As governments plan actions to bring WikiLeaks to heel, the discovery has been made of a large, encrypted “insurance file” on the WikiLeaks site.
The huge file, posted on the Afghan War page at the WikiLeaks site, is 1.4 GB and is encrypted with AES256. The file’s size dwarfs the size of all the other files on the page combined. The file has also been posted on a torrent download site.
WikiLeaks, on Sunday, posted several files containing the 77,000 Afghan war documents in a single “dump” file and in several other files containing versions of the documents in various searchable formats.
Cryptome, a separate secret-spilling site, has speculated that the new file added days later may have been posted as insurance in case something happens to the WikiLeaks website or to the organization’s founder, Julian Assange. In either scenario, WikiLeaks volunteers, under a prearranged agreement with Assange, could send out a password or passphrase to allow anyone who has downloaded the file to open it.
It’s anyone’ guess what the encrypted data consists of. [wired.com]
carldagostino
November 29, 2010
I am still trying to absorb the impact of all this. Should we be informed citizens? Can we be comfortable with a government of secrets? If governments want to shut wikileaks down, shouldn’t I be suspicious of those governments? Do we have two governments? The sham government we elect and a shadow government of politburo that really runs everything? Why do we need secrets in the first place? If the ultimate democracy is one of transparency shouldn’t the same apply to international relationships? Let’s just put all the cards on the table all the time and there can be no misunderstanding of motive or intent. It’s all questions here . For some I have no answer and for others I am very uncomfortable with the “incomplete conclusions”* I have reached.
* incomplete conclusions” * I just made that up but it sure characterizes where I am at with this matter.
samhenry
November 29, 2010
All countries no doubt have “shadow governments.” I think that to allow WikiLeaks to continue exposing the secrets of our military, Congress, diplomatic corps is treason. We need to be able to get information from others and if they think our information is unsafe, they will tell us exactly nothing. There is a big difference between coverup and shut down! As David Gergen said tonight, the good part of all of this is that our government said it was going to do certain things and the papers prove that they did – they were not lying and that is worth a lot.
carldagostino
November 29, 2010
Thank you for your insights. I suppose I will follow this and learn more as more is revealed.
samhenry
November 29, 2010
Carl, I don’t think we will ever learn the entire truth of this matter and how it unfolded or about the documents themselves. Who knows the context in which those documents were created. It’s a mess. You have excellent questions and those will guide you through the mounds of papers on-line.
DarcsFalcon
November 30, 2010
Maybe it’s a big porn file. “If you shut me down, I release the Krakken porn file!” Something like that.
samhenry
November 30, 2010
Dirty bird! Bad bird – bad. LOL ROFL.