Marcel Rosenbach, Holger Stark: Staatsfeind WikiLeaks (2011) [German]

WikiLeaks hat sich viele Feinde gemacht. Seit den spektakulären Enthüllungen geheimer Dokumente aus US-Botschaften sowie über die Kriege in Afghanistan und Irak werden die Organisation und ihr Gründer Julian Assange von den USA als Staatsfeind bezeichnet, als Bedrohung betrachtet und mit aller Macht verfolgt.

Holger Stark und Marcel Rosenbach stehen seit Jahren in Kontakt mit WikiLeaks und kennen die Organisation wie kaum ein anderer. In ihrem Buch geben sie exklusive Einblicke in die Arbeit von WikiLeaks und schildern den Aufstieg der Organisation bis zur Jagd auf Assange Ende 2010. Dabei diskutieren sie Fragen, die auch viele Geheimdienstler und Politiker bewegen: Wie weit darf radikale Transparenz gehen? Gibt es nicht auch legitime Staatsgeheimnisse? Ist WikiLeaks eine Art »Geheimdienst des Volkes« und die Zukunft des investigativen Journalismus – oder schlicht die gefährlichste Seite im Internet?

Staatsfeind WikiLeaks. Wie eine Gruppe von Netzaktivisten die mächtigsten Nationen der Welt herausforde
Publisher: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, München, in der Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH und SPIEGEL-Verlag, Hamburg, 24 January 2011
ISBN 978-3-87763-094-5
336 pages

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Alexander Star (ed.): Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy (2011)

“Open Secrets” is the definitive chronicle of the WikiLeaks documents’ release and the controversy that ensued. It brings together all of the classified diplomatic cables and war logs posted on The Times’s Web site, along with 27 new cables selected for this volume — and substantial analyses of what the documents mean and why they matter. In the introduction, Times executive editor Bill Keller takes readers behind the scenes to explain how and why The Times published the documents. Learn more about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a profile by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Times reporter John F. Burns. There are also essays on Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private suspected of being WikiLeaks’s source, and on what the story has revealed about American diplomacy and government secrecy.

Both a legal and technological thriller, as well as a primer on world politics, “Open Secrets” should be of special interest to anyone interested in one of the most compelling news stories of our day.

Complete and Updated Coverage by The New York Times
With an Introduction by Bill Keller
Publisher The New York Times Company, Jan 2011
ISBN 0615439578, 9780615439570

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Julian Assange: Conspiracy as Governance (2006)

“The non linear effects of leaks on unjust systems of governance

You may want to read The Road to Hanoi or Conspiracy as Governance; an obscure motivational document, almost useless in light of its decontextualization and perhaps even then. But if you read this latter document while thinking about how different structures of power are differentially affected by leaks (the defection of the inner to the outer) its motivations may become clearer.

The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive “secrecy tax”) and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption.

Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.

Only revealed injustice can be answered; for man to do anything intelligent he has to know what’s actually going on.” (author, 31 Dec 2006, source)

commentary (workwithoutdread.blogspot.com, 27 Nov 2010)
commentary (zunguzungu, 29 Nov 2010)

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