Destruction of WikiLeaks source material by Daniel Domscheit-Berg

[Magda Hassan]

Julian's response to the destruction of WikiLeaks source material by Daniel Domscheit-Berg

2011-08-20 Statement by Julian Assange on the reported destruction of WikiLeaks source material by Daniel Domscheit-Berg
Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 22:31
Daniel Domscheit-Berg Openleaks Wikileaks

Sat Aug 20 23:25:00 2011 GMT

WikiLeaks does not record or retain source identifying information, however the claimed destruction of documents entrusted to WikiLeaks between January 2010 and August 2010 demands the revelation of inside information so sources can make their own risk assessments.

Early in 2010, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, (then "Daniel Berg", "Daniel Schmitt") (born 1978), who was responsible for keeping selected WikiLeaks backups, met and entered into a relationship with Anke Domscheit-Berg (then, "Anke Domscheit") (born 1968) who described her job title as "Director Government Relations" for Microsoft, Germany.

DDB told me that ADB's role was to interface with the German government on behalf of Microsoft. He was proud that he had been to a party at the German ministry of the interior, as ADB's consort, and that ADB was on intimate terms with senior figures in the German government and bureaucracy.

DDB told me that he had moved into ADBs house in Berlin, without any counter-intelligence cover, going so far as to place his legal name on a street visible mail box and the interior door and that he would work from this location.

At this point WikiLeaks issued a policy directive that DDB not be permitted contact with source material.

ADB and DDB officially married within a few weeks and changed their surnames to "Domscheit-Berg".

DDB secretly, and in clear violation of WikiLeaks internal security directives, recorded internal WikiLeaks encrypted "chat" conversations. He initially publicly denied having done so, but attempted to place many of these recordings into his ghostwritten book, most of which were rejected by his publishers' lawyers as violations of german privacy law. Others he secretly conveyed to hostile media, such as Wired magazine, which had been involved in the arrest and persecution of US intelligence analyst Bradley Manning.

His book, "Inside WikiLeaks", contains many proven malicious libels and breaches of WikiLeaks security policies. The book is promoted throughout U.S. military book stores, by the U.S. military.

After DDB's suspension in August 2010, he managed, through guile, to convince a German WikiLeaks system administrator, who was an old associate of DDB's, to obtain the keys and data for a large quantity of then pending WikiLeaks whistleblower disclosures.

In the last year there has been publicly declared task forces or investigations into WikiLeaks by the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI, the Department of State, the DoJ, ASIO, ASIS, and the AFP (the last has now been publicly cancelled, finding that no Australian laws have been broken). Many other agencies, such as the NSA have also been involved, but not publicly declared.

I have received a warning from a current Western intelligence officer that DDB has been in contact with the FBI, on more than one occasion, and that the information from this contact was "helpful". I do not know if DDB was complicit with the reported contact.

David House, of the Bradley Manning Support Network, stated publicly, and repeatedly, that U.S. investigative authorities attempted to bribe him to become an informant and infiltrate WikiLeaks activities.

I have been told that the girlfriend of a Berlin-based Israeli intelligence officer attended the wedding of ADB and DDB. This may not be significant.

I have received intelligence from current Western intelligence officer, that Anke Domscheit Berg, personally, came into contact with the CIA during her time working for the McKinsey & Company consulting group. This was a direct, volunteered statement of fact and warning, and not a statement of speculation. I do not know if ADB was complicit in the reported
contact.

