WikiLeaks CableGate: December 13, Day 16

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DECEMBER 13, Day 16

Fact: Of the reported 251,287 U.S. diplomatic cables it claims to have in its possession, WikiLeaks has released 1,344. That is slightly more than one-half of one percent of the total.

[Time] Julian Assange wins Readers' Choice for TIME's Person of the Year 2010

 "Readers voted a total of 1,249,425 times, and the favorite was clear. Julian Assange raked in 382,020 votes, giving him an easy first place. He was 148,383 votes over the silver medalist, Recep Tayyip Ergodan, Prime Minister of Turkey."

[CNET] WikiLeaks could be vulnerable to Espionage Act

"A CNET review of Espionage Act cases shows that judges have generally favored the government and, in a 1985 case, even allowed an extraterritorial prosecution of a non-U.S. citizen. In the 1978 case of U.S. v. Dedeyan, the Fourth Circuit upheld the Act against arguments that it was vague and overly broad. A year later, in U.S. v. Boyce, the Ninth Circuit ruled it was 'constitutionally sufficient.'"

[Guardian] WikiLeaks cables: Drive to tackle Islamists made 'little progress

"Britain made 'little progress' in reaching out to Muslim communities despite investing 'considerable time and resources' after the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, US diplomats concluded in cables passed to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks."

[Guardian] Inside 'Anonymous': tales from within the group taking aim at Amazon and Mastercard

"Though it sounds like a coordinated organisation, the reality is that it's more like a stampeding herd - and members are fearful of standing up and being counted."

[Washington Post] WikiLeaks drug corruption report hits Peru general

A document from the WikiLeaks U.S. diplomatic cable store speculated that Gen. Paul da Silva, the new head of Peru's military, was involved in drug corruption. The general denied the charges on Monday and said he is considering  legal action against the former U.S. ambassador, Michael McKinley.

[Der Spiegel] A spokesman for the Wau Holland Foundation, the German non-profit fundraising arm of WikiLeaks, says $1.2 million has been raised on behalf of WikiLeaks since Oct. 2009. Since CableGate, and before PayPal stopped taking donations for it, Wau Holland raised as much as $120,000 in one week. The spokesman claimed they only pay WikiLeaks based on business-related receipts and that, as far as he knew, they did not pay for fancy hotel rooms and business-class flights for founder Julian Assange. So far, a little more than $500,000 has been disbursed to WikiLeaks.

[The Economist] A panelist from the Personal Democracy Forum's "flash symposium" held Saturday in New York reflects on the evolution of WikiLeaks and mulls over the "new breed of guerrilla transparency movements" it started.

[AP] UK authorities are worried that pro-WikiLeaks activists could launch cyber attacks against government websites.

So-called "hacktivists" - operating under the umbrella "Operation Payback" - brought down the sites of perceived WikiLeaks foes like Mastercard and PayPal last week after they stopped processing payments for the whistleblower operation.

Now, with founder Julian Assange scheduled to appear in a British court for an extradition hearing related to a Swedish sex crime investigation, some fear UK government sites could be the next target.

Prime Minister David Cameron's office said it's particularly concerned about sites which store sensitive personal information, like those used to file tax returns or to claim benefits.

[Forbes] If imitation is flattery, WikiLeaks must be blushing. Forbes' Andy Greenberg takes a look at WikiLeaks' newly spawned rivals/imitators that have recently launched similar operations. Greenberg analyzes the challenges, technical and otherwise, facing the newcomers.

Among the newbies are:

BrusselsLeaks, a collaboration between former EU officials and journalists that launched last Thursday.

BalkanLeaks, established by a Bulgarian expat in Paris with the mission statement that "the Balkans are not keeping secrets anymore."

Indoleaks, which has already published documents from India's government, though the site appears to be struck with some technical problems.

And OpenLeaks, which is being launched (possibly as early as Monday) by former WikiLeaks staffer Daniel Domscheit-Berg.

[Guardian] The Guardian reports Sunday that Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness carried out negotiations for the Good Friday agreement with Irish then-prime minister Bertie Ahern while the two had explicit knowledge of a bank robbery that the Irish Republican Army was planning to carry out. The information comes from a WikiLeaks cable.

DECEMBER 12, Day 15

[Donald Rumsfeld via Twitter] Surprise, the former Secretary of Defense cooperated with the U.S. government in using previously classified documents in his book.

"With my book I will release 100s of supporting docs on a website--many previously classified, but unlike #Wikileaks, all cleared by USG."

[Guardian] Sinn Fein leaders 'were aware of' Northern Bank heist plans

Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness judged to be part of military command and aware of IRA plans for �???�??�?�£26.5m robbery

[Washington Post] Brazil's vulnerability to terrorist acts

The 2009 crash of a stolen plane near the capital city of Brasilia exposed Brazil's vulnerability to terrorist acts, said a U.S. diplomatic cable released Sunday by WikiLeaks.

Click here to see more WikiLeaks news from the weekend and before.