches were made public, WikiLeaks became the target of several denial-of-service attacks and several US companies, including Mastercard, PayPal and Amazon, withdrew their support. Quickly, several mirror servers were set up to prevent WikiLeaks from disappearing completely from the Internet. Well-meaning WikiLeaks supporters also put online a compressed version of all data that had been published by WikiLeaks until that time via the filesharing protocol BitTorrent.

BitTorrent is decentralized. Data which ends up on several other computers via the site can essentially no longer be recalled. As a result, WikiLeaks supporters had in their possession the entire dataset that Domscheit-Berg took off the WikiLeaks server, including the hidden data file. Presumably thousands of WikiLeaks sympathizers -- and, one supposes, numerous secret service agents -- now had copies of all previous WikiLeaks publications on their hard drives.

And, what they didn't know, a password-protected copy of all the diplomatic dispatches from the US State Department.

Act Four: Mudslinging between Assange and Domscheit-Berg

To make matters worse, Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg then had a falling out. The German spokesman wrote a vengeful book after being thrown out of WikiLeaks in which he portrayed the WikiLeaks founder as an unreliable egomaniac who tended toward latent megalomania.

Predictably, Assange was furious and made several statements that were intended to besmirch Domscheit-Berg. But when he repaired the WikiLeaks server, Domscheit-Berg apparently didn't just take all of the collected WikiLeaks documents, but he also took the secure submission system designed to allow whistleblowers to anonymously submit data. As a result, WikiLeaks was temporarily out of action.

Domscheit-Berg also repeatedly accused Assange of not being sufficiently vigilant about protecting his sources. And he launched a competing platform called OpenLeaks which he is now developing with other former WikiLeaks employees and other supporters.

Act Five : Exposed Disclosures

The conflict between Domscheit-Berg and Assange has become increasingly aggressive. Germany's Chaos Computer Club recently made the surprising decision to revoke Domscheit-Berg's membership because he allegedly misused their name to hype his OpenLeaks project. While that was their official reason, unofficially the tension stems from the data that Domscheit-Berg took with him from Wikileaks.

In an effort to prove that Assange couldn't be trusted, people associated with the OpenLeaks project recently began talking about the hidden diplomatic cables -- and the dataset which has been coursing through the Internet for months, though no one knew about it.

Then someone betrayed the location of the password -- Leigh's book -- to a journalist for German weekly Der Freitag, which is also an OpenLeaks partner. The weekly published a cautiously formulated version of the story, that without naming the exact location of the password, still revealed it was "out in the open and identifiable to those familiar with the material." Speculation on Twitter and elsewhere ran wild, and hobby investigators began to edge closer to which password it could be.

Meanwhile the mudslinging continued unabated between Assange and Domscheit-Berg.

Act Six: Cablegate-Gate

An account of the story of Leigh, the hidden data and the password then cropped up on a platform normally used by open-source developers to exchange programming codes. A link to the entry spread quickly through Twitter. Suddenly, anyone could access the entire "Cablegate" file with a bit of effort.

On Wednesday afternoon the Wikileaks Twitter account announced "important news," and a few hours later character sequences and links were distributed to download an encoded, 550-megabyte file via a BitTorrent client. The password was to be delivered later.

The distribution apparently didn't work at first, and complaints appeared on Twitter. But later the problem was fixed, and the data began to circulate.

It remains unclear whether this was the Cablegate data set. Meanwhile Wikileaks' Twitter account has called on users to vote on whether they agree with the publication of the unredacted cables. They can register their vote with the hashtag "WLVoteYes" or "WLVoteNo" on Twitter.

A Wikileaks statement on Twitter blames the Guardian and Leigh for the fact that the cables are now freely available online. "We have already spoken to the (US) State Department and commenced pre-litigation action," it said, adding that their targets were the Guardian and a person in Germany who gave out the paper's password. Leigh breached a confidentiality agreement between Wikileaks and the Guardian, it added. The US Embassy in London and the US State Department had been notified of the possible publication already on August 25 so that officials could warn informants.

In a statement the Guardian rejected the accusations from Wikileaks, explaining that the paper had been told the password was temporary and would be deleted within hours. "No concerns were expressed when the book was published and if anyone at WikiLeaks had thought this compromised security they have had seven months to remove the files," the statement said. "That they didn't do so clearly shows the problem was not caused by the Guardian's book."

