(),,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Baruch Spinoza (; Dutch:; born Benedito de Espinosa, Portuguese:; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677, later Benedict de Spinoza) was a philosopher of / origin. By laying the groundwork for the 18th-century and modern, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great of.

Along with, Spinoza was a leading philosophical figure of the. Spinoza's given name, which means 'Blessed', varies among different languages. In Hebrew, it is written ברוך שפינוזה‬.

His Portuguese name is Benedito 'Bento' de Espinosa. In his Latin works, he used Latin: Benedictus de Spinoza. Spinoza's,, was published posthumously in 1677.

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The work opposed Descartes' philosophy on, and earned Spinoza recognition as one of 's most important thinkers. In the Ethics, 'Spinoza wrote the last indisputable Latin masterpiece, and one in which the refined conceptions of medieval philosophy are finally turned against themselves and destroyed entirely'. Said, 'The fact is that Spinoza is made a testing-point in modern philosophy, so that it may really be said: You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all.'

His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted to name him 'the 'prince' of philosophers.' Spinoza was raised in a Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam. He developed highly-controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the and the nature of the Divine. Issued a ( חרם‬) against him, causing him to be effectively shunned by Jewish society at age 23. His books were also later put on the Catholic Church's. Spinoza lived an outwardly-simple life as a grinder, turning down rewards and honours throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions. He died at the age of 44 allegedly of a lung illness, perhaps or exacerbated by the inhalation of fine glass dust while grinding optical lenses.

He is buried in the churchyard of the Christian in. Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Biography [ ] Family and community origins [ ] Spinoza's ancestors were of descent and were a part of the community of that had settled in the city of in the wake of the (1536), which had resulted in and expulsions from the. The Spinoza family ('de Espinosa' or 'Espinosa' in Portuguese and in Spanish; it could also be spelled as 'de Espinoza' or 'Espinoza' in both languages) probably had its origins in, near, or in, near, both in,. The family was in 1492 and fled to Portugal. Portugal compelled them to convert to Catholicism in 1498. Attracted by the Decree of Toleration issued in 1579 by the, Portuguese ' first sailed to Amsterdam in 1593 and promptly reconverted to Judaism. In 1598 permission was granted to build a synagogue, and in 1615 an ordinance for the admission and government of the Jews was passed.

As a community of exiles, the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam were highly proud of their identity. Spinoza's father was born roughly a century after this forced conversion in the small Portuguese city of, near in. When Spinoza's father was still a child, Spinoza's grandfather, Isaac de Spinoza, who was from, took his family to in France.

They were expelled in 1615 and moved to, where Isaac died in 1627. Spinoza's father, Miguel (Michael), and his uncle, Manuel, then moved to Amsterdam where they resumed the practice of Judaism. Miguel was a successful merchant and became a warden of the synagogue and of the Amsterdam Jewish school. He buried three wives and three of his six children died before reaching adulthood.

17th-century Netherlands [ ] Amsterdam and Rotterdam operated as important centres where merchant ships from many parts of the world brought people of various customs and beliefs. This flourishing commercial activity encouraged a culture relatively tolerant of the play of new ideas, to a considerable degree sheltered from the censorious hand of ecclesiastical authority (though those considered to have gone 'too far' might have gotten persecuted even in the Netherlands). Not by chance were the philosophical works of both Descartes and Spinoza developed in the cultural and intellectual background of the Dutch Republic in the 17th century. Spinoza may have had access to a circle of friends who were unconventional in terms of social tradition, including members of the. One of the people he knew was, a brilliant student in; others included, with whom Spinoza is known to have corresponded. Early life [ ]. Study room of Spinoza Spinoza spent his remaining 21 years writing and studying as a private scholar.

Spinoza believed in a 'Philosophy of tolerance and benevolence' and actually lived the life which he preached. He was criticized and ridiculed during his life and afterwards for his alleged atheism. However, even those who were against him 'had to admit he lived a saintly life'. Besides the religious controversies, nobody really had much bad to say about Spinoza other than, 'he sometimes enjoyed watching spiders chase flies'.

After the cherem, the Amsterdam municipal authorities expelled Spinoza from Amsterdam, 'responding to the appeals of the rabbis, and also of the Calvinist clergy, who had been vicariously offended by the existence of a free thinker in the synagogue'. He spent a brief time in or near the village of, but returned soon afterwards to Amsterdam and lived there quietly for several years, giving private philosophy lessons and grinding lenses, before leaving the city in 1660 or 1661. During this time in Amsterdam, Spinoza wrote his Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being, which he never published in his lifetime—assuming with good reason that it might get suppressed. Two Dutch translations of it survive, discovered about 1810.' Spinoza moved around 1660 or 1661 from Amsterdam to, (near ), the headquarters of the Collegiants. In Rijnsburg, he began work on his Descartes' 'Principles of Philosophy' as well as on his masterpiece, the Ethics.

In 1663, he returned briefly to Amsterdam, where he finished and published Descartes' 'Principles of Philosophy,' the only work published in his lifetime under his own name, and then moved the same year to. Voorburg [ ] In Voorburg, Spinoza continued work on the Ethics and corresponded with scientists, philosophers, and theologians throughout Europe.

He also wrote and published his Theological Political Treatise in 1670, in defence of secular and constitutional government, and in support of, the Grand Pensionary of the Netherlands, against the Stadholder, the Prince of Orange. Visited Spinoza and claimed that Spinoza's life was in danger when supporters of the murdered de Witt in 1672.

While published anonymously, the work did not long remain so, and de Witt's enemies characterized it as 'forged in Hell by a renegade Jew and the Devil, and issued with the knowledge of Jan de Witt.' It was condemned in 1673 by the Synod of the Reformed Church and formally banned in 1674.

Lens-grinding and optics [ ] Spinoza earned a modest living from lens-grinding and instrument making, yet he was involved in important optical investigations of the day while living in Voorburg, through correspondence and friendships with scientist and mathematician, including debate over microscope design with Huygens, favouring small objectives and collaborating on calculations for a prospective 40 ft telescope which would have been one of the largest in Europe at the time. The quality of Spinoza's lenses was much praised by Christiaan Huygens, among others. In fact, his technique and instruments were so esteemed that ground a 'clear and bright' 42 ft. Telescope lens in 1687 from one of Spinoza's grinding dishes, ten years after his death. The exact type of lenses that Spinoza made are not known, but very likely included lenses for both the microscope and telescope. He was said by anatomist to have produced an 'excellent' microscope, the quality of which was the foundation of Kerckring's anatomy claims.

During his time as a lens and instrument maker, he was also supported by small but regular donations from close friends. The Hague [ ] In 1670, Spinoza moved to where he lived on a small pension from Jan de Witt and a small annuity from the brother of his dead friend, Simon de Vries. He worked on the Ethics, wrote an unfinished Hebrew grammar, began his Political Treatise, wrote two scientific essays ('On the Rainbow' and 'On the Calculation of Chances'), and began a Dutch translation of the Bible (which he later ). Spinoza chose for his device the Latin word 'caute' ('cautiously'), inscribed beneath a rose, itself a symbol of secrecy.

'For, having chosen to write in a language that was so widely intelligible, he was compelled to hide what he had written.' Spinoza was offered the chair of philosophy at the, but he refused it, perhaps because of the possibility that it might in some way curb his. In 1676, Spinoza met with Leibniz at The Hague for a discussion of his principal philosophical work,, which had been completed in 1676.

This meeting was described in 's The Courtier and the Heretic. Spinoza's health began to fail in 1676, and he died on 21 February 1677 at the age of 44. His premature death was said to be due to lung illness, possibly as a result of breathing in glass dust from the lenses that he ground. Later, a shrine was made of his home in The Hague.

Textbooks and encyclopaedias often depict Spinoza as a solitary soul who eked out a living as a lens grinder; in reality, he had many friends but kept his needs to a minimum. He preached a philosophy of tolerance and benevolence. Described him as living 'a saintly life.' Stuart Phelps noted, 'No one has ever come nearer to the ideal life of the philosopher than Spinoza.' Wrote, 'As a teacher of reality, he practised his own wisdom, and was surely one of the most exemplary human beings ever to have lived.'

According to: 'In outward appearance he was unpretending, but not careless. His way of living was exceedingly modest and retired; often he did not leave his room for many days together. He was likewise almost incredibly frugal; his expenses sometimes amounted only to a few pence a day.' Bloom writes of Spinoza, 'He appears to have had no sexual life.' Spinoza also corresponded with, a radical Protestant and merchant.

Serrarius was a patron to Spinoza after Spinoza left the Jewish community and even had letters sent and received for the philosopher to and from third parties. Spinoza and Serrarius maintained their relationship until Serrarius' death in 1669. By the beginning of the 1660s, Spinoza's name became more widely known, and eventually Gottfried Leibniz and paid him visits, as stated in Matthew Stewart's The Courtier and the Heretic. Spinoza corresponded with Oldenburg for the rest of his short life. Writings and correspondence [ ] The writings of have been described as 'Spinoza's starting point.' Spinoza's first publication was his geometric exposition (proofs using the geometric method on the model of Euclid with definitions, axioms, etc.) of Descartes's Parts I and II of Principles of Philosophy (1663).

Spinoza has been associated with Leibniz and Descartes as 'rationalists' in contrast to 'empiricists.' Spinoza engaged in correspondence from December 1664 to June 1665 with, an amateur theologian, who questioned Spinoza on the definition of.

