As you may have read, Wikileaks, the controversial whistleblower site, has run out of cash to meet operating costs, and have temporarily--so they hope--suspended operations.
They announced last December that they planned to cease operations, except for the anonymous submission tool, until they could raise enough cash to continue operations.
So far, they have not been able to meet its projected exposes. As of 2/22/10, their site reports that they have raised a little over $350,000 but they need around $600,000 for their annual budget.
The site will stay closed while their administrators work to raise funds.
A question on their main page asks: We protect the world -- but will you protect us?
They then go on to say: "We have received hundreds of thousands of pages from corrupt banks, the US detainee system, the Iraq war, China, the UN and many others that we do not currently have the resources to release to a world audience. You can change that and by doing so, change the world. Even $10 will pay to put one of these reports into another ten thousand hands and $1000, a million."
The site has received awards from Amnesty International and has been praised by media groups and others for providing a forum for whistleblowers, political dissidents and others to expose corruption and suppression and foster transparency.
Enter Iceland
According to a New York Times article, Iceland's parliament is now considering placing laws on the books that will foster genuine transparency, and in effect providing a save Haven for journalists with stories too hot to handle at home.
In fact, the plan to make Iceland a world leader in journalism protection took shape in December with the assistance of two leaders of the whistle-blower Web site Wikileaks.org, Julian Assange and Daniel Schmitt, whose publish-nearly-anything ideology has given them personal experience with news media laws around the globe. Reading between those lines, perhaps Wikileaks is relocating to Reykjavik.
This article is great food for thought, and highly recommended.
