Don't shoot the messenger: Wikileaks and the future of the Internet

Abstract

This article identifies some of the motivations behind, and the activities of, WikiLeaks. It then analyses the broader implications of the actions taken to withdraw funding support from WikiLeaks through the so-called ‘Banking Blockade’. This article then considers the impact of the Banking Blockade which effectively dried up donations to WikiLeaks in 2010.  It assesses what this means for the future of the Internet itself as an increasingly privatised domain, where the power of contract can overcome protections offered by the general law.