The Evolution Of Wikileaks

A supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sits outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, in London, Friday, June 22, 2012. Assange entered the embassy on Monday in an attempt to gain political asylum to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, which he denies. In a telephone interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from inside the embassy, the 40-year-old Australian said he did not know when the decision would be made.
A supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sits outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, in London, Friday, June 22, 2012. Assange entered the embassy on Monday in an attempt to gain political asylum to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, which he denies. In a telephone interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from inside the embassy, the 40-year-old Australian said he did not know when the decision would be made. Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
A supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sits outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, in London, Friday, June 22, 2012. Assange entered the embassy on Monday in an attempt to gain political asylum to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, which he denies. In a telephone interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from inside the embassy, the 40-year-old Australian said he did not know when the decision would be made.
A supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sits outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, in London, Friday, June 22, 2012. Assange entered the embassy on Monday in an attempt to gain political asylum to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, which he denies. In a telephone interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from inside the embassy, the 40-year-old Australian said he did not know when the decision would be made. Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

The Evolution Of Wikileaks

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The online whistleblowing platform Wikileaks launched 10 years ago this month.

Early on the leaked material was heavily redacted. Today, that’s no longer the case.

When Wikileaks got started, it was embraced by liberals.These days, it’s conservatives who tend to champion its existence. Most recently, Wikileaks provided ammunition upon Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign after providing emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. U.S .intelligence officials say the material provided by Wikileaks comes from Russian hacking.

Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange hasn’t said where he obtained the emails and he said his organization is providing material in the name of transparency and an attempt to weed out corruption. We’re joined by Robert Mackey, a senior writer for The Intercept, the online magazine that was founded on reporting from Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks, to discuss the history of Wikileaks, Julian Assange’s exile, notions of email privacy, and the thin line between political intervention and watchdog journalism.