Later in 1665, Spinoza notified Oldenburg that he had started to work on a new book, the, published in 1670. Leibniz disagreed harshly with Spinoza in his own manuscript 'Refutation of Spinoza,' but he is also known to have met with Spinoza on at least one occasion (as mentioned above), and his own work bears some striking resemblances to specific important parts of Spinoza's philosophy (see: ). When the public reactions to the anonymously published Theologico-Political Treatise were extremely unfavourable to his brand of Cartesianism, Spinoza was compelled to abstain from publishing more of his works. Wary and independent, he wore a which he used to mark his letters and which was engraved with a rose and the word 'caute' (Latin for 'cautiously').

The Ethics and all other works, apart from the Descartes' Principles of Philosophy and the Theologico-Political Treatise, were published after his death in the, edited by his friends in secrecy to avoid confiscation and destruction of manuscripts. The Ethics contains many still-unresolved obscurities and is written with a forbidding mathematical structure modelled on Euclid's geometry and has been described as a 'superbly cryptic masterwork.' Philosophy [ ] Substance, attributes, and modes [ ]. — Spinoza argued that God exists and is abstract and impersonal.

Spinoza's view of God is what describes as. Spinoza has also been described as an 'Epicurean materialist,' specifically in reference to his opposition to Cartesian mind-body dualism. This view was held by Epicureans before him, as they believed that atoms with their probabilistic paths were the only substance that existed fundamentally.

Spinoza, however, deviated significantly from Epicureans by adhering to strict determinism, much like the Stoics before him, in contrast to the Epicurean belief in the probabilistic path of atoms, which is more in line with contemporary thought on. Spinoza's system imparted order and unity to the tradition of radical, offering powerful weapons for prevailing against 'received authority.' He contended that everything that exists in Nature (i.e., everything in the Universe) is one Reality (substance) and there is only one set of rules governing the whole of the reality which surrounds us and of which we are part. Spinoza viewed God and Nature as two names for the same reality, namely a single, fundamental (meaning 'that which stands beneath' rather than 'matter') that is the basis of the universe and of which all lesser 'entities' are actually modes or modifications, that all things are determined by Nature to exist and cause effects, and that the complex chain of cause and effect is understood only in part. His identification of God with nature was more fully explained in his posthumously published Ethics. Spinoza's main contention with Cartesian mind–body dualism was that, if mind and body were truly distinct, then it is not clear how they can coordinate in any manner. Humans presume themselves to have, he argues, which is a result of their awareness of appetites that affect their minds, while being unable to understand the reasons why they want and act as they do.

Spinoza contends that ' Deus sive Natura' is a being of infinitely many attributes, of which thought and extension are two. His account of the nature of reality, then, seems to treat the physical and mental worlds as intertwined, causally related, and deriving from the same substance. It is important to note here that, in Parts 3 through 4 of the Ethics, Spinoza describes how the human mind is affected by both mental and physical factors. He directly contests dualism. The universal substance emanates both body and mind; while they are different attributes, there is no fundamental difference between these aspects.

This formulation is a historically significant solution to the known as. Spinoza's system also envisages a God that does not rule over the universe by Providence in which God can make changes, but a God which itself is the deterministic system of which everything in nature is a part. Spinoza argues that 'things could not have been produced by God in any other way or in any other order than is the case,'; he directly challenges a transcendental God which actively responds to events in the universe. Everything that has and will happen is a part of a long chain of cause and effect which, at a metaphysical level, humans are unable to change. No amount of prayer or ritual will sway God. Only knowledge of God, or the existence which humans inhabit, allows them to best respond to the world around them. Not only is it impossible for two infinite substances to exist (two infinities being absurd), God—being the ultimate substance—cannot be affected by anything else, or else it would be affected by something else, and not be the fundamental substance.

Spinoza was a thoroughgoing who held that absolutely everything that happens occurs through the operation of. For him, even human behaviour is fully determined, with freedom being our capacity to know we are determined and to understand why we act as we do. By forming more 'adequate' ideas about what we do and our emotions or, we become the adequate cause of our effects (internal or external), which entails an increase in activity (versus passivity).

This means that we become both more free and more like God, as Spinoza argues in the Scholium to Prop. However, Spinoza also held that everything must necessarily happen the way that it does. Therefore, humans have no free will. They believe, however, that their will is free. This illusionary perception of freedom stems from our human consciousness, experience, and indifference to prior natural causes. Humans think they are free but they ″dream with their eyes open″. For Spinoza, our actions are guided entirely by natural impulses.

In his letter to G. Schuller (Letter 58), he wrote: 'men are conscious of their desire and unaware of the causes by which [their desires] are determined.' This picture of Spinoza's determinism is ever more illuminated through reading this famous quote in Ethics: ″the infant believes that it is by free will that it seeks the breast; the angry boy believes that by free will he wishes vengeance; the timid man thinks it is with free will he seeks flight; the drunkard believes that by a free command of his mind he speaks the things which when sober he wishes he had left unsaid. All believe that they speak by a free command of the mind, whilst, in truth, they have no power to restrain the impulse which they have to speak.″ Thus for Spinoza morality and ethical judgement like choice is predicated on an illusion. For Spinoza, ″Blame″ and ″Praise″ are non existent human ideals only fathomable in the mind because we are so acclimatized to human consciousness interlinking with our experience that we have a false ideal of choice predicated upon this. Spinoza's philosophy has much in common with inasmuch as both philosophies sought to fulfil a therapeutic role by instructing people how to attain happiness.

However, Spinoza differed sharply from the Stoics in one important respect: he utterly rejected their contention that could defeat emotion. On the contrary, he contended, an emotion can only be displaced or overcome by a stronger emotion.

For him, the crucial distinction was between active and passive emotions, the former being those that are rationally understood and the latter those that are not. He also held that knowledge of true causes of passive emotion can transform it to an active emotion, thus anticipating one of the key ideas of 's. Ethical philosophy [ ] Spinoza shared ethical beliefs with ancient Epicureans, in renouncing ethics beyond the material world, although Epicureans focused more on physical pleasure and Spinoza more on emotional wellbeing. Encapsulated at the start in his Treatise on the Improvement of the Understanding ( Tractatus de intellectus emendatione) is the core of Spinoza's ethical philosophy, what he held to be the true and final good. Spinoza held good and evil to be concepts, claiming that nothing is intrinsically good or bad except relative to a particularity.

Things that had classically been seen as good or evil, Spinoza argued, were simply good or bad for humans. Spinoza believes in a deterministic universe in which 'All things in nature proceed from certain [definite] necessity and with the utmost perfection.' Nothing happens by chance in Spinoza's world, and nothing is. Given Spinoza's insistence on a completely ordered world where 'necessity' reigns, have no absolute meaning. The world as it exists looks imperfect only because of our limited perception. Spinoza's ' Ethics' [ ]. The opening page of Spinoza's magnum opus, Ethics In the universe anything that happens comes from the essential nature of objects, or of God or Nature.

According to Spinoza, reality is perfection. If circumstances are seen as unfortunate it is only because of our inadequate conception of reality. While components of the chain of cause and effect are not beyond the understanding of human reason, human grasp of the infinitely complex whole is limited because of the limits of science to empirically take account of the whole sequence. Spinoza also asserted that sense perception, though practical and useful, is inadequate for discovering truth.

His concept of ' states that human beings' natural inclination is to strive toward preserving an essential being, and asserts that virtue/human power is defined by success in this preservation of being by the guidance of reason as one's central ethical doctrine. According to Spinoza, the highest virtue is the intellectual love or knowledge of God/Nature/Universe. Also in the 'Ethics', Spinoza discusses his beliefs about what he considers to be the three kinds of knowledge that come with perceptions. The first kind of knowledge he writes about is the knowledge of experiences. More precisely, this first type of knowledge can be known as the knowledge of things that could be 'mutilated, confused, and without order.' Another explanation of what the first knowledge can be is that it is the knowledge of dangerous reasoning.

Dangerous reason lacks any type of rationality, and causes the mind to be in a 'passive' state. This type of 'passive mind' that Spinoza writes about in the earlier books of The Ethics is a state of the mind in which adequate causes become passions. Spinoza’s second knowledge involves reasoning plus emotions. He explains that this knowledge is had by the rationality of any adequate causes that have to do with anything common to the human mind. An example of this could be anything that is classified as being of imperfect virtue.

Imperfect virtues are seen as those which are incomplete. Many philosophers, such as Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle, would compare imperfect virtue to pagan virtue. Spinoza defines the third and final knowledge as the knowledge of God, which requires rationality and reason of the mind.

In more detail, Spinoza uses this type of knowledge to join together the essence of God with the individual essence. The Neurobiology Of Learning And Memory Rudy Ebook Library. This knowledge is also formed from any adequate causes that include perfect virtue. In the final part of the ', his concern with the meaning of 'true blessedness', and his explanation of how emotions must be detached from external causes in order to master them, foreshadow psychological techniques developed in the 1900s. His concept of three types of knowledge—opinion, reason, intuition—and his assertion that intuitive knowledge provides the greatest satisfaction of mind, lead to his proposition that the more we are conscious of ourselves and Nature/Universe, the more perfect and blessed we are (in reality) and that only intuitive knowledge is eternal. History of reception [ ] Pantheist, panentheist, or atheist? An unfavorable engraving depiction of philosopher Spinoza, captioned in Latin, 'A Jew and an Atheist'.

It is a widespread belief that Spinoza equated God with the material universe. He has therefore been called the 'prophet' and 'prince' and most eminent expounder of. More specifically, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg he states, 'as to the view of certain people that I identify God with Nature (taken as a kind of mass or corporeal matter), they are quite mistaken'. For Spinoza, our universe (cosmos) is a mode under two attributes of Thought and.