Finale: In the Open

It is possible that intelligence agencies in a number of countries have already gained access to the data. "Any autocratic security service worth its salt" would have already done so, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley told news agency AP on Wednesday. Intelligence agencies that haven't already gotten their hands on the data "will have it in short order," he added.

By Wednesday evening Crowley's prediction was confirmed. The "Cablegate" cables are now completely public. For many people in totalitarian states this could prove life-threatening. For Wikileaks, OpenLeaks, Julian Assange, Daniel Domscheit-Berg and many others, it is nothing short of a catastrophe.

A chain of careless mistakes, coincidences, indiscretions and confusion now means that no potential whistleblower would feel comfortable turning to a leaking platform right now. They appear to be out of control.


URL:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,783778,00.html

[BlueOrchid919]

Wow....things are falling apart fast. Thanks for the post NL. Dunno why 2 idiots gave you negs, I gave you a + to offset. I'll never understand why people will neg someone bringing news articles....

Thanks from me to you! I had not seen these latest on the Wikileaks.

[iceni]

NonLinear...since you brought up the subject of the USA Empire here is a good description of where America is today in relation to it being an Empire.

Characteristics of an Empire

The Empire Comes Back! Founded as a Constitutional Republic in 1776, has the once great United States of America devolved and reduced herself to being merely another malevolent empire? Here we shall examine this question as we review the facts concerning the present stats of this "Union"

"If your God is not your King, then your king becomes your god"

An empire assumes the divine attributes of:

Indivisibility
Infallibility
Irresistibility

1. Exercises political control or influence over vast expanded territories beyond its natural or original boundaries -- i.e., Puerto Rico, Philippines, Samoa.
2. Meddles politically in the affairs of foreign nations.
3. Maintains military posts or bases throughout the world.
4. Conducts wars of aggression on foreign soil rather than be restricted to defensive wars only for its own protection.
5. Plays the role of ‘world policeman’ in order to maintain political stability in a region for its own self interest.
6. Has self-assumed powers or interest in the social, physical, economic and educational welfare of the citizens of smaller or lesser nations, i.e., Peace Corps Program.
7. Annexes or offers statehood to nations or territories comprised of alien people – i.e., Hawaii, Alaska.
8. Has an expanded immigration policy.
9. Accepts foreigners into its realm as unskilled laborers.
10. Original citizenry becomes rich, lazy, fat and demands "bread and circuses" (aka "pleasure-treasure" mentality).
11. Has an ostensibly successful economy while national debt increases.
12. Personal wealth increases while personal debt and bankruptcies greatly increase.
13. Economic disparity widens between its citizens, rich and poor ("homeless").
14. Social classes result - 3 classes in Rome -
a. Patricians (elite)
b Equites (middle class)
c. Plebeians (lower class) sometimes known as bourgeoisie and proletariats.
15. Stipulates and regulates a national health care program,. i.e., Medicare, Medicaid.
16. Regulates and manages a state-run "free" public educational system. In 1863 during the Lincoln administration, the U.S. Department of Education was established with five employees. Its only original official purpose was for the collection of statistics.
17. Pretends to protect the citizens from themselves by removal of their means of protection – i.e., firearms.
18. The centralized government becomes top-heavy, self-serving and is the largest employer in the empire. It then is replete with graft, fraud, waste and inefficiency.
19. Has a powerful foreign political influence exerted upon its leaders in order to influence foreign policy and even to grant favors, i.e. China and Israeli states.
20. Has an abundance of laws (legislative acts, bureaucratic regulations, executive orders and judicial edicts) in order to control the masses and to strengthen its own position claiming infallibility and irresistibility.
21. Continues to make demands upon its citizens to pay for expanded imperial governmental projects by a progressive and gradual increase of a wide range of taxes, duties, imposts and fees.
22. Offers benefits to non-citizens: financial, medical, social, and so forth; largesse which acts as an attraction for increased alien immigration.
23. The size of government is so vast that it cannot effectively "police" its own bureaus, departments and employees so that it creates an ideal climate for political corruption.
24. Gives legal license for moral corruption among its citizens, i.e., judicial decisions such as Roe vs. Wade and the giving to homosexuals a protected class status.
25. Maintains a vast social welfare system, thus creating an atmosphere which greatly fosters and encourages governmental dependence within the minds of its citizen recipients.
26. Creates and maintains a central government "statist" mentality in the minds of its citizens by means of a vast propaganda campaign.
27. The empire's fiat currency, economy and the government's treasury are controlled by a usurious central banking system.
28. Regulates and manages a vast agricultural program, i.e., In 1862 during the Lincoln administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was established with ten employees. Its only official original purpose was for the collection of statistics.
29. Builds and maintains a vast highway transportation system. The Romans were master road builders and thus the origin of the phrase "all roads lead to Rome." The original purpose of both the Roman and American "super highway" system was for the rapid and uninterrupted movement of military troops.
30. Decreases the value of human life (abortion and euthanasia).
31. Has a large and pernicious criminal element which results in the empire maintaining a vast domestic police force.
32. Creates and maintains internal civil strife between different ethnic groups due to cultural conflicts and the struggle for ethnic superiority.
33. The descendants of the original citizens eventually become a dispossessed element in society.
34. The religious belief system of its founders and forefathers loses its controlling influence and is replaced with an opposing religion.
35. The memory of its original heritage and the exploits of its ancestral heroes are eventually minimized, diminished, despised and/or simply forgotten while make-believe "heroes" with perverse values are manufactured and; therefore, portrayed as the ideal of the imperial dream.
36. Miscegenation among its subjects is allowed and even encouraged by its political, social, academic and religious leaders.

