2011-08-21 Former WikiLeaks spokesman destroyed unreleased files

Rough translation, apologies. Original at Der Spiegel

Former Wikileaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg claims to have destroyed more than 3,500 unpublished files that had been sent from unknown informants and are now apparently lost irrevocably. These are documents which were stored until the late summer of 2010 on the Wikileaks server and were taken by a group including Domscheit-Berg upon their leaving the organization. Domscheit-Berg has "in the last days shredded" the files "to ensure that the sources are not compromised," said Domscheit-Berg. He said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could not guarantee a safe handling of the material. In the data base was among other things, the so-called "no-fly list" of the U.S. government, on which the names of suspects were listed, which are prohibited from entering an aircraft. Assange said the material would also have insider information from 20 right-wing organizations. Domscheit-Berg would not confirm that. Assange had been asking him to return the data since early this year.

Previous WL Central coverage here.

what is more puzzling is

what is more puzzling is Wikileaks seem to be saying that had absolutely no form data security and data backup systems in place at all.

To call that amateurish is an understatement

At this point it nolonger matters what DDB says

At very best this individual is conflicted as to his motives and ideals. At worst he is an unprincipled self-promoter who will peddle any asset he can aquire by whatever means to the highest or any bidder. I see no reason to grant his announcement any credibilty. Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have never to my knowlege engaged in blackmail or even presure tactics. DDB, on the other hand, variously tried to leverage the documents he stole from his employer, to gain control of Wikileaks and when that did not work, to form the foundation for his own competing leaks platform. Because DDB has apparently not been able to realize a profit from this, I suspect that the 3000+ documents he stole from WikiLeaks were somehow useless to him. Perhaps, it was unimportant information, perhaps it was encrypted so it could not be read. The bottom line is that Mr. DDB is not to be trusted in any way.

The various little fears I read being alluded to, do no credit to their often annonymous authors. Julian Assange and others, at great personal risk and sacrfice are standing in the way of the Control juggernaught. If humanity is to win the human race, we must all stand to be counted. We really risk nothing. If the Control is allowed to win we loose our humanity.

Unable to realize a profit?

I would not be so quick to assume that destroying the data was not profitable for him. Among other things, Bank of America data was there.

True enough Heather

If nothing else it would be interesting to monitor DDB to see if there is some remarkable change of economic circumstances..:) But, why would BAC trust such an individual. I would suggest that if DDB is still visible on the face of planet earth, he probably did not sell anything?

I cannot find who DDB told ... (edited)

Yes, I already knew from previous news that DDB had been threatening, even stating his intention to destroy these files. [words fail]

Der Spiegel unfortunately does not indicate whose account they are passing along here. That source need to come forward and Domscheit-Berg must be pressured to make an unequivocal public statement wrt HIS actions here.

edited to add: I missed that Holger Stark was the author of the Der Speigel article (there's no byline) which did not indicate that its author had spoken directly with DDB. So, it felt to me rather like a "blind item" needing more attribution/specificity... it took some digging around to figure out why everyone was taking it at face value...

IMHO, DDB really needs to publically either confirm or deny, NOW. No, I don't trust him and won't necessarily "believe" him ... but it's a start.

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