God has infinitely many other attributes which are not present in our world. According to German philosopher (1883–1969), when Spinoza wrote in Deus sive Natura (Latin for 'God or Nature'), Spinoza meant God was (nature doing what nature does; literally, 'nature naturing'), not (nature already created; literally, 'nature natured'). Jaspers believed that Spinoza, in his philosophical system, did not mean to say that God and Nature are interchangeable terms, but rather that God's transcendence was attested by his infinitely many attributes, and that two attributes known by humans, namely Thought and Extension, signified God's immanence. Even God under the attributes of thought and extension cannot be identified strictly with our world. That world is of course 'divisible'; it has parts.

But Spinoza said, 'no attribute of a substance can be truly conceived from which it follows that the substance can be divided', meaning that one cannot conceive an attribute in a way that leads to division of substance. He also said, 'a substance which is absolutely infinite is indivisible' (Ethics, Part I, Propositions 12 and 13). Following this logic, our world should be considered as a mode under two attributes of thought and extension. Therefore, according to Jaspers, the pantheist formula 'One and All' would apply to Spinoza only if the 'One' preserves its transcendence and the 'All' were not interpreted as the totality of finite things. (1891–1976) suggested the term ', rather than 'pantheism' to describe Spinoza's view of the relation between God and the world. The world is not God, but it is, in a strong sense, 'in' God. Not only do finite things have God as their cause; they cannot be conceived without God.

However, American panentheist philosopher (1897–2000) insisted on the term to describe Spinoza's view. In 1785, published a condemnation of Spinoza's pantheism, after was thought to have confessed on his deathbed to being a 'Spinozist', which was the equivalent in his time of being called an. Jacobi claimed that Spinoza's doctrine was pure materialism, because all Nature and God are said to be nothing but extended. This, for Jacobi, was the result of Enlightenment rationalism and it would finally end in absolute atheism.

Disagreed with Jacobi, saying that there is no actual difference between and pantheism. The issue became a major intellectual and religious concern for European civilization at the time. The attraction of Spinoza's philosophy to late 18th-century Europeans was that it provided an alternative to materialism, atheism, and deism. Three of Spinoza's ideas strongly appealed to them: • the unity of all that exists; • the regularity of all that happens; • the identity of spirit and nature. By 1879, Spinoza’s pantheism was praised by many, but was considered by some to be alarming and dangerously inimical. Spinoza's 'God or Nature' ( Deus sive Natura) provided a living, natural God, in contrast to 's and the dead mechanism of 's (1709–1751) work, ( L'homme machine). Coleridge and Shelley saw in Spinoza's philosophy a religion of nature.

Called him the 'God-intoxicated man'. Spinoza inspired the poet Shelley to write his essay '. Spinoza was considered to be an atheist because he used the word 'God' (Deus) to signify a concept that was different from that of traditional Judeo–Christian monotheism.

'Spinoza expressly denies personality and consciousness to God; he has neither intelligence, feeling, nor will; he does not act according to purpose, but everything follows necessarily from his nature, according to law.' Thus, Spinoza's cool, indifferent God is the antithesis to the concept of an anthropomorphic, fatherly God who cares about humanity. According to the, Spinoza's God is an 'infinite intellect' ( Ethics 2p11c) — all knowing (2p3), and capable of loving both himself—and us, insofar as we are part of his perfection (5p35c).

And if the mark of a personal being is that it is one towards which we can entertain personal attitudes, then we should note too that Spinoza recommends amor intellectualis dei (the intellectual love of God) as the supreme good for man (5p33). However, the matter is complex. Spinoza's God does not have free will (1p32c1), he does not have purposes or intentions (1 appendix), and Spinoza insists that 'neither intellect nor will pertain to the nature of God' (1p17s1).

Moreover, while we may love God, we need to remember that God is really not the kind of being who could ever love us back. 'He who loves God cannot strive that God should love him in return,' says Spinoza (5p19). Suggests that settling the question of Spinoza's atheism or pantheism depends on an analysis of attitudes. If pantheism is associated with religiosity, then Spinoza is not a pantheist, since Spinoza believes that the proper stance to take towards God is not one of reverence or religious awe, but instead one of objective study and reason, since taking the religious stance would leave one open to the possibility of error and superstition. Comparison to Eastern philosophies [ ] Similarities between Spinoza's philosophy and Eastern philosophical traditions have been discussed by many authors. The 19th-century German Sanskritist was one of the early figures to notice the similarities between Spinoza's religious conceptions and the tradition of India, writing that Spinoza's thought was.

A western system of philosophy which occupies a foremost rank amongst the philosophies of all nations and ages, and which is so exact a representation of the ideas of the Vedanta, that we might have suspected its founder to have borrowed the fundamental principles of his system from the Hindus, did his biography not satisfy us that he was wholly unacquainted with their doctrines. We mean the philosophy of Spinoza, a man whose very life is a picture of that moral purity and intellectual indifference to the transitory charms of this world, which is the constant longing of the true Vedanta philosopher. Comparing the fundamental ideas of both we should have no difficulty in proving that, had Spinoza been a Hindu, his system would in all probability mark a last phase of the Vedanta philosophy., in his lectures, noted the striking similarities between Vedanta and the system of Spinoza, saying 'the Brahman, as conceived in the Upanishads and defined by Sankara, is clearly the same as Spinoza's 'Substantia'.' , a founder of the also compared Spinoza's religious thought to Vedanta, writing in an unfinished essay 'As to Spinoza's Deity—natura naturans—conceived in his attributes simply and alone; and the same Deity—as natura naturata or as conceived in the endless series of modifications or correlations, the direct out-flowing results from the properties of these attributes, it is the Vedantic Deity pure and simple.' Spinoza's reception in the 19th and 20th centuries [ ] Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries grew even more interested in Spinoza, often from a left-wing or perspective.

Liked Spinoza's account of the universe, interpreting it as. The philosophers,, and have each drawn upon Spinoza's philosophy. Deleuze's doctoral thesis, published in 1968, calls him 'the prince of philosophers'. Esteemed few philosophers, but he esteemed Spinoza.

However, Nietzsche never read Spinoza's works themselves, but learned about Spinoza from 's History of Modern Philosophy. When graduated from college, he published an essay, 'The Ethical Doctrine of Spinoza', in The Harvard Monthly. Later, he wrote an introduction to Spinoza's Ethics and 'De intellectus emendatione'. In 1932, Santayana was invited to present an essay (published as 'Ultimate Religion') at a meeting at celebrating the tricentennial of Spinoza's birth.

In Santayana's autobiography, he characterized Spinoza as his 'master and model' in understanding the naturalistic basis of morality. Spinoza's religious criticism and its effect on the philosophy of language [ ]. Tractatus Theologico-Politicus Philosopher evoked Spinoza with the title (suggested to him by ) of the English translation of his first definitive philosophical work,, an allusion to Spinoza's.

Elsewhere, Wittgenstein deliberately borrowed the expression from Spinoza ( Notebooks, 1914-16, p. 83). The structure of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus does have some structural affinities with Spinoza's Ethics (though, admittedly, not with the latter's own Tractatus) in erecting complex philosophical arguments upon basic logical assertions and principles. Furthermore, in propositions 6.4311 and 6.45 he alludes to a Spinozian understanding of eternity and interpretation of the religious concept of eternal life, stating that 'If by eternity is understood not eternal temporal duration, but timelessness, then he lives eternally who lives in the present.' (6.4311) 'The contemplation of the world sub specie aeterni is its contemplation as a limited whole.' (6.45) dedicated his first book, Spinoza's Critique of Religion, to an examination of the latter's ideas. In the book, Strauss identified Spinoza as part of the tradition of Enlightenment rationalism that eventually produced Modernity. Moreover, he identifies Spinoza and his works as the beginning of Jewish Modernity.

More recently argued that, from 1650 to 1750, Spinoza was 'the chief challenger of the fundamentals of revealed religion, received ideas, tradition, morality, and what was everywhere regarded, in absolutist and non-absolutist states alike, as divinely constituted political authority.' Spinoza in literature, art, and popular culture [ ] Spinoza has had influence beyond the confines of philosophy. • On the Chair's table in the Dutch Parliament, Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus is one of three books thought to be most representative of the beliefs and ethics of the Dutch people; the other two are the and the.

• The 17th-century philosopher, who also spent time in Amsterdam, was influenced by his 'pioneering and profound conceptions of religious tolerance and democratic government,' according to Cornel West. • The 19th-century novelist produced her own translation of the Ethics, the first known English translation of it.

Eliot liked Spinoza's vehement attacks on superstition. • In his autobiography ', recounts the way in which Spinoza's Ethics calmed the sometimes unbearable emotional turbulence of his youth. Goethe later displayed his grasp of Spinoza's metaphysics in a fragmentary elucidation of some Spinozist ontological principles entitled Study After Spinoza. Moreover, he cited Spinoza alongside Shakespeare and as one of the three strongest influences on his life and work. • The 20th century novelist alluded to one of Spinoza's central concepts with the title of his novel. [ ] • In the early episode, ', the antagonist, is seen reading Spinoza, and Mitchell's remark regarding his ease in comprehending Spinoza implies that his intellectual capacity is increasing dramatically. The dialogue indicates that is familiar with Spinoza's work, perhaps as part of his studies.

• named Spinoza as the philosopher who exerted the most influence on his ( Weltanschauung). Spinoza equated God (infinite substance) with Nature, consistent with Einstein's belief in an impersonal deity. In 1929, Einstein was asked in a telegram by whether he believed in God. Einstein responded by telegram: 'I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.' • Spinoza's pantheism has also influenced environmental theory;, the father of the movement, acknowledged Spinoza as an important inspiration. • The Argentine writer was greatly influenced by Spinoza's world view. Borges makes allusions to the philosopher's work in many of his poems and short stories, as does in his short story The Spinoza of Market Street.

