Introduction

The date October 4th, 2006 marks the launch of one of the most controversial websites ever created, WikiLeaks. The concept behind this new information technology resource, created by Julian Assange, is to publish and make available information that government agencies and transnational corporations want to remain under-wraps. Simply, the site functions through anonymous people (often referred to as whistle-blowers) with access to confidential or classified documents sending these documents to the site either through the web or via mail. At the site’s headquarters, volunteer editors conclude what information is dependable and the chosen submissions are then published online (Sutter, 2010). It’s quite obvious why this site has been surrounded with so much contention; from legal threats, to ethical repercussions and social fears. WikiLeaks has become a guilty pleasure for people around the world, not only through the insightful stories it delivers but also for the discussions it inspires. Can such a website endure all these types of controversies and still be beneficial?

Development Background

WikiLeaks’ development as a website is quite impressive; although in January 2010 it was temporarily shut down due to lack of funds, the site has been able to fund itself through donations for nearly five years. Hacking has never been a problem for WikiLeaks but it has been known to crash on occasion because of the volume of high traffic. The most remarkable feature of this development has to be that WikiLeaks keeps servers on several continents. When it needs to pass important information, it does so through specific countries such as Sweden, Belgium, and Iceland because they have offered the website a measure of legal immunity (Sutter, 2010). WikiLeaks protects itself this way from numerous governments even though others have still tried to find the website in violation of some laws, including the United States under the Espionage Act.