Given that the Guardian was given all the cables and it created a database

[snagglepuss]

for storing them how serious is it that the Wikileaks site is down?

[Luminous Animal]

1. What do you think the chances are that they will release them?

I'm betting not so good.

[snagglepuss]

9. Which "they" are you referring to? The Guardian?

[Luminous Animal]

12. Yes. They have them but they certainly do not have a public database of the cables.

[tsuki]

2. He cannot release the banking info. You don't think they pulled the

site down because of the embassy cables?

[HipChick]

4. He sounds as though he already has the banking info

just wondering if he is looking around for media that will also carry it for him

[truedelphi]

6. Aren't there about another one hundred and fifty people they would have to hunt down,

Distributed all over the globe, before the projects would be shut down?

Assange is a hero in my book, but he is only one of the spokes in this particular wheel of Truth.

[tsuki]

17. I read where the group has split into smaller cells, each will take an area

of expertise.

[HipChick]

3. If they were given all the cables, and they are stored in a searchable database

I have yet to come across anything too salacious..except Prince Andrew was behaving badly

[Luminous Animal]

5. They did not, and I state emphatically, store ALL the cables in a searchable database.

[Goldstein1984]

7. I don't think Assange is stupid

I trust that Assange makes sure the releases of information are not dependent upon him alone. He's smart enough to make sure that the releases will go ahead without him.

[snagglepuss]

11. Assange and others must have assumed that the site might be shut down.

It would be surprising if there wasn't a Plan B.

[Turborama]

8. I thought Assange was drip feeding them

I haven't read anything that says The Guardian had been given full disclosure. I don't mind being proven wrong, but a link to contrary proof would be useful.

[snagglepuss]

10. My understanding is that the Guardian and the other papaers have all the cables because

they have been reviewing the cables and have agreed to not disclose all due to security concerns. Again this just is my understanding so don't quote me.

[Turborama]

13. This is what the Cablegate site said about it...

It's always looked to me like the leaks have been tightly managed from Assange's end, giving them directly to the Guardian et al when he wanted a certain "theme" to be covered. Nothing explicit, but that how I've been seeing it...

Wikileaks began on Sunday November 28th publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. The documents will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into US Government foreign activities.

The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.

The embassy cables will be released in stages over the next few months. The subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice.

The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in "client states"; backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries; lobbying for US corporations; and the measures US diplomats take to advance those who have access to them.

This document release reveals the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors – and shows that if citizens in a democracy want their governments to reflect their wishes, they should ask to see what’s going on behind the scenes.

Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington – the country’s first President – could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today’s document flood would be a mere embarrassment. Instead, the US Government has been warning governments -- even the most corrupt -- around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposures.

The full set consists of 251,287 documents, comprising 261,276,536 words (seven times the size of "The Iraq War Logs", the world's previously largest classified information release).

The cables cover from 28th December 1966 to 28th February 2010 and originate from 274 embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions.

I can still open it but can't explore it: http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/

[snagglepuss]

15. The Independent (UK) says that as a "web entity Wikileaks is virtually impossible

to destroy. It is staffed by technologically gifted volunteers who know as much about the methods used to take down a website as those who might be plotting to do just that.

snip

But Amazon’s cloud service only ever held a portion of the Wikileaks anyway. The majority of its sites are currently hosted on French and Swedish internet service providers (ISP) – the latter is housed in a bunker built 30 metres into the side of a mountain. The Americans can do little to target servers outside of the States and Wikileaks has a host of mirror sites ready to be rolled out if the parent sites are ever compromised.

Assange has also called on supporters to download two large “insurance files” – vast encrypted caches of as yet unknown information which can be unlocked at his command.

If Assange was arrested it would certainly deliver some sort of blow to Wikileaks because the organisation is so heavily controlled by his domineering personality.




Would not any of the above mentioned faciites have the cables? I am barely computer literate so this is all rather puzzling.



http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/jerome-taylor-even-without-its-founder-wikileaks-will-go-on-2149806.html

[Turborama]

16. He could be walking around with the cables on a thumbdrive, for all we know

He's most likely got copies hidden all over the place, though. The servers are places that host the website (someone more IT literate can explain that better than me) and, prior to release, the cables and anything else that has been leaked to him will be stored somewhere else, like hard drives, DVDs and/or something like this: http://thumbdrive.com/cart/index.php

Interesting article, by the way, thanks. I didn't know there were 2 Insurance files. Maybe they have got it mixed up because it was distributed from 2 different places? :shrug:

[Catherina]

18. There are two insurance files? I only downloaded one. Links please? Thanks n/t

[snagglepuss]

19. Unforntunately I have no further info. nt

[Catherina]

20. Thanks snagglepuss n/t

[the redcoat]

14. It's more symbolic

It's obvious that all these cables will not disappear should Wikileaks go down, the real message is "stop fucking with our secrecy."

I happen to see it, though, as a challenge to the citizens of the first world. A challenge which will make the next few decades very interesting.