When WikiLeaks first started to make a name for itself, it seemed like an amazing idea. Here was a place where whistle-blowers could "leak" documents in order to right wrongs they felt were not seeing the light of day. It was a noble idea, and a threat to power, which is why you would expect the powers-that-be to try and take them down. That seems to have happened, although their meteoric appearance on the websphere has been cause for internal problems as well.

It's never been proven whether or not governments have plotted against WikiLeaks. There are those who live and breathe conspiracy theory who assume it as fact. Those of us who prefer evidence (not coincidence or inference) are not convinced. However, a slew of documents has been released which shows that a coordinated campaign to disrupt and discredit WikiLeaks has come from the private sector:

It's not clear whether BOA actually hired them or even sought them out, but there were definitely meetings with high-level executives where discussions took place. I swear I've seen movies like this. Incredible...

Of course - there are internal problems as well. There's founder Jullian Assange's well-known rape investigations and extradition nightmares. Former wikileaks "employee" Daniel Domscheit-Berg has released a book named "Inside WikiLeaks", in which he paints Assange as the egotistical narcissistic person he seems to be. Some of the allegations are a bit specious, including charges that Assange abused Berg's cat. Nonetheless, the internal rifts and defections are textbook examples of what happens when a good concept is ruined by egos and infighting.

To add another facet to this story, the site has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. It's unclear how a website (as opposed to a person) can be awarded a prize like this. If Assange is the one to pick it up (should they win), he should feel lucky it is in Norway, not Sweden.

The ultimate problem with WikiLeaks, though, is that the original concept fell apart. The submitters were supposed to be anonymous, yet Bradley Manning is in military prison, awaiting a trial. The leaked documents were meant to shine a light on the nefarious doings of the powerful, yet names of the powerless were not redacted from the documents, putting them in harm's way. It seems that some documents were released and some power structures were attacked simply to show that they could do it. Huge caches of documents spilled out to voyeuristic eyes, with no thought about the damage they could do to those they purported to help.

This is why Daniel Domscheit-Berg and others split from WikiLeaks and created their own site OpenLeaks. The idea is to provide a place for people to anonymously submit documents which are then turned over to the press. The submitter's identity is protected. The press can act responsibly to ensure that innocents are not harmed by the release of the information. OpenLeaks will not release documents directly to the public. The powerful will never know how the press obtained the documents.

It seems to be a well-thought out approach that achieves the original goals of WikiLeaks. Here's hoping they can keep the egos out of it. We don't need another gusher.