• The title character of Hoffman's Hunger, the fifth novel by the Dutch novelist, reads and comments upon the over the course of the novel. • Spinoza has been the subject of numerous biographies and scholarly treatises. • Spinoza is an important historical figure in the, where his portrait was featured prominently on the Dutch 1000-, until the euro was introduced in 2002. The highest and most prestigious scientific award of the Netherlands is named the. Spinoza was included in a 50 theme canon that attempts to summarise the history of the Netherlands. • The 2008 play 'New Jerusalem', by, is based on the cherem (ban, shunning, ostracism, expulsion or excommunication) issued against Spinoza by the Talmud Torah congregation in Amsterdam in 1656, and events leading to it. Ives speculates that Spinoza was excommunicated in order to appease Dutch authorities who threatened to expel Amsterdam's Jews because of Spinoza's anti-religious activities amongst the city's Christian community.

• In Bento's Sketchbook (2011), the writer combines extracts from Spinoza, sketches, memoir, and observations in a book that contemplates the relationship of materialism to spirituality. According to Berger, what could be seen as a contradiction 'is beautifully resolved by Spinoza, who shows that it is not a duality, but in fact an essential unity.' • is shown several times to be an admirer of Spinoza in. Thoughts from Spinoza, an anthology, is represented on Bloom's bookshelf towards the end of the novel. Bibliography [ ] • c. ( On the Improvement of the Understanding). ( The Principles of Cartesian Philosophy, translated by Samuel Shirley, with an Introduction and Notes by Steven Barbone and Lee Rice, Indianapolis, 1998).

(A Theologico-Political Treatise). (unfinished) () • 1677. ( The Ethics, finished 1674, but published posthumously) • 1677. Compendium grammatices linguae hebraeae (Hebrew Grammar). • Morgan, Michael L. Spinoza: Complete Works, with the Translation of Samuel Shirley, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.. • Edwin Curley (ed.), 1985–2016.

The Collected Works of Spinoza (two volumes), Princeton: Princeton University Press. • Spruit, Leen and Pina Totaro, 2011. The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza’s Ethica, Leiden: Brill.

See also [ ].

Was one of the early members of the WikiLeaks staff and is credited as the website's founder. The wikileaks.org domain name was registered on 4 October 2006.

The website was established and published its first document in December 2006. WikiLeaks is usually represented in public by, who has been described as 'the heart and soul of this organisation, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organiser, financier, and all the rest'., and Joseph Farrell are the only other publicly known and acknowledged associates of Assange. Harrison is also a member of Sunshine Press Productions along with Assange and Ingi Ragnar Ingason. WikiLeaks was originally established with a ' communal publication method, which was terminated by May 2010. Original volunteers and founders were once described as a mixture of Asian dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the United States,, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.

As of June 2009, the website had more than 1,200 registered volunteers. Despite some popular confusion, related to the fact both sites use the 'wiki' name and website design template, [ ] WikiLeaks and Wikipedia are not affiliated. [ ], a affiliated loosely with the, did purchase several WikiLeaks-related domain names as a 'protective brand measure' in 2007. Purpose According to the WikiLeaks website, its goal is 'to bring important news and information to the public. One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth.' Another of the organisation's goals is to ensure that journalists and are not prosecuted for emailing sensitive or classified documents.

The online 'drop box' is described by the WikiLeaks website as 'an innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to [WikiLeaks] journalists'. Some describe Wikileaks as a media or journalistic organisation. For example, in a 2013 resolution, the, a trade union of journalists, called Wikileaks a 'new breed of media organisation' that 'offers important opportunities for media organisations.' Professor has praised WikiLeaks as a new form of journalistic enterprise, testifying at the court-martial of Chelsea Manning (then Bradley Manning) that 'WikiLeaks did serve a particular journalistic function' although 'It's a hard line to draw.'

Others do not consider WikiLeaks to be journalistic in nature. Media ethicist Kelly McBride of the wrote in 2011 that 'Wikileaks might grow into a journalist endeavor.

But it's not there yet.' Of The New York Times considers WikiLeaks to be a 'complicated source' rather than a journalistic partner. Prominent First Amendment lawyer writes that Wikileaks is not a journalistic group, but instead 'an organization of political activists. A source for journalists; and. A conduit of leaked information to the press and the public.' Noting Assange's statements that he and his colleagues read only a small fraction of information before deciding to publish it, Abrams writes that 'No journalistic entity I have ever heard of—none—simply releases to the world an elephantine amount of material it has not read.'

Administration According to a January 2010 interview, the WikiLeaks team then consisted of five people working full-time and about 800 people who worked occasionally, none of whom were compensated. WikiLeaks does not have any official headquarters. In November 2010 the WikiLeaks-endorsed news and activism site WikiLeaks Central was initiated and was administrated by editor who oversaw 70+ writers and volunteers. She resigned on 8 March 2012. WikiLeaks describes itself as 'an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking'. The website is available on multiple servers, different and has an official version(available on the ) as a result of a number of and its elimination from different (DNS) providers. Until August 2010, WikiLeaks was hosted by, a Sweden-based company providing 'highly secure, no-questions-asked hosting services'.

PRQ is said to have 'almost no information about its clientele and maintains few if any of its own '. Currently, WikiLeaks is hosted mainly by the Swedish Internet service provider in the facility, a former nuclear bunker in Sweden. Other servers are spread around the world with the main server located in Sweden. Julian Assange has said that the servers are located in Sweden (and the other countries) 'specifically because those nations offer legal protection to the disclosures made on the site'. He talks about the, which gives the information providers total legal protection. It is forbidden according to Swedish law for any administrative authority to make inquiries about the sources of any type of newspaper. These laws, and the hosting by PRQ, make it difficult for any authorities to eliminate WikiLeaks; they place an onus of proof upon any complainant whose suit would circumscribe WikiLeaks' liberty, e.g.

Its rights to exercise free speech online. Furthermore, 'WikiLeaks maintains its own servers at undisclosed locations, keeps no logs and uses military-grade to protect sources and other confidential information.'

Such arrangements have been called '. After the site became the target of a on its old servers, WikiLeaks moved its website to 's servers. Later, however, the website was 'ousted' from the Amazon servers. In a public statement, Amazon said that WikiLeaks was not following its terms of service. The company further explained, 'There were several parts they were violating. For example, our terms of service state that 'you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content.

That use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity.' It's clear that WikiLeaks doesn't own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content.' WikiLeaks was then moved to servers at, a private web-hosting service in France.

After criticism from the French government, the company sought two court rulings about the legality of hosting WikiLeaks. While the court in immediately refused to force OVH to deactivate the WikiLeaks website, the court in Paris stated it would need more time to examine the complex technical issue.

WikiLeaks had been using 's (DNS). Distributed denial-of-service () attacks against WikiLeaks hurt DNS quality of service for other EveryDNS customers; as a result, the company dropped WikiLeaks. Supporters of WikiLeaks waged verbal and DDoS attacks on EveryDNS. Because of a typographical error in blogs mistaking EveryDNS for competitor, that sizeable Internet backlash hit EasyDNS. Despite that, EasyDNS (upon request of a customer who was setting up new WikiLeaks hosting) began providing WikiLeaks with DNS service on 'two 'battle hardened' servers' to protect quality of service for its other customers. WikiLeaks restructured its process for contributions after its first document leaks did not gain much attention.

Assange stated this was part of an attempt to take the voluntary efforts typically seen in 'Wiki' projects, and 'redirect it to.material that has real potential for change.' Some sympathisers were unhappy [ ] when WikiLeaks ended a community-based format in favour of a more centralised organisation. The 'about' page originally read: To the user, WikiLeaks will look very much like Wikipedia. Anybody can post to it, anybody can edit it. No technical knowledge is required. Leakers can post documents anonymously and untraceably.

Users can publicly discuss documents and analyse their credibility and veracity. Users can discuss interpretations and context and collaboratively formulate collective publications. Users can read and write explanatory articles on leaks along with background material and context. The political relevance of documents and their verisimilitude will be revealed by a cast of thousands.

However, WikiLeaks established an editorial policy that accepted only documents that were 'of political, diplomatic, historical or ethical interest' (and excluded 'material that is already publicly available'). This coincided with early criticism that having no editorial policy would drive out good material with spam and promote 'automated or indiscriminate publication of confidential records'.

The original FAQ is no longer in effect, and no one can post or edit documents on WikiLeaks. Now, submissions to WikiLeaks are reviewed by anonymous WikiLeaks reviewers, and documents that do not meet the editorial criteria are rejected.

By 2008, the revised FAQ stated that 'Anybody can post comments to it. [.] Users can publicly discuss documents and analyse their credibility and veracity.' After the 2010 reorganisation, posting new comments on leaks was no longer possible. Legal status. Further information: The legal status of WikiLeaks is complex. Assange considers WikiLeaks a protection intermediary.

Rather than leaking directly to the press, and fearing exposure and retribution, whistleblowers can leak to WikiLeaks, which then leaks to the press for them. Its servers are located throughout Europe and are accessible from any uncensored web connection. The group located its headquarters in Sweden because it has one of the world's strongest laws to protect confidential source-journalist relationships. WikiLeaks has stated it does not solicit any information. However, Assange used his speech during the Hack in the Box conference in Malaysia to ask the crowd of hackers and security researchers to help find documents on its 'Most Wanted Leaks of 2009' list. Potential criminal prosecution The began a criminal investigation of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange soon after the began. Attorney General affirmed the investigation was 'not saber-rattling', but was 'an active, ongoing criminal investigation'.

