WikiRebels: The Documentary

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Julian, welcome.

It's been reported that WikiLeaks

has released more classified documents

than the rest of the world's media combined.

Can that possibly be true?

Yeah, can it possibly be true?

It's a worry, isn't it,

that the rest of the world's media is doing such a bad job

that a little group of activists is able to

release more of that type of information

than the rest of the world press combined.

Picking up the wounded.

I'm trying to get permission to engage.

Line them all up.

Come on, fire.

Good evening. They're the secret files

from the Iraqi War.

The internet platform WikiLeaks...

WikiLeaks have made public

the most extensive classified military

and diplomatic material ever.

What they've released is challenging and provoking governments

with skeletons in their cupboards all over the world.

We should condemn the disclosure

of any classified information

by individuals and organisations.

The people who are in power

will not give that power away freely.

That is just unfortunately a fact of nature.

The Defense Department demands

that WikiLeaks return immediately

all versions of documents obtained directly or indirectly

from the Department of Defense databases or records.

It's only now that the true story

behind the development of

this closed organisation is coming to light.

But while the world's discussing

whether Assange is a rapist or a saint,

WikiLeaks continue to pursue their own political agenda.

Every release that we do of material has a second message,

and that is we set examples.

If you engage in immoral, in unjust behaviour,

it will be found out, it will be revealed,

and you will suffer the consequences.

What we have here is a new breed of rebel -

IT guerrillas without a national base.

Student digs, coffee bars and server rooms -

these are their command and control centres,

spread all over the world,

and the battle's already started.

The general in charge of

120 defence intelligence agency personnel

targeting this institution and its products.

WikiLeaks have become a global force

to be reckoned with in record time.

It may not be easy to grasp at first,

but the release of classified information

is just a small step

in a long-term political and ideological battle,

and that leaking classified information is a weapon

and not a means unto itself.

The public has a right to know materials.

And the historical record has a right to have materials

of diplomatic, political, ethical, historical significance.

If something is interfering with that process,

we will undo it.

He's been called the 'Scarlet Pimpernel' of the computer age.

If one were to judge him on his looks alone,

you could call him a chameleon,

given the frequency of his change of hairstyles

during the six months we've been following WikiLeaks.

But if you look under the surface,

you'll soon discover that Julian Assange

has been revolting against the powers that be for a long time.

As a teenager in Australia,

he called himself 'Mendax',

and got a name for himself as a highly skilled hacker.

By the age of 21

he found himself in court

pleading guilty to some 20 different charges of hacking.

I mean, we had a back door

in the US Military Security Coordination Centre.

This is the peak security...

It's for controlling the security of MILNET,

the US military internet.

We had total control over this for two years.

The US space agency NASA is one of the victims

of the Melbourne computer hacking syndicate.

American investigators, including the FBI,

contacted Australian authorities

with their suspicions.

The court was told the men

even tampered with the police investigation

into hacking at the ANU.

The judge, seeing Assange as just

an inquisitive young man,

fined him a symbolic sum and released him.

However, the trial added further fuel to Assange's feelings

about the importance of unrestricted information.

Together with some friends,

he sets up one of Australia's first internet suppliers

and gives people with politically sensitive viewpoints

a platform from which to publish their opinions.

But when one of his customers

publishes secret Scientology manuals,

this prompts aggressive efforts to censor him.

Helena Kobrin,

one of the lawyers for Scientology in California,

sent many letters trying to attack us.

And they ended up hiring a private investigator

to try and track me down.

Who did manage to get hold of my silent telephone line

and call me up,

just as a sort of threatening manoeuvre.

I ended up tracking down how they did that.

Those efforts to censor the site

strengthen his conviction that something has to be done

against those withholding

important information from the public at large.

The problem was...

..there needed to be more actions

that created positive reform effect.

More actions that were just and corrective to injustice.

Assange sees disclosures as a preventative instrument.

It warns those involved in morally questionable

or criminal acts

that they'll be found out and

will have to face consequences.

I understood the significance of

disclosures for quite some time.

I mean, I registered leaks.Org in 1999.

In 2006, Assange and a group of like-minded people

start building up a special internet service,

wikileaks.Org,

exclusively for people wishing

to blow the whistle on abuse of power.

His fellow conspirators comprised of hackers and mathematicians.

They're located around the world

and communicate via a restricted mailing list.

From this platform,

they start defining their thoughts

of building up a worldwide movement

to mass publicise classified information.

They affirm that this is

the most cost-effective political weapon,

and that they intend to place a new star

on the political firmament of man.

Any reform that is large-scale

must be based upon information,

because what else can spread other than viruses?

Only information can spread and

achieve large-scale reform.

Inspired by Wikipedia,

WikiLeaks distribute the leaked information

to anonymous volunteers to check its authenticity

and eliminate any traces of the sender's identity.

It turns out that the majority of the general public

has neither the time, interest or resources

to analyse WikiLeaks' material.

But there are professionals to turn to.

In 2006, we hoped that the general public

would write analysis articles ...collaboratively.

And not at all true.

WikiLeaks come to the conclusion

that media are the only channels

that have the resources and motivation required

to create a real impact.

In 2007, WikiLeaks,

in association with the British daily newspaper 'The Guardian'

publish evidence of former

president Daniel arap Moi

having embezzled massive sums from Kenyan state funds.

Shortly after that, they release a report about

the Kenyan police's use of death patrols.

This disclosure causes a great stir,

but, as an organisation,

WikiLeaks continue to remain unknown to the general public.

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