THE DARK SIDE OF THE WIKILEAKS

1 SAUDI ARABIA

In one case, WikiLeaks published the name of a citizen arrested for being gay. Homosexuality is punishable by death in the kingdom. In another, “they published everything: my phone, address, name, details,” said a man after the website revealed the details of a paternity dispute. “If the family of my wife saw this … Publishing personal stuff like that could destroy people.”

2 JORDAN

Dr. Nayef al-Fayez confirmed that a brain cancer patient of his was among those whose details were published to the web. “This has nothing to do with politics or corruption,” he said. Dr. Adnan Salhab, a retired practitioner who also had a patient named in the files, expressed anger. “This is illegal what has happened,” he said.

3 UNITED STATES

Democratic National Committee files published last month carried more than two dozen Social Security and credit card numbers. Two of the people named in the files said they were targeted by identity thieves following the leak, including a retired diplomat who said he was bombarded by threats.

4 TURKEY

Vural Eroz, 66, was one of many people who’d written to the governing party, complaining that his car had been towed by authorities in Istanbul. He was startled to find WikiLeaks published the message and his personal number. “I would like to know for what purpose they exposed me,” he said.

5 THE RESPONSE

Attempts to reach WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange were unsuccessful; questions left with his site weren’t immediately answered. In a tweet responding to AP’s story, WikiLeaks said the allegations were “not even worth a headline.”