Daniel Domscheit-Berg

Daniel Domscheit-Berg (; ; born 1978), previously known under the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt, is a German technology activist. He is best known as the former spokesperson for WikiLeaks

Domscheit-Berg began working with WikiLeaks after meeting Assange at the Chaos Computer Club's annual conference in 2007. In September 2010, Domscheit-Berg resigned from WikiLeaks, saying "WikiLeaks has a structural problem. I no longer want to take responsibility for it, and that's why I am leaving the project." At a Chaos Computer Club (CCC) event in August 2011, he announced its preliminary launch and invited hackers to test the security of the OpenLeaks system. The launch was a failure as it was unable to get online. The CCC criticized Domscheit-Berg for exploiting the good name of the club to promote his OpenLeaks project and expelled him from the club. This decision was revoked in February 2012. In September 2011, several news organizations cited Domscheit-Berg's split from Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as one of a series of events that led to the release that month of all 251,287 United States diplomatic cables in the Cablegate affair.

In 2011, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine in its FP Top 100 Global Thinkers.

WikiLeaks Domscheit-Berg began working with WikiLeaks after meeting Assange at the Chaos Computer Club's annual conference (24C3) in 2007. During an online chat in August 2010, Julian Assange accused Domscheit-Berg of leaking information about the organization to Newsweek magazine. Assange suspended Domscheit-Berg from WikiLeaks during the chat after Domscheit-Berg wrote "you're not even fulfilling your role as a leader right now. A leader communicates and cultivates trust in himself. You are doing the exact opposite. You behave like some kind of emperor or slave trader." When Domscheit-Berg resigned, the architect of WikiLeaks' submission platform and four other staffers also broke with Assange.

A book about his experience with and separation He and the other staffers leaving the project wanted to be sure that duplicates would be confirmed deleted by a notary with an affidavit. After leaving, WikiLeaks stated that Domscheit-Berg representing OpenLeaks, negotiated for eleven months over the unpublished documents and internal organisation communications with mediation between OpenLeaks and WikiLeaks conducted and terminated by organization spokesman and board member Andy Müller-Maguhn. Domscheit-Berg told weekly Der Freitag that "I took no documents from WikiLeaks with me", leading to suspension of mediations. due to tension over the files and for using the name of the Chaos Computer Club to promote OpenLeaks. including the US government's No Fly List, 5 GB of Bank of America leaks, insider information from 20 neo-Nazi organizations, Combat Camera footage of the Granai Airstrike, and evidence of torture and government abuse of a Latin American country. Domscheit-Berg confirmed that he had destroyed the unpublished files including the No Fly list. He said that WikiLeaks' claims about the Bank of America files were "false and misleading" and that he hadn't taken them. According to Domscheit-Berg, the files were lost because of an IT problem when one of WikiLeaks storage drives crashed and they lost it.

OpenLeaks

On 17 December 2010, Domscheit-Berg announced the intention to start a site named "OpenLeaks" with the intention of being more transparent than WikiLeaks. "In these last months, the WikiLeaks organization has not been open any more. It lost its open-source promise." OpenLeaks planned to launch a whistleblowing foundation in Germany and that would make decisions about how to operate.

Instead of publishing the documents, Domscheit-Berg said that his proposed OpenLeaks process would send the leaked documents to various news entities or publishers without publishing them directly. According to Domscheit-Berg, OpenLeaks wouldn't be able to read submissions. They would give the submissions to outlets chosen by the source, and then give others access after a certain amount of time or if the outlet refused the submission. Analysts said OpenLeaks was a promising alternative to WikiLeaks and Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, OpenLeaks structure would make it more of an internet service provider than a publisher. At the event, WikiLeaks associate Jacob Appelbaum brought up rumors that OpenLeaks was connected to German intelligence. Chaos Communication Camp board member, Andy Müller-Maguhn, said OpenLeaks did not provide source protection and lacked transparency. When OpenLeaks attempted to launch a test site at the event, it was unable to get online.

On 23 December 2012 Domscheit-Berg announced on the website that the organisation would not go ahead as previously intended and would now focus on providing technology and expertise regarding how to receive documents from anonymous sources rather than directly facilitating leaks themselves.

In a July 2013 interview, Domscheit-Berg said that work on OpenLeaks would continue, but "without much public involvement."

Personal life

Domscheit-Berg is married to activist and politician Anke Domscheit-Berg.

Makerspace in a disused rail station building

As of 2020, Domscheit-Berg is engaged with the makerspace Verstehbahnhof (translated: Station of Understanding). The makerspace has re-appropriated rooms of the Fürstenberg (Havel) station, which is still in use.

Inside WikiLeaks