Historical and current empires may differ from each other in their peculiar characteristics but the one common element that all empires possess is that they are held together by FORCE. This force may take the form of economic, political and/or educational coercion, but it always finally results in brutal military force. This force is eventually turned inward upon its own subjects (citizens) in order to demand total allegiance to the state as being supreme.

History proves that once a nation has descended into becoming an empire, there is very little hope for its recovery. In the case of the United States, the only hope for redemption is found in genuine individual and national repentance

Edited by iceni, 02 September 2011 - 11:37 PM.

[tommyboy]

While i may disagree with you about the US being an "Empire", I feel the only way, IMHO, to return to being a sovreign country is to have the US run under our original constitution and the ONLY way to do that is to VOTE FOR RON PAUL.

[NonLinear]

NonLinear...since you brought up the subject of the USA Empire here is a good description of where America is today in relation to it being an Empire.

Characteristics of an Empire

The Empire Comes Back! Founded as a Constitutional Republic in 1776, has the once great United States of America devolved and reduced herself to being merely another malevolent empire? Here we shall examine this question as we review the facts concerning the present stats of this "Union"

"If your God is not your King, then your king becomes your god"

An empire assumes the divine attributes of:

Indivisibility
Infallibility
Irresistibility

1. Exercises political control or influence over vast expanded territories beyond its natural or original boundaries -- i.e., Puerto Rico, Philippines, Samoa.
2. Meddles politically in the affairs of foreign nations.
3. Maintains military posts or bases throughout the world.
4. Conducts wars of aggression on foreign soil rather than be restricted to defensive wars only for its own protection.
5. Plays the role of ‘world policeman’ in order to maintain political stability in a region for its own self interest.
6. Has self-assumed powers or interest in the social, physical, economic and educational welfare of the citizens of smaller or lesser nations, i.e., Peace Corps Program.
7. Annexes or offers statehood to nations or territories comprised of alien people – i.e., Hawaii, Alaska.
8. Has an expanded immigration policy.
9. Accepts foreigners into its realm as unskilled laborers.
10. Original citizenry becomes rich, lazy, fat and demands "bread and circuses" (aka "pleasure-treasure" mentality).
11. Has an ostensibly successful economy while national debt increases.
12. Personal wealth increases while personal debt and bankruptcies greatly increase.
13. Economic disparity widens between its citizens, rich and poor ("homeless").
14. Social classes result - 3 classes in Rome -
a. Patricians (elite)
b Equites (middle class)
c. Plebeians (lower class) sometimes known as bourgeoisie and proletariats.
15. Stipulates and regulates a national health care program,. i.e., Medicare, Medicaid.
16. Regulates and manages a state-run "free" public educational system. In 1863 during the Lincoln administration, the U.S. Department of Education was established with five employees. Its only original official purpose was for the collection of statistics.
17. Pretends to protect the citizens from themselves by removal of their means of protection – i.e., firearms.
18. The centralized government becomes top-heavy, self-serving and is the largest employer in the empire. It then is replete with graft, fraud, waste and inefficiency.
19. Has a powerful foreign political influence exerted upon its leaders in order to influence foreign policy and even to grant favors, i.e. China and Israeli states.
20. Has an abundance of laws (legislative acts, bureaucratic regulations, executive orders and judicial edicts) in order to control the masses and to strengthen its own position claiming infallibility and irresistibility.
21. Continues to make demands upon its citizens to pay for expanded imperial governmental projects by a progressive and gradual increase of a wide range of taxes, duties, imposts and fees.
22. Offers benefits to non-citizens: financial, medical, social, and so forth; largesse which acts as an attraction for increased alien immigration.
