Herdict Captures Wikileaks.org Downtime
Popular document-leaking site Wikileaks.org has come under fire a number of times this year for leaking the web site block lists for countries, including Denmark. Last week, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) blocked access to the Wikileaks article containing the list of blocked sites, as well as the Wikileaks press release regarding the list.
According to Wikileaks, an Australian anti-censorship activist submitted the page to the ACMA in order to expose the “slippery slope” of the proposed mandatory censorship scheme. A number of Australian Internet users confirmed the block.
In the early hours of March 19 (EST), Wikileaks.org itself was reported inaccessible hundreds of times on Herdict, prompting users to assume it had been blocked in a number of places, particularly Australia, where over 200 people submitted reports. As it turns out, the site was down for nearly eight hours and became accessible once again around 9:30 a.m. EST.
As it appears from Herdict Web reports, both the Wikileaks home page and the page containing the Danish block list are once again accessible in Australia.
Remember, whenever you hear of a site’s inaccessibility in your country, don’t forget to report it to Herdict Web!
About the Author: Jillian York
Jillian C. York is the Project Coordinator for the OpenNet Initiative and the part of the Herdict team that you should contact if you have any questions about other-language instances of the site or international press. She created most of the textual content on the site, so if you spot something funny, let her know! She's also the face behind the @Herdict Twitter feed.
