Over the last few years one name has defined and exhibited a brand of self-styled journalism globally, shaking the mightiest in the world, ripping apart reputations, and leaking thousands of documents, all in the name of transparency. Global whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has given the world its politics, economics, and all the more its media, a whole new dimension. From the White House to the Lok Sabha, the website has made people shudder, sigh, grumble and angry. But so little is otherwise known of this project, which is a prot?g? of the information age, the Wiki generation. Inside WikiLeaks comes across as quite an eye opener about the ?world?s most dangerous website?.
Daniel Domscheit-Berg wrote the book after his tiff with former friend, confidant, and his almost hero, Julian Assange. And the book, apart from everything else that it brings to the table, has a strong stench of that fallout. In fact, the collision between the former WikiLeaks spokesman, Berg, and Assange seems to be the prime motivation behind this work. Assange has been quite a mystery for the whole world, and the book seeks to exploit that curiosity about the WikiLeaks? founder. For most part of the book, Assange is the very focus of the story with his strange mannerisms, mysterious behaviour, unconventional ways, and his hunger for power.
Assange?s personality traits as described by the author seem indeed quite vague, like: ?He (Julian) didn?t have a fixed address, crashing instead at other people?s places. Usually all he carried with him was his backpack with his two notebook computers and a bunch of travel chargers?.He wore several layers of clothing. Even indoors, he wore two pairs of pants.? But Berg himself oscillates like a pendulum on his views about Assange and his eccentricities. From hero-worshipping him and caring for him, to displaying outright disgust, amazement, ridicule and all reactions possible, all within the space of a few words. On one hand, he found Assange unbearable, on the other, unbelievably special and lovable. He also takes pot-shots at Assange?s strange ways throughout the book.
Berg talks at length about Assange and the relationship they shared, which according to him was the flesh, blood and bones of WikiLeaks?just the two of them. It brings to fore almost incredulous and unbelievable stories of how these two men made WikiLeaks work the way it did, and made it appear much larger than it really was. Daniel?s name for the outside world was Daniel Schmitt, a surname conveniently borrowed from the name of his cat. And as the two of them responded to queries and e-mails with fake names and ids, they always portrayed WikiLeaks as a huge organisation with an army of volunteers, lawyers and IT engineers trooping along to make it work, while the reality was just these two men, with one server, managed the whole show!
Of course, there were mess-ups and mistakes, but Berg still holds his former WikiLeaks tag with a sense of unambiguous pride. He might have fallen out with Assange but the way he tells the story makes his love for WikiLeaks amply clear. And again, he does talk about lapses, but rarely where there was a genuine lapse, and not something which he perceives as a result of Assange?s whims and fancies. One such instance in the book is where he talks about one of the alleged sources of WikiLeaks, private Bradley Manning, who was detained later on this charge by the US authorties.
While making it clear that no one at WikiLeaks knew whether Manning was their source or not, he writes, ?For the first time, we were seeing the social shortcomings of our project. No matter how well prepared we were for various crisis scenarios?we hadn?t devoted enough attention to this topic…While we basked relatively safely in the spotlight of public interest, our sources knew no fame and ran a far greater risk for doing what they did?.
But as much as this book appeals and seduces, it also disappoints to a large extent. The author goes off-track every now and then, and mixes plots between the dynamics of his personal relationship with Assange and the real work done by WikiLeaks. He keeps accusing Assange of creating a personality cult while compromising the founding principles of the secret-sharing site, but does no good himself by writing a lot more about Assange and himself than the website. Of course, he knows what would sell and what would not sell. In other parts, while there is some meat about the inside workings of WikiLeaks, one just can?t help but get a feeling that quite a few things are still being brushed under the carpet by Berg. Maybe it is the nature of his work, or maybe the subject matter itself makes it all the more mysterious than it really is.
At the fag end of the book, the author pitches his own whistle-blowing website, called OpenLeaks, which he describes as based on a better planning and implementation than its inspiration. He, however, does acknowledge that WikiLeaks ?made the topic of whistle-blowing socially acceptable. Questions about people?s right to keep secrets and reveal confidential information have become part of mainstream society. The hype surrounding WikiLeaks made a significant contribution to this?.
But all in all, this book could have been done in a much better manner, and given more depth and substance. It would then not have been the gossip magazine that it seems to be now at least, in parts. And while the shroud of mystery over Assange has been somewhat lifted, quite a bit still remains. An enjoyable read, but hardly fulfilling.
Extract
The first time that something Julian said really left a bitter taste in my mouth was in early 2009, when we were considering taking part in the World Social Forum in Brazil. A friend had mentioned to me that he would like to come with us. I told Julian about it. Personally, I was against the idea. This friend had nothing to do with the project, and we weren?t going there on vacation, but rather to make contacts and work. Not to mention the fact that I was paying for the tickets. Julian had no money.
Julian, on the other hand, thought it was an excellent idea and said, ?Let him come along. He can carry our suitcases.? When I looked incredulous, he said he?d often done in the past and that he liked someone along to carry his bags. That was the first time I asked myself who was playing his porter right now. I couldn?t think of anyone. Besides me.