The US Government Has Amassed Terabytes of Internal WikiLeaks Data

An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a Gizmodo report, written by national security reporter and transparency activist Emma Best: Late last year, the U.S. government accidentally revealed that a sealed complaint had been filed against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Shortly before this was made public, the FBI reconfirmed its investigation of WikiLeaks was ongoing, and the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice was optimistic that it would be able to extradite Assange. Soon after, portions of sealed transcripts leaked that implicate WikiLeaks and Assange in directing hackers to target governments and corporations. The charges against Assange have not been officially revealed, though it's plausible that the offenses are related to Russian hacking and the DNC emails. The alleged offenses in the complaint notwithstanding, the government has an abundance of data to work with: over a dozen WikiLeaks' computers, hard drives, and email accounts, including those of the organization's current and former editors-in-chief, along with messages exchanged with alleged Russian hackers about DNC emails. Through a series of search warrants, subpoenas, equipment seizures, and cooperating witnesses, the federal government has collected internal WikiLeaks data covering the majority of the organization's period of operations, from 2009 at least through 2017.

In some instances, the seized data has been returned and allegedly destroyed, such as in the case of David House, a technologist and friend of Chelsea Manning when she famously became a source for WikiLeaks. In others, the seized materials include communications between WikiLeaks and their sources. Some of these discussions show WikiLeaks discussing their other sources and specific identifying details about them. Other seizures gave authorities a deeper view of the internal workings of WikiLeaks, including one of the earliest known seizures of WikiLeaks-related data, executed on December 14, 2010, when the messages and user information of several WikiLeaks-linked Twitter accounts were ordered. This search-and-seizure order included direct messages associated with WikiLeaks and its founder, former Army private first class and WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning, WikiLeaks editor Rop Gongrijp, former WikiLeaks associate Jacob Appelbaum, and former WikiLeaks associate and Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir, between November 1, 2009, and the order's execution.

What's the big deal here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bradley Manning committed a crime. The FBI investigates crimes.

What else is there to target

[mapkinase]

that implicate WikiLeaks and Assange in directing hackers to target governments and corporations.

Shocking. What else is there to target?

Re:

[DavenH]

I think the relevant part of this statement is the verb not the object. Directing people to commit cyber crimes is not the same as receiving leaks from whistleblowers. Maybe I'm taking the troll bait ...

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a story about wikileaks and assange in a world where people can and do pay people to drum up fake support and muddle conversations on social media. It's all troll bait.

Slashdot should just block comments on some posts

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously... everything here is a shit-show of long since debunked conspiracy theories, political mudslinging and trolling. There was never any hope of rational conversation on this topic.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately that's what the majority of the conservative "movement" has morphed into: belligerent, ignorant, treasonous, gullible, conspiracy theorists shouting their rage against everything and everyone who doesn't buy into their increasingly desperate sounding drivel.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

The ones arresting people who were tangentially involved with members of the Trump campaign? Yawn.

Only the presidents Campaign Manager and his Personal Lawyer - barely involved at all really!

Re:

[epine]

One bullet per liberal. Are you ready ? Because WE ARE.

Who needs patient target practice to perfect their shooting accuracy when they've already got crass profanity and ALL CAPS?

Hey, Dr Evil, perhaps you should order your bullets by the billions, not the millions, based on the above.

Re: Slashdot should just block comments on some po

[cyber-vandal]

The opinion changed due to Wikileaks making Saint Hillary look bad, not due to any change in Wikileaks' behaviour.

Re: Slashdot should just block comments on some

[cyber-vandal]

Nope he's a ridiculous child as well

Re:

[xxxLCxxx]

These clowns are part of what your "secret services" do. They attempt to create fake masses echoing their catch phrases, while discouraging honest people to get into it (flooding with lotsa shit, etc.).

News!?

[DaMattster]

How is this news? Anyone can collect data from Wikileaks as that is kind of the point. The fact that this would be considered news is honestly funny.

Re:

[wildfish]

thanks for the laugh (and on topic post)

Re:

[DavenH]

Internal Wikileaks communications are not public data.

Re:

[Rockoon]

Internal Wikileaks communications are not public data.

Everything is public data to the NSA.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Wikileaks: We'll publish all of your internal communications! It's for the good of all!
Also Wikileaks: You can't publish our internal communications! That's immoral!

DDB Deletions?

[GameboyRMH]

I wonder if this includes all the information deleted by Daniel Domscheit-Berg?

The US against free speech.

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

News at 11.

Re:

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

WikiLeaks didn't publish Russian and Chinese secrets because... ... they publish what they get. If Russian and Chinese citizens working for their respective secret-keeping organizations don't volunteer secrets to Wikileaks, what should Wikileaks do to satisfy your conspiracy streak, invent them?

Wikileaks!

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a perfect site to release these leaks!

The government has no moral high ground here

[Anonymous Coward]

No matter whether any laws were technically broken (particularly given the absurd number, impossibility of perfect compliance, and impossibility and imorality of enforcement in a global environment) they are literally irrelevant from a moral perspective. With perfect compliance a free media does not exist nor does a true democracy.

Even if you don't like that the government routinely like daily works to attack people on petty and absurd basis where there are no victims. They undermine people based on politic

Assange directed hackers to target governments?

[najajomo]

"portions of sealed transcripts leaked that implicate WikiLeaks and Assange in directing hackers to target governments and corporations."

There are serious charges and would require strong independent verifiable evidence. What exactly is the evidence that Assange in directing hackers to target governments and corporations. An alternative reading of the issue and I produce the evidence below, is that this is part of the strategy by the US deepstate [penguinrandomhouse.com] to discredit Wikileaks and Assange:

"The WikiLeaks Threa [wikileaks.org]

Re:

[xxxLCxxx]

So the guys having fun killing civilians (including a Reuters reporter) from an Apache helicopter committed no crime? Have you ever thought about adding a swastika as 51st star? Truth in labelling and all... ;-P

Re: No

[c6gunner]

So the guys having fun killing civilians (including a Reuters reporter) from an Apache helicopter committed no crime?

Correct.

Have you ever thought about adding a swastika as 51st star? Truth in labelling and all... ;-P

Sure, as long as you go ahead and add it to the flag of every nation which has ever accidentally killed civilians in war. Would be rather amusing seeing the proliferation of swastikas at the next UN summit.

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

Bernie had a better chance of winning than Hillary but they didn't want him. They bet everything on her and lost.

But Bernie is a commie.

[lamer01]

The Russians should have supported him, right?

Re:

[will_die]

They did. According to the government report on Russia involvement in the election Bernie and Stein(the green party runner) were the two people who got the most direct pro support.

Re:

[FunkSoulBrother]

You need to update your 30 year old stereotypes, the Russians are authoritarian capitalists now and have been for some time.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

obviously not as illegal as you wish it was.

Re: Any New Info?

[Anonymous Coward]

Kiss-off ivan, that's the exact line we now know was being pushed by the Russians. I've had a secret clearance too and actually know something about that works and i know you're lying.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

they take a slight hold in the House, and what's the first thing they do? Immediately shut down the government.

You're a fucking retard or a shill, the reality is the govt was shut down before before the Democrats took any power.

I expect a hostile foreign power to try to destroy our country with lies. If you're an American: fuck you for doing the exact same thing.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

So, you completely missed Trump explicitly stating that it was his shutdown?

Re:

[basecastula]

Someone has to take responsibility, and it seems as though he's the only adult in the room as it were. .

Man, that is rich.