WikiLeaks and the Age of Transparency

Presents a detailed account of the events surrounding the release of thousands of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks. Provides an overview of the organizations and actors supporting and opposing the release, including Senator Lieberman, Anonymous, Google, Twitter, Amazon, Visa, Master Card, Paypal, among others. Includes details of Julian Assange’s personal involvement in the controversy as well as a perspective by other founding members of WikiLeaks. Analyzes information confidentiality in the United States government, providing estimates of the number of people with security clearances, and also the impact of confidentiality in policy making decisions. Presents views on information secrecy and sharing in a more general context. Describes initiatives related to information openness and some of their outcomes, in different regional and political settings; these include forums organized by the Personal Democracy Forum in the US and Europe, gathering together experts and representatives of organizations in the area, and web initiatives to improve government, such as FixMyStreet and OpenCongress which are aimed at gathering and publishing data to help both authorities and citizens. Provides an account of the information released by WikiLeaks related to active or former conflicts such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.