Twitter, Facebook at center of WikiLeaks hacking controversy

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After blocking donations to WikiLeaks, MasterCard's Web site was hacked

Twitter and Facebook are at the center of a storm of controversy over involvement with WikiLeaks, which has released an unprecedented, huge cache of confidential diplomatic documents.

Anonymous hackers have targeted MasterCard, Visa and PayPal, all of which have closed their WikiLeaks' accounts, thus blocking donations to the group. A hacking campaign called Operation Payback organized by a group called Anonymous has used Facebook and Twitter to single out targets and publicize successful hacks.



In response, Facebook closed one of the group's pages. Twitter later closed its Operation Payback account after the group posted a link to a file that identified thousands of credit card numbers, according to a report in the New York Times.

WikiLeaks's Twitter account is still active. It is the group's main channel for communicating with supporters and the media. WikiLeaks also still has an official Facebook page.

Related articles

• Scott Adams Blog (Dilbert.com)
• Hacker Threatens More Attacks on Those Seen as WikiLeaks Foes (NYTimes.com)
• To Trend or Not to Trend... (Twitter Blog)
• Facebook love stands behind WikiLeaks  (USA Today)
• Operation Payback Targets Amazon.com (Mashable.com)
• Lord Chief Justice wants debate on Twitter use in court (BBC)

Is Twitter censoring Wikileaks?

Speculation is rife as to whether or not Twitter is blocking Wikileaks from its trending topics list. This morning, Wikileaks asked, "Is Twitter censoring Wikileaks trend?" and linked to a blog called Safety First. Twitter has denied that it is censoring Wikileaks.

Related articles

• Wikileaks left off Twitter trends? (Washington Post)
• Wikileaks One True Home Is Twitter, But For How Long? (TechCrunch)

Wikileaks links China to hacking of Google

China's ruling Politburo ordered the hacking of Google's computer systems in that country, according to secret U.S. embassy cables made public by Wikileaks today. The American Embassy in Beijing received information in January about a widespread campaign of computer hacking directed by the Chinese government that targeted Google and other American businesses, the U.S. and other governments, according to the leaked cables. Google ultimately left China as a result of the hacking.

Details of the leaked documents are revealed in a New York Times report. The role of the Chinese government in the Google hacking is discussed in the video above by Joseph Menn, a reporter for the Financial Times and the author of Fatal System Error, a book about the hacker underground.