In praise of… Wikileaks

A brown paper envelope for the digital age, Wikileaks.org is now home to more than 1m documents that governments and big business would rather the public did not see. The site – similar to Wikipedia in style, but otherwise independent of it – serves as an uncensorable and untraceable depository for the truth, able to publish documents that the courts may prevent newspapers and broadcasters from being able to touch. This month it has come of age in Britain, hosting the Minton report on the activities of oil trader Trafigura, even while the firm was trying to use its solicitors to prevent the press from revealing its contents. It was Wikileaks, too, that this week published a membership list of the British National party, revealing how few activists it has. Earlier this year, Lord Oakeshott, using parliamentary privilege, pointed those curious about Barclays' tax activities to Wikileaks to read the evidence. Useful in Britain, it is invaluable in less free societies, such as China, where the authorities play a cat-and-mouse game with Wikileaks' Swedish webhosts to try to block access. So far Wikileaks has stayed ahead, with technology leaving the law lagging behind. The site exists in a sort of legal limbo, not private, but not yet fully accepted by courts as part of the public domain. It takes power away from the powerful and hands it to citizens, controversial but essential example of what the web does best: offering unrestricted dispersal of information so that people can judge for themselves.