The Washington Post reported that the department was considering charges under the, an action which former prosecutors characterised as 'difficult' because of protections for the press. Several Supreme Court cases (e.g. ) have established previously that the American Constitution protects the re-publication of illegally gained information provided the publishers did not themselves violate any laws in acquiring it.

Federal prosecutors have also considered prosecuting Assange for trafficking in stolen government property, but since the diplomatic cables are intellectual rather than physical property, that method is also difficult. Any prosecution of Assange would require extraditing him to the United States, a procedure made more complicated and potentially delayed by any preceding extradition to Sweden. One of Assange's lawyers, however, says they are fighting extradition to Sweden because it might result in his to the United States. Assange's attorney, Mark Stephens, has 'heard from Swedish authorities there has been a secretly empanelled grand jury in Alexandria [Virginia]' meeting to consider criminal charges for the WikiLeaks case. In Australia, the government and the have not stated what Australian laws may have been violated by WikiLeaks, but then Prime Minister has stated that the foundation of WikiLeaks and the stealing of classified documents from the United States administration is illegal in foreign countries. Gillard later clarified her statement as referring to 'the original theft of the material by a junior U.S. Serviceman rather than any action by Mr Assange.'

Spencer Zifcak, president of Liberty Victoria, an Australian civil liberties group, notes that without a charge or a trial completed, it is inappropriate to state that WikiLeaks is guilty of illegal activities. On threats by various governments towards Julian Assange, legal expert argues that Assange is the target of a global smear campaign to demonise him as a criminal or as a terrorist, without any legal basis. The US has issued a statement emphasising its alarm at the 'multiple examples of legal overreach and irregularities' in his arrest. Install Rhino 5 In Windows 8. Financing WikiLeaks is a self-described, funded largely by volunteers, and it is dependent on public donations.

Its main financing methods include conventional and. According to Assange, WikiLeaks' lawyers often work pro bono. Assange has said that in some cases legal aid has been donated by media organisations such as the, the, and the. Assange said in 2010 that WikiLeaks' only revenue consists of donations, but it has considered other options including auctioning early access to documents. During September 2011, WikiLeaks began auctioning items on to raise funds, and Assange told an audience at Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas that the organisation might not be able to survive.

[ ] The helps to process donations to WikiLeaks. In July 2010, the Foundation stated that WikiLeaks was not receiving any money for personnel costs, only for hardware, travelling and bandwidth. An article in stated: As a charity accountable under German law, donations for WikiLeaks can be made to the foundation.

Funds are held in escrow and are given to WikiLeaks after the whistleblower website files an application containing a statement with proof of payment. The foundation does not pay any sort of salary nor give any renumeration [ ] to WikiLeaks' personnel, corroborating the statement of the site's former German representative Daniel Schmitt [real name ] on national television that all personnel works voluntarily, even its speakers. However, in December 2010 the stated that 4 permanent employees, including Julian Assange, had begun to receive salaries.

In 2010, Assange said the organisation was registered as a library in Australia, a foundation in France, and a newspaper in Sweden, and that it also used two United States-based non-profit organisations for funding purposes. On 24 December 2009, WikiLeaks announced that it was experiencing a shortage of funds [ ] and suspended all access to its website except for a form to submit new material. Material that was previously published was no longer available, although some could still be accessed on unofficial. WikiLeaks stated on its website that it would resume full operation once the operational costs were paid. WikiLeaks saw this as a kind of work stoppage 'to ensure that everyone who is involved stops normal work and actually spends time raising revenue'. While the organisation initially planned for funds to be secured by 6 January 2010, [ ] it was not until 3 February 2010 that WikiLeaks announced that its minimum fundraising goal had been achieved.

[ ] On 22 January 2010, the Internet payment intermediary suspended WikiLeaks' donation account and froze its assets. WikiLeaks said that this had happened before, and was done for 'no obvious reason'. [ ] The account was restored on 25 January 2010. [ ] On 18 May 2010, WikiLeaks announced that its website and archive were operational again.

[ ] In June 2010, WikiLeaks was a finalist for a grant of more than half a million dollars from the, but did not make the final approval. WikiLeaks commented via Twitter, 'WikiLeaks was highest rated project in the Knight challenge, strongly recommended to the board but gets no funding. WikiLeaks said that the Knight foundation announced the award to '12 Grantees who will impact future of news' – but not WikiLeaks' and questioned whether Knight foundation was 'really looking for impact'. A spokesman of the Knight Foundation disputed parts of WikiLeaks' statement, saying 'WikiLeaks was not recommended by Knight staff to the board.' However, he declined to say whether WikiLeaks was the project rated highest by the Knight advisory panel, which consists of non-staffers, among them journalist, who has done PR work for WikiLeaks with the press and on social networking websites. During 2010, WikiLeaks received €635,772.73 in PayPal donations, less €30,000 in PayPal fees, and €695,925.46 in bank transfers.

€500,988.89 of the sum was received in the month of December, primarily as bank transfers as PayPal suspended payments 4 December. €298,057.38 of the remainder was received in April. The, one of the WikiLeaks' main funding channels, stated that they received more than €900,000 in public donations between October 2009 and December 2010, of which €370,000 has been passed on to WikiLeaks. Hendrik Fulda, vice-president of the Wau Holland Foundation, mentioned that the Foundation had been receiving twice as many donations through as through normal banks, before PayPal's decision to suspend WikiLeaks' account. He also noted that every new WikiLeaks publication brought 'a wave of support', and that donations were strongest in the weeks after WikiLeaks started publishing leaked diplomatic cables. The Icelandic judiciary decided that (a company related to and ) was violating the law when it prevented donation to the site by credit card.

A justice ruled that the donations will be allowed to return to the site after 14 days or they would be fined in the amount of US$6,000 a day. Gun camera footage of the in Baghdad, showing the slaying of and a dozen other civilians by an US helicopter. In mid-February 2010, WikiLeaks received a leaked diplomatic cable from the United States Embassy in Reykjavik relating to the scandal, which they published on 18 February. The cable, known as, was the first of the classified documents WikiLeaks published among those allegedly provided to them by United States Army Private (then known as Bradley).

In March 2010, WikiLeaks released a secret 32-page Counterintelligence Analysis Report written in March 2008 discussing the leaking of material by WikiLeaks and how it could be deterred. In April, a classified video of the was released, showing two employees being fired at, after the pilots mistakenly thought the men were carrying weapons, which were in fact cameras. After the mistaken killing, the video shows US forces firing on a family van that stopped to pick up the bodies. In the week after the release, 'wikileaks' was the search term with the most significant growth worldwide during the last seven days as measured by Google Insights. In June 2010, Manning was arrested after alleged chat logs were given to United States authorities by former hacker, in whom she had confided. Manning reportedly told Lamo she had leaked the, in addition to a video of the and about 260,000 diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks.

In July, WikiLeaks released related to the between 2004 and the end of 2009 to the publications, and. The documents detail individual incidents including ' and civilian casualties.

About 15,000 of the 92,000 documents have not yet been released by WikiLeaks, as the group is currently reviewing the documents to remove some of the sources of the information. WikiLeaks asked the Pentagon and human-rights groups to help remove names from the documents to reduce the potential harm caused by their release, but did not receive assistance. After the in, Germany, on 24 July 2010, a local resident published internal documents of the city administration regarding the planning of Love Parade.

The city government reacted by securing a court order on 16 August forcing the removal of the documents from the website on which it was hosted. On 20 August 2010, WikiLeaks released a publication entitled Loveparade 2010 Duisburg planning documents, 2007–2010, which comprised 43 internal documents regarding the Love Parade 2010. After the leak of information concerning the Afghan War, in October 2010, around relating to the were released. The BBC quoted the referring to the Iraq War Logs as 'the largest leak of classified documents in its history'. Media coverage of the leaked documents emphasised claims that the US government had ignored reports of by the Iraqi authorities during the period after the. On 29 July 2010 WikiLeaks added an 'Insurance file' to the Afghan War Diary page.

The file is encrypted. [ ] There has been speculation that it was intended to serve as insurance in case the WikiLeaks website or its spokesman Julian Assange are incapacitated, upon which the could be published. After the first few days' release of the starting 28 November 2010, the US television broadcasting company predicted that 'If anything happens to Assange or the website, a key will go out to unlock the files.

There would then be no way to stop the information from spreading like wildfire because so many people already have copies.' CBS correspondent Declan McCullagh stated, 'What most folks are speculating is that the insurance file contains unreleased information that would be especially embarrassing to the US government if it were released.' Diplomatic cables release.

WikiLeaks supporters protest in front of the in Madrid, 11 December 2010 The include numerous unguarded comments and revelations regarding: critiques and praises about the host countries of various United States embassies; political manoeuvring regarding; discussion and resolutions towards ending ongoing tension in the Middle East; efforts and resistance towards; actions in the; assessments of other threats around the world; dealings between various countries; United States and efforts; and other diplomatic actions. On 14 December 2010 the issued a to provide information for accounts registered to or associated with WikiLeaks. Twitter decided to notify its users. The of 2011 has been attributed partly to reaction against the corruption revealed by leaked cables. On 1 September 2011, it became public that an encrypted version of WikiLeaks' huge archive of unredacted US State Department cables had been available via for months and that the (similar to a password) was available to those who knew where to find it.

