Strike! Wikileaks Says Freed Information Isn't Free
BY Nancy Scola | Monday, January 11 2010
The team behind Wikileaks -- a global hub of online knowledge that, while shrouded in a bit of mystery, has published and protected game-changing documents from inside governments, corporations, religious groups, and more -- has a new secret to share: what they do isn't free. Wikileaks.org has ceased operations until January 11th in a bid to direct focused attention onto their fundraising ask. The group, which by popular legend grew out of Chinese dissidents resistance against Beijing's censorship, is looking to raise about $200,000 per year to cover the costs of its infrastructure and legal fees. A journalism student named Stefan Mey has a lengthy interview with Wikileaks spokesperson Julian Assange, an Australian who participated in our recent PdF Europe conference in Barcelona, about why Wikileaks has borrowed a page from union movements all over the world and gone on "strike":
They remind people that their labour has value by withdrawing supply entirely. We give free and important information to the world every day. But when the supply is infinite in the sense that everyone is able to download what we publish, the perceived value starts to reduce down to zero. So by withdrawing supply and making our supply to zero, people start to once again perceive the value of what we are doing.
Many of us have heralded Wikileaks as part of the next generation of journalism, but it's clear that they're having trouble getting their basic needs met. The journalistic "old guard," such as the Associated Press and the LA Times, reports Assange lends support in the form of legal advisors, but with the group turning down cash donations from governments and corporations, the need for a new funding model has become obvious. Wikileaks has evolved, and quickly, to be a core part of the journalistic universe, as we saw in the recent case where they helped the Guardian paper in the UK make an end run around an injunction against publishing materials having to do with the Trafigura dumping case in Côte d'Ivoire. But like many in online journalism, innovations in publishing haven't yet been matched by innovations in how you pay for it. Their pitch now: "We protect the world—but will you protect us?" (Photo credit: Esther Dyson)