

Everybody’s favourite whistle-blowing organisation has branched out into social. WikiLeaks has just launched Friends of WikiLeaks (FoWL), an encrypted network, which it says is aimed at supporting anyone aligned with its goals and philosophies.

According to the site’s welcome page, FoWL:

is a network of people from across the globe who defend WikiLeaks, its people, its alleged sources and its mission. We publicly and privately promote WikiLeaks and individuals and organisations aligned with the mission of WikiLeaks. This site will help you to join with people like you in your area and across the world. You will make new friends and new allies, care for treasured values and fight in common cause.

The purpose of FoWL, it says, is to “provide support (be it material, publicity, or other forms of solidarity) to any individual, organisation or agency that finds itself in peril as a result of conveying information to the public with the purpose of achieving a more just society”.

Although this offer of support refers primarily to WikiLeaks “and those who submit to WikiLeaks”, the organisation claims that it “extends to any other collective who shares the beliefs and values of WikiLeaks and who finds itself at risk of retribution as a result of pursuing such values”.

The covert whistle-blowing organisation announced the launch of the social network via a series of tweets.

WikiLeaks ‘encrypted Facebook’ is almost ready to launch wlfriends.org — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

Why WL Friends wlfriends.org is better than Facebook, reasons 1-10… — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

Why WL Friends wlfriends.org is better than Facebook, reasons 1-10… — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

1. WL Friends introduces you to people you want to know, but don’t know yet. Facebook connects you to people you already know – no point. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

2. Facebook is a mass surveillance tool. You put your friends into it, you betray your friends. Do friends betray friends? (cont) — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

2 (cont) WLFriends wlfriends.org doesn’t know your friends. It introduces you to new friends. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

3. Facebook records everything you do, hands it over to the US government and corporations. WLFriends wlfriends.org doesn’t. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

4. WLFriends keeps your data so encrypted, not even the system amins can decrypt it. You and your friends decrypt on login automatically. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

5. WLFriends uses military grade cryptography and the best industry standards (OpenPGP + Elliptic Curves). wlfriends.org — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

6. WLFriends even uses homomorphic encryption for certain operations so WLFriends doesn’t even know how many friends you have… — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

7. The more you use WLFriends, the less you use WLFriends. WLFriends is designed to build, not control, a robust network of shared value. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

8. WLFriends is designed for more than just WikiLeaks. It is a general solution to build a robust support network under hostile conditions. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

9. Friends of Israel, Friends of Palestine, Friends of the Tea Party, Friends of Catholicism are all possible with WL Friends. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

10. WL Friends is designed to make infiltration costly. No person can be seen to be more important than any other or individually targeted. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

11. WLFriends builds a strong support network instantly for any shared belief by connecting supporters in a way that maximises communication — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

12. As time goes by the WLFriends network for any shared belief is designed to mathematically grow stronger and stronger — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

Sign up to WLFriends wlfriends.org now to be part of the core WLFriends network when it launches — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 20, 2012

WikiLeaks also recently announced that it would begin airing a TV show in which its founder Julian Assange would conduct “a series of in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world”. The first episode aired on Russia’s RT network on 17 April.