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Inside the Fortified, Nuke-Proof Bunker that's Now Hosting Wikileaks

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Re: Inside the Fortified, Nuke-Proof Bunker that's Now Hosting Wikileaks

#5

Is this a black eye for Amazon, or do they get a pass due to the pressure that we assume was applied to them as a company domiciled in the USA?

They get an easy pass. The idea of this ever going to Amazon in the first place just seems extraordinarily ill-conceived: There was no way it was going to stay up.

Wikileaks is pursuing a remarkably old-school method of releasing these, with the whole centralized distribution point.

They should release the entire set via P2P with collections symmetrically encrypted. They could then -- via the most rudimentary methods -- release individual keys at chosen intervals to still obtain the same throttled response. And one day when the feds are kicking in the doors, just drop the entire key collection.

Re: Inside the Fortified, Nuke-Proof Bunker that's Now Hosting Wikileaks

#7
"...one wonders why Swedish Bahnhof would take on the challenge of hosting a site that will probably be under permanent attack for the foreseeable future.

Unless it's for the PR value"

That's a good example of allowing one's imagination of possibilities to wander over very short distances. Is it that inconceivable that a company might be motivated by something other than the bottom line? Arvinjoar commented earlier on the principled character of the Bahnhof's founder: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959961

Re: Inside the Fortified, Nuke-Proof Bunker that's Now Hosting Wikileaks

#8
post #5

Is this a black eye for Amazon, or do they get a pass due to the pressure that we assume was applied to them as a company domiciled in the USA?

They get an easy pass. The idea of this ever going to Amazon in the first place just seems extraordinarily ill-conceived: There was no way it was going to stay up. Wikileaks is pursuing a remarkably old-school method of releasing these, with the whole centralized distribution point. They should release the entire set via P2P with collections symmetrically encrypted. They could then -- via the most rudimentary methods…

I wonder why they're not doing that.

Re: Inside the Fortified, Nuke-Proof Bunker that's Now Hosting Wikileaks

#9
As far as articles go, I'm not impressed with this one. Although I'd be willing to admit that my interest in all things Wikileaks is seriously waning.

That said, there was little to no information about the actual data center, other than a link to a Forbes article about the first time Wikileaks moved there. They even embedded the same video from that original article.

Throw in an offhand and speculative comment about Amazon bowing "to political pressure" and a few Flickr pictures and presto! I almost felt like I was reading another one of Shaun Gallagher's "I wrote this article with one mouse click" experiments.

Re: Inside the Fortified, Nuke-Proof Bunker that's Now Hosting Wikileaks

#10
post #8
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They get an easy pass. The idea of this ever going to Amazon in the first place just seems extraordinarily ill-conceived: There was no way it was going to stay up. Wikileaks is pursuing a remarkably old-school method of releasing these, with the whole centralized distribution point. They should release the entire set via P2P with collections symmetrically encrypted. They could then -- via the most rudimentary methods…

I wonder why they're not doing that.

It's far less visible to normal, ordinary people, who they need to reach. The success of WikiLeaks depends in part on being highly visible and accessible by anyone and everyone- ironically, much the same as terrorism. (Not that I believe they are a terrorist organization, but they definitely function kind of like one, at least superficially)

I imagine the day somebody figures out how to make a HTTP-compatible P2P network that allows you to browse web pages hosted on bittorrent will be the day WikiLeaks moves to P2P.

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