WikiLeaks publishes political secrets discovered by whistleblowers around the world to educate the public about the truth of what really happens in our government. Julian Assange, the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, is wanted by the US government on espionage charges. The United States alleges that Assange has leaked classified information to the public that poses defense risks. WikiLeaks is responsible for information that influenced the 2007 elections in Kenya. Because of these elections, a civil war uprising broke out in Tunisia. In addition to election fraud, he made public the names of the Nazi Party in Britain and revealed secret documents on members of the Church of Scientology. Based on published documents, Joe Biden, the current vice president, describes him as a “high-tech terrorist.” To gather information for publication, informants uploaded the stolen documents to an electronic mailbox shared with a server located in various parts of the world. Since the server is not located in a single location, there is no organization that can claim authority for legal action. WikiLeaks takes raw data, makes it available, and allows it to be interpreted by the people who read it. Assange says he acts for the good of the people and exercises his freedom of speech. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Within this 60-minute study, the first ethical question concerns the disclosure of confidential information. From the government's perspective, Assange's release of classified information puts the public at risk because he is releasing documents that often cause a stir. The Apache video, published on WikiLeaks by Assange, showed the US opening fire on people in Baghdad where dozens of innocent people were killed. In addition to this, 76,000 classified field reports from Afghanistan have been released, leaving our defense and government vulnerable. However, Assange sees this as an opportunity for voters to make decisions about government action for themselves. He says, “…let's just talk about our promise to publish legitimate papers that are said to have an impact.” The second ethical issue presented in WikiLeaks' 60 Minutes study is the system of checks and balances presented by public involvement in the release of these specific documents. Assange uses his own judgment when deciding what to publish from sources provided by whistleblowers. Government officials and public leaders see this as a threat because there is no telling what is appropriate to publish and what is not appropriate to publish. Where our government has a system of checks and balances across the judicial, executive and legislative branches, Assange makes decisions on his own about what to publish.