2011 was marked by several major political scandals. Among them was the publication of secret diplomatic papers by WikiLeaks. But in order to understand the specifics of the conflict, you need to know what kind of site it is and why it exists.
The WikiLeaks website was launched in 2006. The founder of this resource was Julian Assange, a journalist from Australia. Before creating the site, he was also involved in hacking, for which he was prosecuted.
The goal of WikiLeaks was proclaimed the free exchange of information, including from secret sources, such as diplomatic services of various countries and state security agencies. Each person who has this or that interesting information can send it to the authors of the resource. Since any documents or data may turn out to be fake, there is a warning about this on the pages of the site.
The main emphasis on the site is on the publication of documents. The reader gets the opportunity to independently draw conclusions from what he read, and not be guided by the views of analysts and journalists.
The site has been repeatedly tried to block in various countries. In the United States, the first attempt was made in 2008 but ended in failure. The court decision against the resource was successfully appealed. New problems arose in 2010, when many secret letters from American diplomats were published. This information began to be circulated by all major mass media in the world and caused several diplomatic scandals. Some of the hard-hitting aspects of US foreign policy have become known.
The result was a trial against the owner of the resource - Julian Assange. He was accused of rape, but the journalist himself denied his guilt and called the process political. As a result, by 2012, he was pending political asylum in Ecuador.
The site itself continues to function in 2012. However, some countries either completely block it, or do not allow viewing of individual pages of the resource on their territory.