J. Assange

http://wlcentral.org/node/2170

[Magda Hassan]

Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the former spokesperson for WikiLeaks, is said to have destroyed more than 3,000 documents, taken when he left the organization. Based on statements from WikiLeaks, the documents would have been explosive to say the least, considering the topics they covered.
The news comes from German reporters at Der Spiegel, who said that more than 3,500 unpublished files were gone, after Daniel Domscheit-Berg claimed to have destroyed them. The documents were taken by Domscheit-Berg when he left WikiLeaks. They were destroyed, according to Der Spiegel, to prevent the sources from being compromised.
"We can confirm that the DDB claimed destroyed data included a copy of the entire US no-fly list," WikiLeaks said in a comment on Twitter.
In addition, WikiLeaks said that the data lost also included five gigabytes from the Bank of America, the internals of around 20 neo-Nazi organizations, and US intercept arrangements for over a hundred internet companies.
Based on public statements, the destruction happened after Domscheit-Berg failed to use the data to blackmail WikiLeaks.
"Over the last 11 months, we have tried to negotiate the return of various materials taken by Mr. Domscheit-Berg, including internal communications and over 3000 unpublished, private whistleblower communications to WikiLeaks. Mr. Domscheit-Berg has repeatedly attempted to blackmail WikiLeaks by threatening to make available, to forces that oppose WikiLeaks, these private communications... He has stated he will commit this action, should WikiLeaks move to charge him with sabotage or theft. Mr. Domscheit-Berg has refused to return the various materials he has stolen, saying he needs them, solely, to carry out this threat," a statement from WikiLeaks explained.
"The negotiations have now been terminated by the mediator, Andy Müller-Maguhn, who has stated that he doubts Mr. Domscheit-Berg's integrity and claimed willingness to return the material and that under those circumstances Müller-Maguhn cannot meaningfully continue to mediate. In response, Mr. Domscheit-Berg has stated that he has, or is about to, destroy thousands of unpublished whistleblowers disclosures sent to WikiLeaks."
[Julian Assange also released a statement, you can read that here.]
The statement later explains that the source identities for the lost material were not at risk, due to policies preventing WikiLeaks from collecting or retaining source identifying information. This renders the reported logic from Domscheit-Berg moot, because if true, there was no worry of source compromise.
However, the lost data is damning to say the least. Like other news agencies, The Tech Herald would have been interested in the intercept agreements, as well as the BoA data. Sadly, it would appear that no one will ever know the full contents.
For the curious, there is no mention on either side about releasing the AES key needed to unlock the "insurance" file, or if the lost documents are contained within it.
Additional coverage and background can be seen here and here.
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php...-documents

[Magda Hassan]

2011-08-15 Chaos Computer Club expels Daniel Domscheit-Berg
Submitted by icon on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 16:30
News Andy Müller Maguhn Chaos Computer Club Daniel Domscheit-Berg Openleaks WikiLeaks Germany

Openleaks founder Daniel Domscheit-Berg has been expelled from the Chaos Computer Club on grounds of damaging the reputation of the club. Following a meeting of the board members, he was handed a written notice at the Chaos Communication Camp in Finowfurt. According § 5 of the club statutes, this decision is not final, as he can now request to be heard by the board of the club; its members can also ask for the topic to be discussed in a plenary meeting.

The reason given for this decision was that Domscheit-Berg had used the reputation of the CCC to promote his new online submission platform. During his talk, he asked the attendees to test Openleaks, but refused to release the full source code. The club states explicitly on its homepage that it does not perform such tests. Board member Andy Müller Maguhn subsequently described his conduct as "impertinent" (Spiegel interview, Nr. 33, page 81). Openleaks spokesperson Jan Michael Ihl later denied Domscheit-Berg had asked the CCC to test its submission platform. Insofar, only one review of Openleaks by CCCamp11 delegate Hanno Böck has been made public. It lists several SSL vulnerabilities.

The decision caused substantial controversy amongst the members of the club. One board member has reportedly resigned.

