2011-06-27 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa. All the times are GMT.

23:35 PM Before leaving to Brazil to participate in the 7th International Congress on Investigative Journalism in São Paulo, Kristinn Hrafnsson gave an interview to Brazilian magazine Época where he states that Wikileaks is in possession of so much material to go through already that fixing its sabotaged submission system was not considered a priority.

He also stresses the organization’s capacity to survive and adapt to any circumstances involving its members : It’s not an idea that depends 100% on a single person or a small number of people.

22:55 PM A Pública continues its analysis of diplomatic cables related to Brazil, including the government’s intention of building a hydroelectric plant in territory disputed by Venezuela and Guyana in an ‘effort to consolidate Guyana’s claim to the area’.
During Wikileaks Week about 50 articles total will be published based on Wikileaks material.

17:35 PM Anonymous/LulzSec seize website of the Tunisian Government under the AntiSec flag: "We will not stop until internet censorship is a word in the history books".

17:20 PM Brazilian investigative journalism center A Pública has started ‘Wikileaks week’ by publishing analysis of cables concerning the United States’ interest in Brazil’s energy sector. Minister Edison Lobão, head of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) is described as a friend to industry and in favor of power sector privatization, as well as being ‘inclined towards the U.S.’
Criticism is directed at Brazil’s demanding environmental licensing system:
the current permitting and licensing system makes the building of hydroelectric dams very challenging due to societal and environmental concerns which perversely makes the more polluting, carbon heavy, non-renewable conventional thermoelectric plants much easier to build.

07:45 AM "At least five film versions of the WikiLeaks story are in development from groups including DreamWorks, HBO, the BBC and Universal Pictures." According to the Financial Times, journalists and newspaper editors who previously collaborated with Wikileaks are cashing in on restrictive contracts that guarantee these studios exclusive access to information.
In Sydney, "wikiplay" Stainless Steel Rat opens Tuesday. Wikileaks has drawn attention to the play’s refusal to donate to the organization.

03:35 AM Over 50 supporters marched yesterday for Bradley Manning's freedom in the San Francisco Pride Parade. A few photos can be seen here. Update: Here are some photos of "Free Bradley Manning" at New York City LGBT Pride Parade too.

01:05 AM 1002 Australians were polled by the Lowy Institute. 62% believe Wikileaks is ‘more of a good thing’ and 27% ‘more of a bad thing’. The rest doesn’t know or has no view.

01:00 AM Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio reports on two cables recently released by Wikileaks concerning the development of ITT crude fields in an environmentally sensitive Natural Park in the country, possibly inhabited by uncontacted indigenous tribes. One cable details the environmental and legal concerns surrounding the project, as well as diverging attitudes :

Acosta announced a proposal that the international environmental NGO community compensate the GOE $700 million for not developing the fields, to avoid the environmental damage such a large project could cause. Pareja had meanwhile been working with foreign state oil companies Petrobras (Brazil), SIPC-Sinopec (China), and ENAP (Chile) on the possibility of a joint consortium proposal to develop the fields (these firms had all previously expressed interest in the project).
In another diplomatic cable, U.S. ambassador Linda Jewell expresses doubts about the viability of the project.

El Comercio writes that in the same day the Government announced it would not move forward with the implementation of ITT fields, Petroecuador sent a delegation to Washington to meet with oil investors interested in exploring them.

01:00 AM Foul language warning ! Joe Rogan’s Why Politicians are Scared of Wikileaks: