WIKILEAKS IS FOR TOO EASY TO ATTACK?

German author and IT specialist Daniel Domscheit-Berg (centre) gets some media attention during the presentation of his book Inside WikiLeaks on Thursday in Berlin. Domscheit-Berg said the whistleblower could not protect its sources.

BERLIN, Germany - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was on the sharp end of some unwelcome exposures himself yesterday as a former ally spilled the beans on the controversial Australian and his whistle-blowing organisation.
According to Daniel Domscheit-Berg WikiLeaks is far too easy to attack. The 32-year-old told German magazine Stern this week, quoting him as calling Assange "brilliant" but "paranoid" and a "megalomaniac.

• Inside WikiLeaks is billed as a warts-and-all account of Daniel Domscheit-Berg's time as chief programmer and media spokesman for what his tell-all book calls "the world's most dangerous website."
• Set for release in 16 countries from today, it says the "chaotic" WikiLeaks cannot protect its sources and accuses the "power-obsessed" Assange of being economical with the truth, according to leaked excerpts.
• Domscheit-Berg, along with others, left WikiLeaks in September complaining that Assange was being autocratic and that the organisation, ironically for a group on a crusade for openness, was becoming excessively secretive.

"The book tells my time at WikiLeaks, including the ups and downs of its development while I was there. It tells a lot of positive stories, but also is very open with my criticism about what was going on," the German said. "When Julian decided to misrepresent the situation around my departure publicly, and started to discredit me with half-truths and lies, I decided to get some of the facts straight."

Source: AFP