ITWire

Par:AnoIA, which supposedly stands for Potentially Alarming Research: Anonymous Intelligence Agency, although one suspects the derivation came after the acronym, is intended to be a direct, but more liberal competitor to the closely moderated WikiLeaks site.

Previously, when Anonymous had confidential data to share with the world, it would appear in places like PasteBin or on specially created web-sites that could be torn down as easily as they were created. This seems like an attempt to create more permanence (and a bigger target for the FBI and other authorities).

A representative of Par:AnoIA told Wired Magazine that material will not come directly from Anonymous members, but as submissions from anyone in the wider Anonymous community.

"The reason no one cares about these leaks, as a general rule of thumb, is that they can't do anything with [them]," said a Paranoia anon. "Basically, [we're] making it accessible to anyone that wants to do something with it, in a proper usable format."

Currently the site is hosting leaked Austrian Scientology emails and a variety of commercial information from the IT-service company Innodata Isogen (amongst other material). There are also details in relation to a Vietnamese nuclear program.

Par:AnoIA intends to offer a much leaner method to leak confidential information into the public domain.

Of course the other reason for progressing this site is that WikiLeaks has been almost completely starved of an upload capability, instead relying on more physical methods of obtaining data - a method which is obviously fraught.

There are no surprises that a slanging match has erupted on Twitter between the two groups; iTWire will not give air to either party in this regard.

As always, "Information wants to be free," as Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog said (and was picked up and politicised by Richard Stallman); this will be merely another path to freedom.