Wikileaks defended by hacktivists
The Bot
Internet hacktivists have fired the latest salvo in the Wikileaks infowar.
A group called Anonymous has hit sites that have refused to do business with the controversial whistle-blowing site with a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Targets include the Swiss bank that froze founder Julian Assange's assets and PayPal which has stopped processing donations to Wikileaks.
A member of Anonymous who calls himself Coldblood said that "multiple things are being done".
"Websites that are bowing down to government pressure have become targets," he said.
"As an organisation we have always taken a strong stance on censorship and freedom of expression on the internet and come out against those who seek to destroy it by any means."
"We feel that Wikileaks has become more than just about leaking of documents, it has become a war ground, the people vs. the government," he said.
Anonymous is also helping to create hundreds of mirror sites for Wikileaks, after its US domain name provider withdrew its services.
"At the last count there were 507 mirrors of Wikileaks," said Coldblood.
Online payment company, PayPal, has permanently restricted Wikileaks' account, making it harder for supporters to make donations.
MasterCard Worldwide is also choking payments to the site.
The Swiss bank, PostFinance has closed the account of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
But some have taken a different view.
Julian Assange was arrested this afternoon at 13 h 30 (local time) by British police under a European arrest warrant when he appeared before the police. He will appear today before the court at Westminster. Julian Assange must answer several charges including sexual assault and rape, for acts allegedly committed in August in Sweden.
Despite various attempts to block Wikileaks, the documents are still available on the Web. "Efforts under pressure from the United States to block Wikileaks have failed because of Internet users have created 'mirror sites where documentation may be consulted. It is thanks to Wikileaks we learned this plot for the marine park around the Chagos. The Internet is a wonderful tool for freedom of expression, "says Ashok Subron, who is also a computer technician.
"OVH is neither for nor against this site. We neither asked to host this site nor not to host it. Now it's with us, we will fulfil the contract," said OVH managing director Octave Klaba.
"It's neither for the political world nor for OVH to call for or to decide on a site's closure," he added.
French industry minister Eric Besson had called for the site to be shut down, saying France could not host internet sites that "violate the confidentiality of diplomatic relations and put in danger people protected by diplomatic secrecy".
Wikileaks has amassed some high-profile enemies including Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the US Homeland Security Committee.
"Wikileaks has released an encrypted file containing all of the embassy cables," says Dr Wright. "The information is already out there."
Dozens of copies of that encrypted file have been shared using peer-to-peer networks, such as BitTorrent. "Once the information is there, it's virtually impossible to stop people sharing it," said Dr Wright.
Founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange has been arrested and is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later.
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