23. The size of government is so vast that it cannot effectively "police" its own bureaus, departments and employees so that it creates an ideal climate for political corruption.
24. Gives legal license for moral corruption among its citizens, i.e., judicial decisions such as Roe vs. Wade and the giving to homosexuals a protected class status.
25. Maintains a vast social welfare system, thus creating an atmosphere which greatly fosters and encourages governmental dependence within the minds of its citizen recipients.
26. Creates and maintains a central government "statist" mentality in the minds of its citizens by means of a vast propaganda campaign.
27. The empire's fiat currency, economy and the government's treasury are controlled by a usurious central banking system.
28. Regulates and manages a vast agricultural program, i.e., In 1862 during the Lincoln administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was established with ten employees. Its only official original purpose was for the collection of statistics.
29. Builds and maintains a vast highway transportation system. The Romans were master road builders and thus the origin of the phrase "all roads lead to Rome." The original purpose of both the Roman and American "super highway" system was for the rapid and uninterrupted movement of military troops.
30. Decreases the value of human life (abortion and euthanasia).
31. Has a large and pernicious criminal element which results in the empire maintaining a vast domestic police force.
32. Creates and maintains internal civil strife between different ethnic groups due to cultural conflicts and the struggle for ethnic superiority.
33. The descendants of the original citizens eventually become a dispossessed element in society.
34. The religious belief system of its founders and forefathers loses its controlling influence and is replaced with an opposing religion.
35. The memory of its original heritage and the exploits of its ancestral heroes are eventually minimized, diminished, despised and/or simply forgotten while make-believe "heroes" with perverse values are manufactured and; therefore, portrayed as the ideal of the imperial dream.
36. Miscegenation among its subjects is allowed and even encouraged by its political, social, academic and religious leaders.

Historical and current empires may differ from each other in their peculiar characteristics but the one common element that all empires possess is that they are held together by FORCE. This force may take the form of economic, political and/or educational coercion, but it always finally results in brutal military force. This force is eventually turned inward upon its own subjects (citizens) in order to demand total allegiance to the state as being supreme.

History proves that once a nation has descended into becoming an empire, there is very little hope for its recovery. In the case of the United States, the only hope for redemption is found in genuine individual and national repentance

Agreed! Especially your ending statement! This link "The Grand Deception" is very informative as a 'quick take' on what has been going on behind the scenes relative to this country. I think you will enjoy it!

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/deception.html

[Chape]

Agreed! Especially your ending statement! This link "The Grand Deception" is very informative as a 'quick take' on what has been going on behind the scenes relative to this country. I think you will enjoy it!

http://www.silverbea.../deception.html


Read more: http://dinarvets.com.../#ixzz1WwzREhJd
My goodness,,,, I cannot believe these crooks were allowed to go that route.
Now, they are being exposed through all of our postings and such, that they are spreading the word world wide.
This is a very good read, and an absolute must for all who cherish their freedoms.

Best Regards.

[divemaster5734]

Agreed! Especially your ending statement! This link "The Grand Deception" is very informative as a 'quick take' on what has been going on behind the scenes relative to this country. I think you will enjoy it!

http://www.silverbea.../deception.html


Read more: http://dinarvets.com.../#ixzz1WwzREhJd
My goodness,,,, I cannot believe these crooks were allowed to go that route.
Now, they are being exposed through all of our postings and such, that they are spreading the word world wide.
This is a very good read, and an absolute must for all who cherish their freedoms.

