Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News
Governments around the world have been on the attack since the release of this sensitive information. A significant source of revenue for WikiLeaks was shut down when PayPal cut off the ability of its supporters to make donations to the company. They claim that WikiLeaks is engaged in illegal activity, disallowing PayPal to provide them with service. The website for WikiLeaks is already out of service, since Amazon dropped its contracts with the company, in addition to hackers and government officials working to undermine the group's efforts.
Since the release of the confidential cables, nearly all companies, groups and individuals doing business with WikiLeaks have come under scrutiny. WikiLeaks is also under legal pressure from around the world, with Assange being placed on the Most Wanted list.
As of Saturday, anyone attempting to donate to the organization via PayPal is being met with this message: "This recipient is currently unable to receive money." PayPal explained its decision to cut off WikiLeaks funding by stating that "our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity."
Other options to donate to the company consisted of sending mail to a P.O. Box in Australia, and sending bank transfers through Switzerland, Germany or Iceland. WikiLeaks' primary funding source has been the Wau Holland Foundation. The group's founder now claims that donations have increased significantly since the release of the confidential cables.
WikiLeaks has had to move from one website to another to hide from governments and hackers seeking to determine the nature and origin of the leaks. While it's original site, WikiLeaks.com, is no longer active, the German counterpart, WikiLeaks.de is up and running as of this weekend. They've even reached out to their supporters around the world for protection, emailing thousands of secret government files that can be released with a "special key" should anything happen to Assange.
WikiLeaks has been a topic of tremendous controversy as of late. The organization is finding itself right in the middle of public debates on governmental transparency in the face of an increasingly dangerous world. Columbia University took criticism this week when it's Office of Career Services warned students that accessing WikiLeaks data could impact their ability to land a job upon graduation.
Two things I will predict about the WikiLeaks scandal are that a) Julian Assange will probably go `to prison, at least for a little while. Governments are never above the blatant violation of individual liberty when it comes to protecting their secrecy, and b) Assange will have made one of the greatest impacts on governmental transparency in at least 20 years. By releasing these documents to the public, Assange has instantly made himself a front runner for Person of the Year.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.