Guardian newspaper editor David Leigh had just published the decryption key in his book, so the files were now publicly available to anyone. Rather than let malicious actors publish selected data, WikiLeaks decided to publish the entire, unredacted archive in searchable form on its website. [ ] 2011–2015. Main articles:,,, and In late April 2011, files related to the Guantanamo prison were released. In December 2011, WikiLeaks started to release the Spy Files. On 27 February 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing more than five million emails from the Texas-headquartered 'global intelligence' company.

On 5 July 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing the (emails from Syrian political figures 2006–2012). On 25 October 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing, files covering the rules and procedures for detainees in US military custody.

In April 2013 WikiLeaks published more than 1.7 million US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the 1970s, including the. Main articles: and On 4 July 2016, WikiLeaks a link to a trove of emails sent or received by then-US Secretary of State and released under the.

The link contained 1258 emails sent from Clinton's which were selected in terms of their relevance to the and were apparently timed to precede the release of the UK government's report. On 19 July 2016, WikiLeaks released 294,548 emails from Turkey's ruling (AKP). According to WikiLeaks, the material, which they claim to be the first batch from the 'AKP Emails', was obtained a week before the and 'is not connected, in any way, to the elements behind the attempted coup, or to a rival political party or state'. After WikiLeaks announced that they would release the emails, the organisation stayed for over 24 hours under a 'sustained attack'. [ ] Following the leak, the Turkish government ordered the site to be blocked nationwide. WikiLeaks had also a link to a database which contained sensitive information, such as the, of approximately 50 million Turkish citizens, including nearly every female voter in Turkey.

This information first appeared online in April of the same year and was not in the files uploaded by WikiLeaks, but in files by Michael Best, who then removed it when the personal data was discovered. On 22 July 2016, WikiLeaks released approximately 20,000 emails and 8,000 files sent from or received by (DNC) personnel. Some of the emails contained personal information of donors, including home addresses and. Other emails appeared to criticise and showed apparent favouritism towards Clinton.

On 7 October 2016, WikiLeaks started releasing series of emails and documents sent from or received by Hillary Clinton campaign manager, including Hillary Clinton's paid speeches to banks. According to a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, 'By dribbling these out every day WikiLeaks is proving they are nothing but a propaganda arm of the Kremlin with a political agenda doing 's dirty work to help elect.' Reported that when asked, president Vladimir Putin replied that Russia was being falsely accused. 'The hysteria is merely caused by the fact that somebody needs to divert the attention of the American people from the essence of what was exposed by the hackers.'

On 17 October 2016 WikiLeaks announced that a 'state party' had severed the Internet connection of at the Ecuadorian embassy. WikiLeaks blamed of pressuring the Ecuadorian government in severing Assange's Internet, an accusation which the denied. The Ecuadorian government stated that it had 'temporarily' severed Assange's Internet connection because of WikiLeaks' release of documents 'impacting on the U.S. Election campaign,' although it also stated that this was not meant to prevent WikiLeaks from operating.

2017 On 16 February 2017, WikiLeaks released a purported report on CIA espionage orders (marked as ) for the. The order called for details of party funding, internal rivalries and future attitudes toward the United States. The Associated Press noted that 'the orders seemed to represent standard intelligence-gathering.' On 7 March 2017, WikiLeaks started publishing content code-named '. In a series of tweets and a Facebook Live + Periscope press conference, WikiLeaks announced these documents contain CIA internal documentation of their 'massive arsenal' of hacking tools including malware, viruses trojects, weaponised ' exploits and remote control systems to name a few.

On 5 May 2017, Wikileaks posted links to e-mails purported to be from 's campaign in the. The documents were first relayed on the 4chan forum (used by far-right American groups) and by pro-Trump Twitter accounts, and then by Wikileaks, who indicated they did not author the leaks. Experts have asserted that the Wikileaks Twitter account played a key role in publicising the leaks through the hashtag #MacronLeaks just some three-and-a-half hours after the first tweet with hashtag appeared.

The campaign stated that false documents were mixed in with real ones, and that 'the ambition of the authors of this leak is obviously to harm the movement En Marche! In the final hours before the second round of the French presidential election'. France's Electoral Commission described the action as a 'massive and coordinated piracy action'.

France's Electoral Commission urged journalists not to report on the contents of the leaks, but to heed 'the sense of responsibility they must demonstrate, as at stake are the free expression of voters and the sincerity of the election'. Experts initially believed that groups linked to Russia were involved in this attack.

Denied any involvement. The head of the French cyber-security agency,, later said that they did not have evidence connecting the hack with Russia, saying that the attack was so simple, that 'we can imagine that it was a person who did this alone. They could be in any country.' In September 2017, WikiLeaks released 'Spy Files Russia,' revealing 'how a St. Petersburg-based technology company called helped state entities gather detailed data on Russian cellphone users, part of a national system of online surveillance called System for Operative Investigative Activities ().'

Claims of upcoming leaks In January 2011,, a former Swiss banker, passed data containing account details of 2,000 prominent people to Assange, who stated that the information will be vetted before being made publicly available at a later date. In May 2010, WikiLeaks said it had video footage of a massacre of civilians in Afghanistan by the US military which they were preparing to release. In an interview with on 19 July 2010, Assange showed a document WikiLeaks had on an Albanian oil-well blowout, and said they also had material from inside, and that they were 'getting enormous quantity of whistle-blower disclosures of a very high calibre' but added that they had not been able to verify and release the material because they did not have enough volunteer journalists. In December 2010, Assange's lawyer,, told on BBC Television that WikiLeaks had information it considered to be a 'thermo-nuclear device' which it would release if the organisation needs to defend itself against the authorities. In a 2009 interview by the magazine, Assange claimed to be in possession of '5GB from '. In 2010, he told magazine that WikiLeaks was planning another 'megaleak' early in 2011, from the private sector, involving 'a big U.S.

Bank' and revealing an 'ecosystem of corruption'. Bank of America's stock price decreased by 3%, apparently as a result of this announcement. Assange commented on the possible effect of the release that 'it could take down a bank or two'. In August 2011, announced that had destroyed approximately 5GB of data cache from, that Assange had under his control. In October 2010, Assange told a major Moscow newspaper that 'The Kremlin had better brace itself for a coming wave of WikiLeaks disclosures about Russia'. Assange later clarified: 'we have material on many businesses and governments, including in Russia.

It's not right to say there's going to be a particular focus on Russia'. Authenticity WikiLeaks has contended that it has never released a misattributed document and that documents are assessed before release. In response to concerns about the possibility of misleading or fraudulent leaks, WikiLeaks has stated that misleading leaks 'are already well-placed in the mainstream media.

WikiLeaks is of no additional assistance.' The FAQ states that: 'The simplest and most effective countermeasure is a worldwide community of informed users and editors who can scrutinise and discuss leaked documents.' According to statements by Assange in 2010, submitted documents are vetted by a group of five reviewers, with expertise in different topics such as language or, who also investigate the background of the leaker if his or her identity is known. In that group, Assange has the final decision about the assessment of a document.

Columnist wrote in 2016 that 'it's possible, even likely, that every stolen email WikiLeaks has posted has been authentic.' (Writer goes further, asserting that WikiLeaks has a 'perfect, long-standing record of only publishing authentic documents.'

) However, cybersecurity experts agree that it is trivially easy for a person to fabricate an email or alter it, as by changing headers and metadata. Some of the more recent releases, such as many of the emails contained in the Podesta emails, contain headers. This allows them to be verified as genuine to some degree of certainty. In July 2016, the 's Homeland Security Group, a bipartisan counterterrorism organisation, warned that hackers who stole authentic data might 'salt the files they release with plausible forgeries.'

Russian intelligence agencies have frequently used tactics, 'which means carefully faked emails might be included in the WikiLeaks dumps. After all, the best way to make false information believable is to mix it in with true information.' Promotion of conspiracy theories Murder of Seth Rich Wikileaks has promoted conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich. Unfounded conspiracy theories, spread by some right-wing figures and media outlets, hold that Rich was the source of leaked emails and was killed for working with Wikileaks. Wikileaks fuelled the conspiracy theories by offering a reward of $20,000 for information leading to the capture of Rich's killer and hinting that Rich may have been the source of the leaked emails. No evidence supports the claim that Rich was the source of the leaks.

The Guardian wrote that WikiLeaks, had along with individuals and groups on the hard right, been involved in the 'ruthless exploitation of [Rich's] death for political purposes'. The executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, an organisation that advocates for open government, was critical of Wikileaks' fuelling of conspiracy theories surrounding the: 'On the death of staffer, that's just to me so far over the line.

If they feel like they have a link to the staffer's death, they should say it and be responsible about it. The insinuations, to me, are just disgusting.' A truck bearing a slogan and WikiLeaks logo as a prop at the protest in New York on 25 September 2011 Controversy Allegations of anti-Americanism Short of simply disclosing information in the public interest, WikiLeaks has been accused of purposely targeting certain states and people, and presenting its disclosures in misleading and conspiratorial ways to harm those people. Writing in 2012, Foreign Policy's Joshua Keating noted that 'nearly all its major operations have targeted the U.S. Government or American corporations.'

Allegations of anti-Clinton and pro-Trump bias Having released information that exposed the inner working of a broad range of organisations and politicians, WikiLeaks started by 2016 to focus almost exclusively on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In the, WikiLeaks only exposed material damaging to the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton.

WikiLeaks even rejected the opportunity to publish unrelated leaks, because it dedicated all its resources to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. According to the New York Times, Wikileaks timed one of its large leaks so that it would happen on the eve of the Democratic Convention. The Washington Post noted that the leaks came at an important sensitive moment in the Clinton campaign, as she was preparing to announce her vice-presidential pick and unite the party behind her.

