Image Source: 4U News

BY LEE JIAN CHUNG

WikiLeaks is now subject to its own leak of uncensored documents. 251,000 U.S. State Department cables are circulating the internet with unredacted  information on U.S. Sources. HLN reports…

“WikiLeaks rep say that it is not their fault. They released the files, they say, but not the passwords that unlocked them. They claimed that a British journalist revealed the password in a book on the Wikileaks founder.”
Video: HLN

That journalist is David Leigh, an investigative reporter for The Guardian.
The news organization retaliated by saying quote- ‘sloppy security’ at the anti-secrecy website lead to the leak.

USA Today reports-- Leigh blames WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for reusing an old password when publishing encrypted data.

“…[Leigh] acknowledge that Assange had supplied him with a password needed to access the U.S. embassy cables… but said that Assange told him the site would expire in a matter of hours.”

The Guardian reports that WikiLeaks contacted the U.S. State Department on August 25 to warn of the publication of cables and to check the department’s program of notifying those named in the documents.

“Julian Assange was said to have had a 75 minute phone conversation with Cliff Johnson, a legal advisor at the department, but was refused a face-to-face meeting to exchange further details.”

Adweek writes that Wikileaks’ former news partners are also supporting The Guardian. In a joint statement with the British newspaper; The New York Times, El Pais, Der Spiegel and Le Monde have condemned WikiLeaks for the releasing the documents.

“We deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted state department cables, which may put sources at risk.”

In an editorial on their website, WikiLeaks is now preparing to sue The Guardian and an unnamed German individual purportedly involved in the leak.

“Wikileaks hasd commenced pre-litigation action against the Guardian and an individual in Germany who was distributing the Guardian passwords for personal gain.”

In an interview with NPR, a journalism professor from City University of New York says the relationship between WikiLeaks and traditional news media is now fractured. He adds potential whistleblowers will hesitate to work with WikiLeaks in the future.

“Former Wikileaks people are fighting all the time, so that relationship is deeply damaged. The relationship with the traditional media organization is certainly damaged beyond repair. … If I had a very nervous person, who had secret documents I wanted to share, and I looked at what was going on, I would not come near them with a 10-foot pole.”

CNN’s National Security Contributor seconds that opinion.

“The critics will say, well, this is a good thing for transparency, but I think we have to assume that when people hear that their identities have been revealed whether or not they are directly threatened, people in the future are less likely to provide information and cooperate with the U.S. government.”
Video: CNN

Stay with Newsy for all the updates on the WikiLeak’s leak and litigation.