Ex-WikiLeaks staffer to launch rival whistleblower site Openleaks on Monday

Former WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg will launch a rival site to Julian Assange's.

Watch out, WikiLeaks -- there's a new whistleblower on the block.

After a falling-out with WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange, an ex-staffer is set to launch a new website on Monday offering an alternative for those with secrets to share.

The site will be called Openleaks, and will provide a platform for anonymous sources to submit sensitive information.

"Openleaks is a technology project that is aiming to be a service provider for third parties that want to be able to accept material from anonymous sources," former WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg said in a documentary for Swedish broadcaster SVT, obtained by The Associated Press.

The site was created with the same goal as WikiLeaks: to provide a haven for whistleblowers with secret documents to publicize.

But there will be significant differences.

For one, Openleaks will not publish the leaks itself.

"To constrain the power of the site, we're splitting submission from the publication part," Domscheit-Berg told Forbes. "No single organization carries all of the responsibility or all of the workload."

Instead, the site will partner with media outlets - five newspapers at first - and allow users to choose which paper to submit their information to. These papers will then be able to review and fact-check the material before choosing to publish it or not.

If an outlet chooses not to publish the leaked material, Openleaks can send it to other media sources. "If a newspaper doesn't publish it, it will be shared," said Domscheit-Berg. "They can't just put it in a drawer."

Domscheit-Berg, who used to go by the name Daniel Schmitt, was once Assange's right-hand man.

They parted ways in the fall after a tense confrontation over how the organization was run.

Domscheit-Berg's issues with Assange's leadership style, the pair's disagreements over the type and frequency of the leaks, and a feud over transparency within the organization led to his exit, precipitated by a one-month suspension for what Assange called "bad behavior."

A chat conversation purportedly between the two men obtained by Wired.com shows the tension leading up to their split.

"You are not anyone's king or god," wrote Domscheit-Berg. "And 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."

Assange responded, "You are suspended for one month, effective immediately."

Domscheit-Berg's new venture will go live on Monday, according to SVT reporter Jesper Huor, and will be run by a board of directors based in Germany.

He is also working on a tell-all book about his experience working at WikiLeaks, titled "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time at the World's Most Dangerous Website."

Assange, who is under arrest in London for sex crime charges against him in Sweden, is reportedly unconcerned by the new site.

When asked about Openleaks last month, he dimissed the idea that it would be a threat.

"The supply of leaks is very large," he told Forbes. "It's helpful for us to have more people in this industry. It's protective to us."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/12/12/2010-12-12_exwikileaks_staffer_to_launch_rival_whistleblower_site_openleaks_on_monday_seeki.html#ixzz17ymH8f9w