Pirate Bay backs Wikileaks fund drive
- — 12 March, 2010 12:07
The front page of the Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay, a well-known BitTorrent site, is backing the fundraising appeal of high-profile whistleblower Web site Wikileaks. The Pirate Bay has altered its front page to prominently feature an appeal to support Wikileaks, reading "Wikileaks ensures our freedom! Now they need our help. Donate to protect freedom!"
Wikileaks has raised US$360,000 this year; according to the site, its average yearly budget is $600,000. The site is run by the non-profit organisation Sunshine Press. In February Wikileaks announced it would be temporarily closed while it attempted to raise funds to keep operating. The site has continued to release some "time sensitive" leaked documents during its hiatus.
Wikileaks has made public a number of controversial documents since its launch in late 2006, including the Australian Communications and Media Authority's Web site blacklist and, more recently, the Microsoft Online Services Global Criminal Compliance Handbook (PDF) after the site that originally posted it, Cryptome.org, was temporarily shut down.
The @wikileaks Twitter account thanked the Pirate Bay for its support.
