To give an idea of how the web domain Wikileaks works, its first published document in 2006 raised the question if an uncovered plot to assassinate government officials, signed by sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, was "a clever smear by U.S. intelligence."
The not-for-profit "whistleblowing" organization specializes in going against the grain. Its agents persuade people to anonymously leak otherwise classified information, and they specialize in hacking into databases to find secret documents. They store the information in encrypted electronic devices, beyond the reach of censorship, and release the information publically.
Though it is his successful brainchild, Wikileaks has become a major stressor for Julian Assange, who now checks into hotels under pseudonyms and pays only in cash, changing his appearance and cell phone number constantly.
He fears, perhaps reasonably, redress from concerned parties who have lost capital as a result of their released secrets.
As information peddlers, we, the editorial board, think that it is important to have such a source, because secrets, big and small, always spice up basic information as they direct us nearer to uncensored truth.
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the Watergate scandal: both were government-orchestrated crimes of which every citizen should have been made aware. Wikileaks' aim is to provide similarly hushed information to the people it affects.
And if the Chinese government censors a website, as it does with Wikileaks, then it probably treads heavily on sensitive and important information and/or truth.
But perhaps it is a power that could be used tactlessly, and the decisions should be handled by more than one man's judgment. Sometimes, secrets are kept under wraps for the protection of those not privy to their danger.
Some of Assange's decisions have turned his followers. An administrative decision to release names of the leakers in one of their findings raised eyebrows at Assange, who promised anonymity for the protection of his sources.
People describe Assange as a misanthrope and question his stability as the distributor of sensitive information. Assange is also currently under investigation in Sweden for crimes of which he claims to be innocent, citing that the accusations are part of a smear campaign against him.
But even though there is a potential for a dangerous leak, it seems more important that we have a source for the important news that is kept in the dark, because private interests that keep it secret are not acceptable barriers from truth.
More than just food for cynical thought, this organization could plausibly become the muckrakers that find this generation's Pentagon Papers. In May, they plan to release video footage of an Afghani civilian massacre orchestrated by U.S. troops.
