Here Comes OpenLeaks: How It Won't Be WikiLeaks

Almost exactly a year ago I spoke via email with ex-WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg. He and the four or five others who'd defected from WikiLeaks in September of 2010 were already at work on OpenLeaks, a successor organization with the same basic goal: to maintain a secure platform where sensitive documents of interest to the public can be uploaded by whistleblowers and anonymously distributed to the press.

Now OpenLeaks is just about ready to launch. Domscheit-Berg gave a presentation on the project some days ago at the Share 2 conference in Belgrade, and I just had to get over there to hear it. (I don't know! All of a sudden I was in Belgrade narcoleptically passing out in my soup, and also attending this surprisingly inspiring tech conference.) I was able to meet and speak at length with Daniel, and learned a ton about OpenLeaks and the future of whistleblowing.

The Serbian capital has an ex-totalitarian air, the monuments and public buildings seeming to have been built with the principal aim of intimidation, rather than beauty. Though there is beauty, too. There are a lot of huge, dark bronze sculptures of stern-looking giant guys. There are also wonderful old parks, old trees, lovely wrought iron gates, cobbled walks. Tons of people in the street, day and night, safe to walk, lots of women walking on their own. Beautiful old electric trams in a wonderful rich aged red color, very noisy; I hope they keep them always, like the San Francisco cable cars.

Complete article can be found on theawl.com