Best known as a site that indexes and verifies leaked documents, Wikileaks exists as a space where whistleblowers, journalists and bloggers can speak out against corruption without fear of employer or government retaliation. According to a recent article in IT World, the organization will soon offer publishers a chance to get in on the action. The group will give publishers the opportunity to embed a Wikileaks submission form on their websites.
The idea is that users will be able to anonymously upload material, and Wikileaks will verify it. In return for embedding the form, the publisher will receive the verified documents under embargo and will be the first to publish the story. From here, Wikileaks republishes the story on its website and distributes it freely.
In the past, whistleblowers like Mark Klein have had to act on their own to call out an injustice. By offering users an easy method for submission, Wikileaks improves the system of disclosure.
Wikileaks currently offers users a chance to submit documents via secure upload, email or mail. The organization has already published more than 1.2 million documents. Publisher-based partnerships, such as the ones that the embeddable submission form is for, are likely to improve the quality of investigative journalism, decrease instances of government corruption and re-establish a culture of ethical business. For more information on Wikileaks, visit the website at wikileaks.org, or if you’ve got questions, check out the Wikileaks Live Chat Room.
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