The, an organisation that advocates for open government, said that such actions meant that Wikileaks was no longer striving to be transparent but rather sought to achieve political goals: 'It's become something else. It’s not striving for objectivity. It’s more careless.

When they publish information it appears to be in service of some specific goal, of retribution, at the expense of the individual.' WikiLeaks explained its actions in a 2017 statement to: 'WikiLeaks schedules publications to maximize readership and reader engagement.

During distracting media events such as the Olympics or a high profile election, unrelated publications are sometimes delayed until the distraction passes but never are rejected for this reason.' On 7 October 2016, an hour after the media had begun to dedicate wall-to-wall coverage of the revelation that Trump had bragged on video about sexually harassing women, Wikileaks began to release emails hacked from the personal account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

CNN notes that due to extensive coverage of the Trump tapes, the leaks were an 'afterthought' in news coverage. Podesta suggested that the emails were timed to deflect attention from the Trump tapes. Following the dump of e-mails hacked from the Hillary Clinton campaign, told voters, 'I love WikiLeaks!' Trump made many references to Wikileaks during the course of the campaign; by one estimate, he referenced disclosures by Wikileaks over 160 times in speeches during the last 30 days of the campaign. Correspondence between Trump Jr. And Assange In November 2017, it was revealed that Julian Assange via the Wikileaks Twitter account corresponded with Donald Trump Jr.

During the 2016 presidential election. The long correspondence shows how Wikileaks actively solicited the co-operation of Trump Jr., a campaign surrogate and advisor in the campaign of his father. WikiLeaks urged the Trump campaign to reject the results of the 2016 presidential election at a time when it looked as if the Trump campaign would lose. Wikileaks asked Trump Jr. To share a false claim by Assange that Hillary Clinton had wanted to attack him with drones. Wikileaks also shared a link to a site that would help people to search through Wikileaks documents. After the election, WikiLeaks also requested that the president-elect push Australia to appoint Assange as ambassador to the US After the New York Times published a fragment of Donald Trump's tax returns for one year, Wikileaks asked Trump Jr.

For one or more of his fathers tax returns, explaining that it would be in his father's best interest because it would 'dramatically improve the perception of our impartiality' and not come 'through the most biased source (e.g. Wikileaks also asked Trump Jr.

To leak his own e-mails to them days after the New York Times broke a story about e-mail correspondence between Trump Jr. And a Kremlin-affiliated lawyer; Wikileaks said that it would be 'beautifully confounding' for them to publish the e-mails and that it would deprive other news outlets from putting a negative spin on the correspondence. Provided this correspondence to congressional investigators looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Allegations of Russian influence In August 2016, after WikiLeaks published thousands of DNC emails, it was claimed that Russian intelligence had hacked the e-mails and leaked them to Wikileaks. At the time, DNC officials made such claims, along with a number of cybersecurity experts and cybersecurity firms. In October 2016, the US intelligence community announced that it was 'confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S.

Persons and institutions, including from U.S. Political organizations'.

The US intelligence agencies said that the hacks were consistent with the methods of Russian-directed efforts, and that people high up within the Kremlin were likely involved. On 14 October 2016, reported that 'there is mounting evidence that the Russian government is supplying WikiLeaks with hacked emails pertaining to the.' WikiLeaks has denied any connection to or co-operation with Russia. President Putin has strongly denied any. In September 2016, the German weekly magazine reported that according to a confidential German government dossier, WikiLeaks had long since been infiltrated by Russian agents aiming to discredit governments.

The magazine added that French and British intelligence services had come to the same conclusion and said Russian President and Prime Minister receive details about what WikiLeaks publishes before publication. The Focus report followed a story that suggested that WikiLeaks may be a laundering machine for compromising material about Western countries gathered by Russian spies.

On 10 December 2016, several news outlets, including and, reported that the concluded that Russia intelligence operatives provided materials to WikiLeaks in an effort to help Donald Trump's election bid. The Washington Post article stated: 'The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. Electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.' The Guardian article reported, 'individuals linked to the Russian government had provided WikiLeaks with thousands of confidential emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and others.' WikiLeaks has frequently been criticised for its absence of whistleblowing on or criticism of Russia.

The Guardian notes that journalists are killed frequently in Russia, and notes that Freedom House has ranked Russian press freedom as 'not free. The main national news agenda is firmly controlled by the Kremlin. The government sets editorial policy at state-owned television stations, which dominate the media landscape and generate propagandistic content. In April 2016, WikiLeaks tweeted criticism of the, which had among other things revealed Russian businesses and individuals linked with ties (Vladimir Putin's associates had as much as $2 billion in offshore accounts).

The WikiLeaks Twitter account tweeted, '#PanamaPapers Putin attack was produced by OCCRP which targets Russia & former USSR and was funded by USAID and [George] Soros'. Putin would later go on to dismiss the Panama Papers by citing Wikileaks: 'WikiLeaks has showed us that official people and official organs of the U.S. Are behind this.” According to the New York Times, both Assange claims are substance-free: 'there is no evidence suggesting that the United States government had a role in releasing the Panama Papers.' Assange also falsely asserted that the Panama Papers gave Western figures a free pass, when the leaks in fact reported on a number of high-profile Western politicians, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron. In 2012 when WikiLeaks began to run out of funds, Assange began to host a television show on Russia Today, Russia's state-owned news network.

Assange has never disclosed how much he or WikiLeaks were paid for his tv-show. After President Trump's National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn resigned in February 2017 due to reports over his communications with Russian officials and subsequent lies over the content and nature of those communications, WikiLeaks tweeted that Flynn resigned 'after destabilization campaign by U.S. Spies, Democrats, press.' In April 2017, the WikiLeaks Twitter account suggested that the, which international human rights organisations and governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France, and Israel attributed to the Syrian government, was a attack. WikiLeaks stated that 'while western establishment media beat the drum for more war in Syria the matter is far from clear', and shared a video by a Syrian activist who claimed that Islamist extremists were probably behind the chemical attack, not the Syrian government. In May 2017, cybersecurity experts stated that they believed that groups affiliated with the Russian government were involved in the hacking and leaking of e-mails associated with the Emmanuel Macron campaign; these e-mails were published on but heavily promoted by WikiLeaks social media channels.

In April 2017, CIA Director stated: 'It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is – a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.' Pompeo said that the US Intelligence Community had concluded that Russia's 'primary propaganda outlet,' had 'actively collaborated' with WikiLeaks. In August 2017, Foreign Policy reported that WikiLeaks had in the summer of 2016 turned down a large cache of documents containing information damaging to the Russian government. WikiLeaks justified this by saying 'As far as we recall these are already public.WikiLeaks rejects all information that it cannot verify. WikiLeaks rejects submissions that have already been published elsewhere'.

Whereas news outlets had reported on some contents of the leaks in 2014, the information that news outlets reported on was less than half of the data that was made available to WikiLeaks in the summer of 2016. In October 2017, it was revealed that, a company working on behalf of the Trump presidential campaign, had contacted Wikileaks about missing Hillary Clinton e-mails and the possibility of creating a searchable database for the campaign to use. After this was reported, Assange confirmed that Wikileaks had been approached by Cambridge Analytica but had rejected the approach. Wikileaks did not disclose what the subject of Cambridge Analytica's approach was.

Allegations of anti-semitism Wikileaks has been accused of anti-semitism. The Wikileaks Twitter account tweeted anti-semitic jibes.

The organisation has called out Jewish 'lobbies' and claimed that a 'Jewish conspiracy' is attempting to discredit the organisation. In July 2016, Wikileaks suggested that, or (((echoes))) – a tool used by neo-Nazis to identify Jews on Twitter, appropriated by Jews across the Twittersphere – had been used as a way for 'establishment climbers' to identify one another.

Assange denied making claims of a Jewish conspiracy, stating, 'Jewish conspiracy' is completely false, in spirit and in word. It is serious and upsetting.' Exaggerated and misleading descriptions of the contents of leaks Wikileaks has been criticised for making misleading claims about the contents of its leaks. Media outlets have also been criticised for reporting on Wikileaks' claims about the CIA leak, which were later retracted. According to University of North Carolina Professor Zeynep Tufekci, this is part of a pattern of behaviour.

After the, Wikileaks announced that it would release e-mails belonging to Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party. When these e-mails were released, however, it 'was nothing but mundane mailing lists of tens of thousands of ordinary people who discussed politics online.

Back then, too, the ruse worked: Many Western journalists had hyped these non-leaks.' According to Tufekci, there are three steps to Wikileaks' 'disinformation campaigns': 'The first step is to dump many documents at once — rather than allowing journalists to scrutinise them and absorb their significance before publication. The second step is to sensationalise the material with misleading news releases and tweets. The third step is to sit back and watch as the news media unwittingly promotes the WikiLeaks agenda under the auspices of independent reporting.' Inadequate curation and violations of personal privacy Wikileaks has drawn criticism for violating the personal privacy of a multitude of individuals and inadequately curating its content.

These critics include transparency advocates, such as, the and the. Wikileaks has published individuals', medical information, and credit card numbers. An analysis by the Associated Press found that Wikileaks had in one of its mass-disclosures published 'the personal information of hundreds of people – including sick children, rape victims and mental health patients'. Wikileaks has named teenage rape victims, and outed an individual arrested for homosexuality in Saudi Arabia.

Some of Wikileaks' cables 'described patients with psychiatric conditions, seriously ill children or refugees'. An analysis of Wikileaks' Saudi cables 'turned up more than 500 passport, identity, academic or employment files. Three dozen records pertaining to family issues in the cables – including messages about marriages, divorces, missing children, elopements and custody battles.

