What is WikiLeaks?
WikiLeaks is a non-profit organization that brings important information to the public by anonymous sources that leak information to the WikiLeaks journalists. Their main goal is to show "truth" to the public.
Who is Bradley Manning?
Bradley Manning is a 23 year old Army intelligence analyst that is accused of leaking the "Collateral Murder" video to WikiLeaks. This video shows the killing of Iraqi civilians and journalists by a U.S Apache helicopter. Bradley Manning faces 22 charges that could end with the death penalty or life in prison. In the documentary, Bradley Manning is shown as a gay member of the U.S Army, and shows him getting more and more depressed.
The financial blockade to WikiLeaks has destroyed 95% of it's revenue. Companies such as Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, Western Union, and PayPal have all imposed financial blockades to try and stop WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks now has to stop publishing information and solely focus on fundraising to stop the financial blockading. WikiLeaks is now asking for BitCoin donations. BitCoin does not involve any banking, so any tracking of money is impossible. More importantly, BitCoin prevents any bank from blocking transfers or freezing accounts. BitCoin can help in this way, but it does not seem like it is going to work in the long run. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Impacts
When classified material is leaked, the public goes into a sort of frenzy. According to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, they are trying to bring transparency to the country. When this information is leaked, it makes the citizens of the United States even more skeptical of our government, and the levels of mistrust grow. Along with leaking classified information, when the government is keeping secrets, it makes those levels of mistrust rise. Striking back at Assange and some people associated with WikiLeaks, it makes the government look even more suspicious, because this is information that should be available to the public, The financial blockade is just plain wrong. Like it is stated on the WikiLeaks official website, " We cannot allow giant U.S finance companies to decide how the world votes with its pocket". According to WikiLeaks, the U.S government itself found that there were no lawful grounds to add WikiLeaks to a U.S financial blockade. With the financial blockade established, WikiLeaks is no longer releasing stories but moving their efforts towards fundraising to beat this financial blockade.
