Internet is the most powerful tool of today
How does OpenLeaks work in a brief and how is it funded?
OpenLeaks is a project aimed at supporting sustainable whistleblowing on the Internet while maximizing the sources interests. It has been developed as a consequence of shortcomings observed during our work with WikiLeaks.
We basically help third party organizations (the media, NGOs, etc) to have an anonymous and secure submission system on the Internet that informants and whistleblowers can use to hand over information and documents. We do this by providing services but more importantly by transferring knowledge and know-how.
We believe that information should be brought as close to where it can make a difference as possible, and we want sources to be able to deal with organizations they trust and that might have an interest in this particular type of information (i.e. local newspapers in a local corruption scandal, environmental NGOs in an environment scandal etc).
Why do you not publish documents on your own platform?
We do not publish information ourselves as the publication is a very critical part in the flow of information. It requires robust ethics and standards, thorough verification and to have an effect also a good outreach to where the information can matter. A single platform can never have that -- it could never be robust enough to deal with any kind of document submitted, take difficult decisions about how to publish it without doing eventual harm, be able to verify each document in every possible language, and reach the most local or specific areas of interest. This approach would also be unwise, as the organizations that can do this exist. We aim to enable them, and also to connect them to one another.
What is the difference between Wikileaks and what you do in OpenLeaks?
The main difference is that we do not seek to be a centralistic and intransparent political actor, but aim at enabling other organizations. By that we decentralize the field of online leaking and consequently strengthen and diversify the flow of information, enabling greater independence. It will also make sure less mistakes will happen. OpenLeaks will also soon be institutionalized as a proper organization itself.
How often the media can publish information from OpenLeaks considering pressures they are exposed (mainly from authorities and advertisers)?
Given the way that OpenLeaks works in detail, it will actually help publishing organizations with these issues indirectly. As we decentralize the leaking, the publication can also be much more decentralized. First of all, the whole flow of information will be much more complex, making it much harder to near impossible to say to whom a document that becomes published was actually submitted. Secondly, and more importantly, we are seeking to build a vast network of partners we are working with. And those partners can help each other with publications, and eventually also to defend the rights of the free press from legal attacks.
Do you have partners in Serbia?
Not yet, no. We are still in the testing phase, but will move to the next phase this summer. We'd be more than happy to be in touch with Serbian platforms that have an interest.
Last year in Arab Spring and Occupy protests we saw how powerful the Internet was. Where are the limits of Internet in that regard?
It is hard to say where the Internet has its limit. The Internet enables communication between people. It moves us all very close together, about 350 milliseconds from the poorest to the richest area of the world. Being so close to one another offers tremendous potential for the discourse of society. That discourse and resulting action from it I hope has no limits at all.
Is the Internet the most powerful weapon nowadays?
The Internet is the most powerful tool of today. As with any tool, it can be used for many things. As I firmly believe in the positive and constructive potential of the human being, I prefer not to call the Internet a weapon. I leave this to all the fear-mongers in this world. There are enough of these without me.
What is the most important thing in Internet activism?
It is the lack of borders -- the reality of the Internet being a truly global world. I can learn about the suffering my consumer decisions have for children in sweat shops in places of the world I have never been and will never be to -- and decide to buy something else. I can learn about devastating effects my political decisions might have -- and decide to vote differently.
For the first time in human history humankind is one. We are all connected, globally, and our action knows no borders. In the face of the Internet Protocol, all women and men are created equal. They all have a voice, can communicate and decide to do something about the problems we have. This is what makes the difference with Internet activism.
Do you believe that we live in transprent world as we know, for example, that Kennedy’s private recordings and Hoover’s secret archives have been released recently, many years after their death (and many other important documents will never be open)?
As Jeff Jarvis puts it, we live in a world of a default of secrecy, where we make exceptions for transparency. A world where we expect others to solve problems for us. Where we are mere spectators, outsourcing all our responsibility to leaders, messiah or heros. This is the world we come from.
The world we are heading to is the exact opposite. It is a world that is transparent, that we can understand. A world with powers that are independently controlled and held accountable. A world where we make exceptions for those few things that really need to stay private or secret. And a world of participants. Of women and men of action, of everyday heros. This will be a much more healthy world.
Transparency is the key to understanding. And only if we understand our problems will we be able to do something about them.
Could you predict the future of Internet activism?
To predict the future of Internet activism requires predicting the future of activism. I am no prophet, and too many things are happening right now to be able to say anything certain anyways.
My hopes are that more people become active, that people get out of the role of spectators they have been trained for by TV and mass-consumerism. That the people of this world decide to actively participate -- and by that participation help rid the world of some of its gravest problems. We can all see what is at risk in these days -- from economic to ecologic problems. These issues are issues we all share. We all -- and only we all -- share the potential to solve them. Together. Lets get to it.