It was not the first time Domscheit-Berg had clashed with the club. Since his well publicised suspension from Wikileaks, Müller Maguhn had been trying to mediate between him and his former employer regarding the return of data he admits to have taken with him. Eleven months later, these negotiations are still ongoing. Finally, Müller Maguhn became suspicious when Domscheit-Berg explicitly stated in a newspaper interview that he didn't take any documents with him when he left Wikileaks, whereas he told Müller Maguhn he had to survey the documents one by one before returning them to Wikileaks. According to Linus Neumann, there were also suspicions Domscheit-Berg collaborated with the secret service.
http://wlcentral.org/node/2151

[Ed Jewett]

Wiki war: 3500 unpublished leaks destroyed forever as Assange hits out
Asher Moses
August 22, 2011

Former WikiLeaks staffer and one of the founders of OpenLeaks, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, holds his book Inside WikiLeaks. Photo: AP


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's former right-hand man has irrevocably destroyed 3500 unpublished files leaked to the whistleblower site including the complete US no-fly list, five gigabytes of Bank of America documents and detailed information about 20 neo-Nazi groups.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who left WikiLeaks last year after a falling out with Assange, revealed the document destruction in an interview with Der Spiegel.

WikiLeaks has hit back, accusing Domscheit-Berg of being in bed with US intelligence agencies and of jeopardising the leaking of "many issues of public importance, human rights abuses, mass telecommunications interception, banking and the planning of dozens of neo-nazi groups".


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his former right-hand man, Daniel Domschelt-Berg aka. Daniel Schmitt. Photo: Flickr.com/andygee1


Along with the thousands of files, Domscheit-Berg also took the entire Wikileaks encrypted submission system with him on his way out to start a rival site, OpenLeaks. It has resulted in WikiLeaks being unable to receive leaked documents online for a year, with the site instead resorting to snail mail via an Australian P.O. Box at the University of Melbourne.

In a translation of the Der Spiegel interview, Domscheit-Berg said he had the files "shredded to ensure that the sources are not compromised".

A large factor in Assange and Domscheit-Berg falling out was the fear that Assange released the 400,000 classified US documents about the Iraq war too early without taking the time to properly redact names of US collaborators and informants in Iraq.

In his book released this year, Inside WikiLeaks (review), Domscheit-Berg accused Assange of being autocratic and said the reason he took the submission system and unpublished documents was because "children shouldn't play with guns".

"We will only return the material to Julian if and when he can prove that he can store the material securely and handle it carefully and responsibly," he writes.

WikiLeaks has confirmed the breadth of documents that were destroyed in several tweets over the weekend. The organisation labels Domscheit-Berg's actions as "theft" and "sabotage".

"DDB spits on every courageous whistblower who leaked data if they destroy the keys and refuse to return it. This is not acceptable," WikiLeaks tweeted.

"Leak organisations don't destroy information whistleblowers risked their lives to leak."

One Guatemalan human rights lawyer, Renata Avila, published an open letter earlier this month asking what happened to the material she submitted to WikiLeaks.

In a lengthy further statement, WikiLeaks reveals how it spent the past 11 months unsuccessfully trying to negotiate the return of the unpublished leaks and internal communications taken by Domscheit-Berg.

"Mr. Domscheit-Berg has repeatedly attempted to blackmail WikiLeaks by threatening to make available, to forces that oppose WikiLeaks, these private communications and to which Mr. Domscheit-Berg is not a party," the statement reads.

"He has stated he will commit this action, should WikiLeaks move to charge him with sabotage or theft."

The statement claims the negotiations were terminated by the mediator who had "doubts" about Domscheit-Berg's "integrity and claimed willingness to return the material".

In response Domscheit-Berg threatened to destroy the files, WikiLeaks claimed. He now appears to have followed through on that threat.

"The material is irreplaceable and includes substantial information on many issues of public importance, human rights abuses, mass telecommunications interception, banking and the planning of dozens of neo-nazi groups. Our sources have in some cases risked their lives or freedom attempting to convey these disclosures to WikiLeaks and to the public," the statement reads.

WikiLeaks says that because it does not collect or retain source identifying information, sources are not significantly at risk.

In a separate statement, Assange accuses Domscheit-Berg of being in contact with the FBI, implying that he is helping out the US investigation into WikiLeaks and Assange. He also links Domscheit-Berg's wife, Anke, to the CIA.

In addition to the US no-fly list, neo-Nazi material and Bank of America data, which was tipped to reveal serious corrupt practices at the bank, Domscheit-Berg also destroyed information on US intercept arrangements for over 100 internet companies, WikiLeaks said.

