Wikileaks to auction Chavez’ e-mails

“Document-leaking site” Wikileaks will auction off to the media what they claim is secret information relating to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. According to a statement on the website, they will give to the highest bidder three years of e-mail messages between Chavez and an aide pertaining to items such as “CIA activities in Venezuela, an incursion by the Colombian Army and how Chavez has managed his government.”

The controversial scheme may be ethically unsound and could fail according to an article on wired.com’s Threat Level blog:

University of Minnesota media ethics professor Jane Kirtley laughed when told of the scheme.

"Ethically speaking, why don't they just publish it?" Kirtly asked. "They pride themselves on being a new breed of news delivery"…

Stephen Aftergood, who runs a complementary and competing site called Secrecy News that focuses on U.S. government documents, called the e-mail trove a "coup" for Wikileaks. But Aftergood also doubts the auction model will attract quality media outlets.

"It looks like Wikileaks is still looking for the optimal method to distribute its materials," Aftergood said. "I think it will automatically rule out publications like The New York Times and others that might devote significant attention to an in-depth look at such internal e-mails but would not pay for them."

Wikileaks has come under intense scrutiny over its leaking of documents such as a 2003 Guantanamo Bay ops manual. The site had been taken offline in February as part of a lawsuit brought up by a Swiss bank. Wikileaks returned after that lawsuit was dropped in March.

Image- Time

Sources- Threat Level, editorsweblog, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Guardian UK