This fabled "poison pill"

Yes, this is another Wikileaks thread (I would have put it in IJBM, but I wanted a serious conversation). Anyways, this madness with the cables and the allegations of rape are interesting and all, but what interests me the most is whatever documents they plan to release if the government interferes.

I've heard talk of it being a collection of leftover documents, as well as talk of it being some sort of "insurance bombshell". Strategically, it would make sense to collect the cream of the crop and save it for a rainy day, while pouring out everything else. Chances are, some sort of insurance document probably isn't the only secret in there, and it's doubtful that it will be mundane and dangerous like a list of military bases.

Because it is being used as blackmail, the possibilities I've thought of thus far are:

• Something that will alert the public to an impending law, thus allowing everyone to sidestep it.
• Something like "the market will implode", which has to do with how if someone says that the stock market is crashing, it will directly influence it, even if it's not true.
• A very dark secret, on par with crazy conspiracy theories.

Given that OTC is like a condensed ball of knowledge, I expect better ideas than mine.

This post was thumped by the Eldritch Flyswatter of Horror

The other threads are focused on various aspects this one is fine as it is directed at the back up.

True, we do have several Wikileaks threads, but they have nothing to do with this (one of them did for a while, but it derailed after about a page).

edited 10th Dec '10 12:30:19 AM by Malph

The size of the other threads was off putting anyhow.

This thread is covering a particular subtopic that the others do not focus on, and thus has independent value. Please, proceed with the discussion.

I want to know what's in it >.>

Ironeye Clears up our topic confusion, yay!

As for possible content, I'm not sure but I've been developing my own theories as of late. Nothing serious, and research is minimal. I know the most Frightening thing for me would be some sort indication that the US, or maybe China, is going to get started on another proxy war. Most likely something to inflame relations with North Korea.

Or some showcase of serious political/media corruption, though that won't be nearly as unexpected. But anything that consists of more proof would just make certain section of the populous angrier.

As for less insane ideas, probably some major corporation's accounting procedures or books. Probably something a little out of date. It's probably not as bad as its being made up to be.

edited 10th Dec '10 11:04:36 AM by Voot

This article looks pretty comprehensive.

It looks like there are worlds of possible contents in there; a few of the ones mentioned:

• A leaked hard drive from bank of America.
• A quarter of a million more cables.
• Around 400,000(!) pages of leaked documents on the Iraq war.
• And not mentioned in this article, but elsewhere: Leaked data on Guantanamo bay.

Given the file's size (1.4 Gb), any one of these is a possibility, and I'm not sure which one's worse. (Though the Guantanamo bay rumor sounds more interesting than harmful.)

edited 10th Dec '10 11:17:33 AM by TheMightyAnonym

If it's compressed as well as encrypted, there could be a lot more than 500k documents in it.

But because the encryption is impossible to crack without the key, it's pretty meaningless to speculate.

That doesn't make it any less interesting though. Of course, it's also possible that the file is completely fake, and contains say, a slew of pages from an internet archive, or is entirely words randomly thrown together by a script. Or perhaps it does contain sensitive information, but it's not as bad as it seems, and was even changed around a bit in order to make it bigger.

As I said before, I don't see any reason why Wikileaks would do something like that, considering how often it's been demonstrated that they have good dirt.

The only that would likely be a big impact would be the bank of america one. Guantanmo bay is hardly that shocking anymore. Regular media already covered a dozen or more bad things. Iraqi war stuff also equally covered.

Unless there is some really nasty hidden business the unleaked diplo cables are probably more of the same stuff.

I can not remember where I read it but there is also the rumor that it contains some damning info on BP and maybe that it also expands to the oil industry as a whole.

^ That one sounds interesting. Can't believe how quickly I forgot about the whole Oil-spill. If BP got some bad press it would certainly be a major problem for them, though it might not destroy them. They were running a pretty aggressive PR campaign not to long after the spill, it might of been enough to soften a blow they might receive, though if it's sufficiently powerful all the PR in the world probably wouldn't save them.

Naming names is not entirely damning but it can be embarrassing. Unless they reveal some serious monkey business behind the scenes like diplomat frequently murders hookers and gets away with it or something it will probably be forgotten before too long. The Bank of America and BP one on the other hand will raise quite the shit storm especially in America. Two institutions people are still pissed at.

I think the Iraq war stuff will be more of what we have already seen.

edited 10th Dec '10 12:30:53 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Frankly, I consider blackmail heinous regardless of the motive. It makes me less inclined to root for the likes of Assange than I might otherwise be.

I'm surprised nobody has asked the obvious question yet: Why is the file so small?

Anyone who regularly uses torrents will tell you that 1.4GB is pretty small by today's standards. If he wanted to release a heap of data to ruin anyone trying to screw him over, why not release five or ten times that amount?

edited 10th Dec '10 5:48:50 PM by Roxor

Uh... assuming it's text, 1.4 GB is enough for quite a few bookshelves.

Reports of the "poison pill" file containing any sort of "nuclear bomb of information are completely over exaggerated," Jennifer Robinson, one of Assange¹s lawyers, told CNN.

I'm not clear what she means by "nuclear bomb of information". Is she saying the information isn't actually that interesting, or just that it won't lead to large-scale death?

On one hand, I want him to just release everything.

On the other hand, if I were in his place, I sure as hell would want to give people an incentive not to assassinate me.

Damn, tough judgment to pass.

Which ever mod thumped me, I'm disputing your thump PM me, please.

They already have plenty of motive to deep six him so why not go for the full monty. Apparently only small handful of trusted individuals have the keys All you have to do is find them or flip one and its all over but the screaming. If they want us to get that info they really should disperse the key while they can.

It's almost certainly going to get out there. This "small" group of people is probably all over the place. And as soon as it hits even the most distant corner of the internet, it will take off like wildfire.

One way or another, it's going to get out. If the government misses even one associate, and they realize that someone is missing, then the trouble starts.

It can't be that hard for him to have an automated release process that sends the key around if he doesn't enter a password somewhere once a year.

Apparently in his parnoia he avoided doing that and entrusted a few people with the key in some physical manner. Now maybe that assumption is wrong and he did the smart thing and automated it in a way you stated with a dead man switch keyed to release it. But if that is the case there had better be multiple examples. Limiting it to one would mean they could possibly find it and take it out before it spreads or even isolate it so that if does go off its contained.

I am sort of hoping and not hoping he was smart enough spread it out enough that there are more then handful of keys in existence.