As the 10th anniversary of WikiLeaks' first appearance on the web approaches, the website's founder Julian Assange has published a list of companies and organizations that could be the site's next targets,
Of course, one name from Silicon Valley stood out: Google.
At the moment, no one knows what WikiLeaks could publish related to Google. But we should expect that any accusation of misconduct by the company could cause political unrest.
Assange has longviewed Google as a kind of political organization, using its power overtly and covertly to influence international events.
Assange had described these relationships at length, with evidence emerging from classified documents he published in a book by WikiLeaks in 2014 titled: “When Google Met WikiLeaks.”
Assange made his point after meeting Eric Schmidt in England in 2011 for an interview. Schmidt was accompanied by Lisa Shields, a U.S. State Department official, and Jared Cohen, then director of Google’s think tank, “Google Ideas,” and a former State Department official.
Over time, Assange began to view Google's ties to the U.S. State Department with suspicion, as well as the company's efforts to act alone abroad in the context of Cohen's activities.
Since then, Google Ideas has morphed into “Jigsaw,” a technology incubator that is “dedicated to understanding global challenges and implementing technology solutions.” It is officially a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet. Cohen is co-founder and chairman. and Schmidt is also a co-founder.
So whatever WikiLeaks releases will be quite interesting, as it will likely touch on Google's policy activities or other issues related to taxes, antitrust policy, and privacy protection in Europe.
