WIKILEAKS

gy, said he was startled to find hundreds of pieces of malicious software in WikiLeaks’ dumps — suggesting the site doesn’t take basic steps to sanitize its publications.

“Their understanding of journalism is finding an interesting document in a trash can and then dumping the can on your front door,” he said.

Even Assange’s biggest backers are getting uncomfortable. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, one of the site’s leading allies in the media world, has distanced himself from WikiLeaks over its publication strategy. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, whose asylum in Russia WikiLeaks helped broker, recently suggested the site should take more care to curate its work.

Others are disillusioned.

Dietrich, the transparency activist, said he still supported WikiLeaks “in principle” but had been souring on Assange and his colleagues for a while.

“One of the labels that they really don’t like is being called ‘anti-privacy activists,’” Dietrich said in a phone interview. “But if you want to live down that label, don’t do stuff like this!”