The no-fly list, maintained by the US government's Terrorist Screen Center, is a list of people forbidden from travelling in or out of the US on commercial aircraft.

The falling out between Domscheit-Berg and Assange was played out in full public view after a private instant messaging conversation between the pair was leaked.

"You are not anyone's king or god," Domscheit-Berg told Assange in the chat.

"And you're not even fulfilling your role as a leader right now. A leader communicates and cultivates trust in himself. You are doing the exact opposite. You behave like some kind of emperor or slave trader."

Assange's statement at the weekend references Domscheit-Berg leaking the chat logs "in clear violation of WikiLeaks internal security directives". The Inside WikiLeaks book, Assange said, "contains many proven malicious libels".

Domscheit-Berg's WikiLeaks rival, OpenLeaks, promises to be more transparent than WikiLeaks and route information to media organisations and interest groups instead of publishing material itself. The site still appears to be starting up and there has yet to be any high-profile leaks.



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/tech...z1VowGZeF7

[Ed Jewett]

See also: http://cryptome.org/0005/wikileaks-vox.pdf

[Peter Lemkin]

Hmmmm....'lovely' move. If Domscheit-Berg is not in bed with US [and other] intelligence agencies, he could certainly get a job with them without even submitting his CV! It is so often those closest who betray...or were sent to infiltrate to betray....that story is as old as humanity.

[Keith Millea]

Published on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 by Der Spiegel/Germany

Wikileaks' Internal Conflict Leads to Accidental Release of US Cables

A WikiLeaks file containing the original leaked US State Department cables has inadvertently been released onto the Internet. The documents have not been edited to protect sources, meaning that the lives of informants could be at risk.


The ongoing conflict between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his former German spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg has led to the accidental release of confidential data that was in WikiLeaks' possession. Since the beginning of the year, an encrypted file has been circulating on the Internet containing the collection of around 251,000 US State Department documents that WikiLeaks obtained in spring 2010 and made public in November 2010.

Supporters of Julian Assange's WikiLeaks organization accidentally released unredacted US diplomatic cables onto the Internet. (DPA)

The release of the file could potentially endanger the informants mentioned in the documents, many of whom live in countries whose governments are hostile to the US. The confidential diplomatic cables were redacted before publication to protect sources, but the file on the Internet contains the original, unedited documents.
In the summer of 2010, Assange stored the password-protected file containing the cables in a concealed location on a WikiLeaks server. He gave the password to an external contact to allow him access to the material contained in the file.
When Domscheit-Berg left the organization in September 2010 together with a German programmer, the two men took the contents of the server with them, including the encrypted file containing the documents. As a result, Assange no longer had access to the file.

Hidden Directory

At the end of 2010, Domscheit-Berg finally returned to WikiLeaks a collection of various files that he had taken with him, including the encrypted cables. Shortly afterwards, WikiLeaks supporters released a copy of this data collection onto the Internet as a kind of public archive of the documents that WikiLeaks had previously published. The supporters clearly did not realize, however, that the data contained the original cables, as the file was not only encrypted but concealed in a hidden subdirectory.

Then, in the spring of 2011, Assange's external contact made public the password that he had received from Assange without realizing that this would allow access to the unredacted US cables. The slip-up remained undetected for several months. Members of OpenLeaks, the rival whistleblower organization recently set up by Domscheit-Berg, have now drawn attention to the lapse. They say it proves Domscheit-Berg's allegation, which he has been making for months, that data held by WikiLeaks is "not secure."

A number of media organizations, including SPIEGEL, first reported on the contents of the leaked cables in November 2010. All the publications made sure to redact the documents to obscure the name of informants in particularly sensitive positions to protect them from retaliation. A number of the files were entirely withheld from publication to avoid endangering sources.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Assange gave the password to an associate of his. In reality, it was an external contact. We have corrected the article accordingly.

© 2011 Der Spiegel

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/30-1