Wikileaks buzz

This might be the only blog dedicated to discussing Wikileaks (at least in English). A year ago at least one other Wikileaks blog existed, but on March 7, 2007, its author seems to have given up.

That said, the blogosphere is moderately abuzz with posts about Wikileaks, or about documents released by the site. Gawker linked to a post on Slate’s Hot Document blog describing a State Department brochure about car bombs entitled (oh so professionally) “When Broken Down Vehicles Go Boom!” The Daily Kos followed the California trial brought against Wikileaks by Swiss bank Julius Baer, and also commented on Wikileaked documents that revealed insider trading by JP Morgan and dungeon-like conditions at Fallujah.

Hot Document and Wikileaks seem like a natural pairing. Hot Document bloggers analyze primary documents and post copies of them on the site, focusing mostly on docs that caused a major stir in the news. Recent posts include the Clintons’ 1040s; cached Web pages from Eliot Spitzer’s escort service, the Emperor’s Club; and excerpts from the 28-page American Gladiators application.

Even the Huffington Post has commented on the Wikileaks phenomenon, notably in Clay Shirky’s philosophical examination of the implications of the Julius Baer trial. He notes that the “mass amateurization” of media in the Internet age will hinder the legal system’s ability to “rein in certain kinds of speech with very little little legal leverage.”

Shirky is not the only commentator to wax philosophical on Wikileaks’ implications. Others have explored the site’s greater meaning for Web 2.0, for the life (or death) of the Internet, and, of course, for law and journalism

And then there’s the official Wikileaks line: less-than-PC, often snarky press releases describing Wikileaks’ battles against the various oppressors of the world (cults should know better than to mess with global protectors of freedom).

More press releases can be found on the homepage.