Wikileaks, which lets whistle-blowers stealthily publish government and corporate leaks without fear of being traced (the site uses encryption technologies and “cover” domains to hide the tracks of people who post to it), was publicly launched in early 2007 but remained under the radar until this year, when it drew the wrath of Swiss bank Julius Baer. After documents were posted that purport to show how the bank’s Cayman Islands branch helps wealthy customers hide assets and launder money, Baer cried foul with a cease-and-desist letter demanding the documents be removed. When that failed, the bank took the site’s U.S.-based domain name registrar to court and briefly got the site knocked offline (mirror sites hosted in other countries remained online, however). But public furor caused the judge to reverse his order.

Wikileaks was launched by dissidents, journalists, and technologists from several continents. More than a million documents have been posted so far—most related to the military (such as operation manuals for the Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons)—but corporations also have much to fear as the site’s popularity grows.