[Infowarrior] - WikiLeaks Goes Behind Paywall, Anonymous Cries Foul

[Richard Forno]

WikiLeaks Goes Behind Paywall, Anonymous Cries Foul

	• By David KravetsEmail Author
	• 10.11.12
	• 6:56 PM
	
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/wikileaks-paywall-anonymous/

Secret-spilling site WikiLeaks has moved millions of documents behind a paywall, prompting blowback from elements of an underground ally, the hacking group Anonymous, including one well-known member to conclude that it “cannot support anymore what WikiLeaks has become.”

Upon clicking on any of the site’s documents, including “Cablegate: 250,000 US Embassy Diplomatic Cables,” which is said to have came from alleged WikiLeaks-leaker Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks visitors are taken to a page with a video that lambastes Barack Obama and ends with WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange asking for donations. To access documents, one can donate, share the video on Facebook or tweet it. The fullscreen overlay cannot be closed unless a  donation is made or something is shared, though the video does not appear over every document dump.

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“The conclusion for us is that we cannot support anymore what Wikileaks has become – the One Man Julian Assange show. But we also want to make clear that we still support the original idea behind Wikileaks: Freedom of information and transparent governments. Sadly we realize that Wikileaks does not stand for this idea anymore.

The overlay on WikiLeaks can be circumvented by disabling JavaScript, and many Anonymous docs can be found on mirror sites around the net that lack the paywall.


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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.