AP: WikiLeaks has leaked hundreds of private individuals medical files – NRK

Only the last year, WikiLeaks published hundreds of very private files belonging to “ordinary” citizens. Among other things, two rape victims in their teens have been identified, and a man who was arrested for homosexuality in Saudi Arabia.

WikiLeaks’ library contains half a million files, including e-mails and audio files from the Democratic party in the United States, Turkey’s ruling party and the Saudi foreign ministry.

According to the news agency’s analysis contains files on Saudia Arabia alone at least 124 medical records. Many descriptions of vulnerable people, such as patients with severe mental problems, and sick children and refugees.

AP has been in contact with several people who have had their private records leaked on the Internet, mostly from Saudi Arabia. Few of the people knew about the leaks, possibly because WikiLeaks censored in the country, but all took the incident very seriously.

Victim of Identity Theft

The leaks from the Democratic Party in the United States, published last month , contained several social security and credit card numbers, according to an AP analysis assisted by Data Gravity.

Two people told AP that in the wake of the leak was a victim of identity theft. A retired diplomat said that he had to change his mobile telephone number after being bombarded by threatening messages.

AP also found nearly 40 instances of leaks related to family issues. This inkludererer including messages about marriage, divorce and missing children.

Many people are very personal, such as marital certificates that reveal whether the bride was a virgin before marriage. Other files identified partners of women who suffer from sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Careful secrets

AP has been unable to get a comment from the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

Lisa Lynch, who teaches media and communication at Drew University and has followed WikiLeaks for years, justifying the leak of private files that Assange might not have the staff or resources to investigate what he publishes.

– Or maybe he felt that social mission surpassed others privacy. For him, the result of revelations justify the means, says she said.

After Iekkasjene about the Iraq war, which was criticized for putting soldiers at risk, insisted Assange that WikiLeaks has a system to not publish private individuals information. In front of an audience in Oxford in 2010, he stated that the company should be cautious legitimate secrets, and he used “conversations with your doctor” as an example.