Best Regards.

Ed Griffin is exceptional.
I had the pleasure of meeting him in Seattle.
His Jekyll Island book is what opened my eyes to the deceptions around us.
Here is a link to the video
Jekyll Island


He publishes a weekly, it is called Unfiltered News
Unfiltered News



Another page, the Reality Zone
reality Zone

[detroitjazzman]

While i may disagree with you about the US being an "Empire", I feel the only way, IMHO, to return to being a sovreign country is to have the US run under our original constitution and the ONLY way to do that is to VOTE FOR RON PAUL.

"Have our country run under our original constitution" going back in history some things sound good.....however,...that return would eliminate some very important strides made in America. As you say going back to the initial framers.....They didn't address a Womans right to vote until much later http://en.wikipedia....es_Constitution, .....They didn't address the subject of slavery until much later......in fact many of the freedoms we take for granted today were granted under the various admendments to the constitution. Take a look at some of the presumptions we currently enjoy that were not a part of the origional document. http://www.usconstit...stnot.html#exp. still want to go back in time? Just saying

Edited by detroitjazzman, 03 September 2011 - 11:19 PM.

[divemaster5734]

"Have our country run under our original constitution" going back in history some things sound good.....however,...that return would eliminate some very important strides made in America. As you say going back to the initial framers.....They didn't address a Womans right to vote until much later http://en.wikipedia....es_Constitution, .....They didn't address the subject of slavery until much later......in fact many of the freedoms we take for granted today were granted under the various admendments to the constitution. Take a look at some of the presumptions we currently enjoy that were not a part of the origional document. http://www.usconstit...stnot.html#exp. still want to go back in time? Just saying

For Real?
Are you saying that for constructive discussion or just trying to throw a wrench into the works?
Of COURSE there will never be a return to "colored" slavery, we are all slaves to the empire, once that yoke is broken there can be no servitude.
besides, slavery was NOT invented by the founding fathers, it has been a part of human history for thousands of years.
it was brought to America from Briton, it was the British slave ships that transported.
Why would you even bring that up?

Was that just an attempt to divide the conversation?

I don't understand the reasoning behind that statement.

I hope you don't believe Lincoln actually freed the slaves.
If that was true we wouldn't have needed Dr. King and the civil rights movement.

There are some ugly eras in our history, just the same as every other nations history, but we have gotten past that.

Why would you want to stir that up again?

Tell me how Africa is so much better to their people than America is.

Oh wait, they're not.

They murder, rape, torture, and starve their own.

Why do you feel the need to keep dwelling on the negative?

Just saying...

[detroitjazzman]

For Real?
Are you saying that for constructive discussion or just trying to throw a wrench into the works?
Of COURSE there will never be a return to "colored" slavery, we are all slaves to the empire, once that yoke is broken there can be no servitude.
besides, slavery was NOT invented by the founding fathers, it has been a part of human history for thousands of years.
it was brought to America from Briton, it was the British slave ships that transported.
Why would you even bring that up?

Was that just an attempt to divide the conversation?

I don't understand the reasoning behind that statement.

I hope you don't believe Lincoln actually freed the slaves.
If that was true we wouldn't have needed Dr. King and the civil rights movement.

There are some ugly eras in our history, just the same as every other nations history, but we have gotten past that.

Why would you want to stir that up again?

Tell me how Africa is so much better to their people than America is.

Oh wait, they're not.

They murder, rape, torture, and starve their own.

Why do you feel the need to keep dwelling on the negative?

Just saying...

Look its obvious to me....you will post and believe what you want to believe....however, I am an informed citizen and I understand the constitution...Sorry the only thing you gleened from my post was a racial factor....guess you see what you are looking for...done with this thread

[Shoshin]

Ed Griffin is exceptional.
I had the pleasure of meeting him in Seattle.
His Jekyll Island book is what opened my eyes to the deceptions around us.
Here is a link to the video
Jekyll Island


He publishes a weekly, it is called Unfiltered News
Unfiltered News



Another page, the Reality Zone
reality Zone

-------------------

Thank you NonLinear and all who contributed in this thread, the entire thing i very much enjoyed and now
i get to spend many hours of study to try understand something of which i have very little knowledge.

I appreciate you all so much

Blessings

Sho