Many are very personal, like the marital certificates that reveal whether the bride was a virgin. Others deal with Saudis who are deeply in debt, including one man who says his wife stole his money. One divorce document details a male partner's infertility. Others identify the partners of women suffering from sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and Hepatitis C.' Two individuals named in the DNC leaks were targeted by identity thieves following Wikileaks' reveal of their Social Security and credit card information. In its leak of DNC e-mails, Wikileaks revealed the details of an ordinary staffer's suicide attempt and brought attention to it through a tweet. Wikileaks' publishing of Sony's hacked e-mails drew criticism for violating the privacy of Sony's employees and for failing to be in the public interest.

Cohen, a fellow at the Century Foundation, argues that 'data dumps like these represent a threat to our already shrinking zone of privacy.' He noted that the willingness of Wikileaks to publish information of this type encourages hacking and cybertheft: 'With ready and willing amplifiers, what’s to deter the next cyberthief from stealing a company’s database of information and threatening to send it to Wikileaks if a list of demands aren't met?' The, a nonprofit that advocates for open government, has criticised Wikileaks for inadequate curation of its content and for 'weaponised transparency,' writing that with the DNC leaks, 'Wikileaks again failed the due diligence review we expect of putatively journalistic entities when it published the personal information of ordinary citizens, including passport and Social Security numbers contained in the hacked emails of Democratic National Committee staff. We are not alone in raising ethical questions about Wikileaks' shift from whistleblower to platform for weaponised transparency. Any organisation that 'doxxes' a public is harming privacy.'

The manner in which Wikileaks publishes content can have the effect of censoring political enemies: 'Wikileaks' indiscriminate disclosure in this case is perhaps the closest we’ve seen in reality to the bogeyman projected by enemies to reform — that transparency is just a Trojan Horse for chilling speech and silencing political enemies.' In July 2016, criticised Wikileaks for insufficiently curating its content. When Snowden made data public, he did so by working with the Washington Post, the Guardian and other news organisations, choosing only to make documents public which exposed National Security Agency surveillance programs. Content that compromised national security or exposed sensitive personal information was withheld. Wikileaks, on the other hand, makes little effort to remove sensitive personal information or withhold content with adverse national security implications.

Wikileaks responded by accusing Snowden of pandering to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. University of North Carolina Professor has criticised Wikileaks for exposing sensitive personal information: 'WikiLeaks, for example, gleefully tweeted to its millions of followers that a Clinton Foundation employee had attempted suicide. Data dumps by WikiLeaks have outed rape victims and gay people in Saudi Arabia, private citizens' emails and personal information in Turkey, and the voice mail messages of Democratic National Committee staff members.' She argues these data dumps which violate personal privacy without being in the public interest 'threaten our ability to dissent by destroying privacy and unleashing a glut of questionable information that functions, somewhat unexpectedly, as its own form of censorship, rather than as a way to illuminate the maneuverings of the powerful.' In January 2017, the Wikileaks Task Force, a Twitter account associated with Wikileaks, proposed the creation of a database to track verified Twitter users, including sensitive personal information on individuals' homes, families and finances. According to the Chicago Tribune, 'the proposal faced a sharp and swift backlash as technologists, journalists and security researchers slammed the idea as a 'sinister' and dangerous abuse of power and privacy.'

Twitter furthermore bans the use of Twitter data for 'surveillance purposes,' stating 'Posting another person's private and confidential information is a violation of the Twitter rules.' Internal conflicts and lack of transparency Within WikiLeaks, there has been public disagreement between founder and spokesperson and, the website's former German representative who was suspended by Assange.

Domscheit-Berg announced on 28 September 2010 that he was leaving the organisation due to internal conflicts over management of the website. Julian Assange (left) with Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Domscheit-Berg was ejected from WikiLeaks and started a rival ' organisation named OpenLeaks. On 25 September 2010, after being suspended by Assange for 'disloyalty, insubordination and destabilisation', Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the German spokesman for WikiLeaks, told that he was resigning, saying 'WikiLeaks has a structural problem.

I no longer want to take responsibility for it, and that's why I am leaving the project.' Assange accused Domscheit-Berg of leaking information to, claiming the WikiLeaks team was unhappy with Assange's management and handling of the document releases. Daniel Domscheit-Berg wanted greater transparency in the articles released to the public. Another vision of his was to focus on providing technology that allowed whistle-blowers to protect their identity as well as a more transparent way of communicating with the media, forming new partnerships and involving new people.

Domscheit-Berg left with a small group to start, a new leak organisation and website with a different management and distribution philosophy. While leaving, Daniel Domscheit-Berg copied and then deleted roughly 3,500 unpublished documents from the WikiLeaks servers, including information on the US government's 'no-fly list' and inside information from 20 right-wing organisations, and according to a WikiLeaks statement, 5 gigabytes of data relating to Bank of America, the internal communications of 20 neo-Nazi organisations and US intercept information for 'over a hundred Internet companies'. In Domscheit-Berg's book he wrote: 'To this day, we are waiting for Julian to restore security, so that we can return the material to him, which was on the submission platform.'

In August 2011, Domscheit-Berg claims he permanently deleted the files 'in order to ensure that the sources are not compromised.' Herbert Snorrason, a 25-year-old Icelandic university student, resigned after he challenged Assange on his decision to suspend Domscheit-Berg and was bluntly rebuked.

Iceland MP also left WikiLeaks, citing lack of transparency, lack of structure, and poor communication flow in the organisation. According to the periodical (London), at least a dozen key supporters of WikiLeaks left the website during 2010. Non-disclosure agreements Those working for Wikileaks are reportedly required to sign sweeping covering all conversations, conduct, and material, with Assange having sole power over disclosure. The penalty for non-compliance in one such agreement was reportedly £12 million. Wikileaks has been challenged for this practice, as it seen to be hypocritical for an organisation dedicated to transparency to limit the transparency of its inner workings and limit the accountability of powerful individuals in the organisation.

In 'We want to know.' WikiLeaks has received praise as well as criticism. The organisation won a number of awards in its early years, including 's New Media Award in 2008 at the Index on Censorship Awards and 's UK Media Award in 2009. In 2010, the New York listed WikiLeaks first among websites 'that could totally change the news,' and Julian Assange received the and was named the Readers' Choice for in 2010. The UK has stated that 'WikiLeaks is part of the phenomenon of the online, empowered citizen.' During its first days, an in support of WikiLeaks attracted more than six hundred thousand signatures.

Sympathisers of WikiLeaks in the media and academia commended it during its early tears for exposing state and corporate secrets, increasing transparency, assisting freedom of the press, and enhancing democratic discourse while challenging powerful institutions. In 2010, the UN expressed concern over the 'cyber war' being led at the time against WikiLeaks, and in a joint statement with the the UN called on states and other people to keep international legal principles in mind. Several Republicans who had once been highly critical of Wikileaks and Julian Assange began to speak fondly of him after Wikileaks published the DNC leaks and started to regularly criticise Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. Having called Wikileaks 'disgraceful' in 2010, President-Elect Donald Trump praised Wikileaks in October 2016, saying, 'I love Wikileaks.' Newt Gingrich, who called for Assange to be 'treated as an enemy combatant' in 2010, praised him as a 'down to Earth, straight forward interviewee' in 2017. Sean Hannity, who had in 2010 said that Assange waged a 'war' on the United States, praised him in 2016 for showing 'how corrupt, dishonest and phony our government is'.

Sarah Palin, who had in 2010 described Assange as an 'anti-American operative with blood on his hands', lavished praise on him in 2017. Ann Coulter called for Assange to be awarded the presidential medal of freedom. At the same time, several US government officials have criticised WikiLeaks for exposing classified information and claimed that the leaks harm national security and compromise. Several human rights organisations requested with respect to earlier document releases that WikiLeaks adequately redact the names of civilians working with international forces, to prevent repercussions. Some journalists have likewise criticised a perceived lack of editorial discretion when releasing thousands of documents at once and without sufficient analysis.

In 2016, Harvard law professor and board member argued that a culture in which one constantly risks being 'outed' as a result of virtual Watergate-like break-ins (or 4th amendment violations) could lead people to hesitate to speak their minds. In April 2017, CIA Director called WikiLeaks 'a hostile often abetted by state actors like Russia.' In 2011, hacktivist group published a secret proposal presented by a employee to, a Washington, D.C.

Law firm, to attempt to discredit WikiLeaks and supporters such as with and. Two other private security firms, and, were also involved in the proposal. Palantir temporarily suspended the employee, its CEO apologised to Greenwald, and a spokesperson said the company would have collapsed if it had carried out the proposal. Spin-offs Release of United States diplomatic cables was followed by the creation of a number of other organisations based on the WikiLeaks model. • was created by a former WikiLeaks spokesperson. Said the intention was to be more transparent than WikiLeaks.

OpenLeaks was supposed to start public operations in early 2011 but despite much media coverage, as of April 2013 it is not operating. [ ] • In December 2011, WikiLeaks launched Friends of WikiLeaks, a social network for supporters and founders of the website. • On 9 September 2013 a number of major Dutch media outlets supported the launch of Publeaks, which provides a secure website for people to leak documents to the media using the whistleblowing software. • RuLeaks is aimed at being a Russian equivalent to WikiLeaks. It was initiated originally to provide translated versions of the WikiLeaks cables but the reports it has started to publish its own content as well.

• Leakymails is a project designed to obtain and publish relevant documents exposing corruption of the political class and the powerful in. • Honest Appalachia, initiated in January 2012, is a website based in the United States intended to appeal to potential 'whistleblowers' in,,,,, and, and serve as a replicable model for similar projects elsewhere. In popular culture.