Wikileaks was at least 20 years in the making. Described as a “radical form of muck-raking”, it was a unique convergence of technology, a new brand of politics and university maths puzzles. It’s founder Julian Assange was ideologically driven and had a sharp sense of humour. Wikileaks, or as Assange called it,  “an intelligence agency of the people” continues to influence journalism, politics and democracy around the world.

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News/Current Affairs clips (ABC Library Sales) 

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A new brand of politics was taking hold online. Left leaning liberals and free market libertarians combined to create something new. United by a belief that encryption was a powerful political weapon, they were technically literate, proudly wrote code and a profound influence on Julian Assange and the creation of Wikileaks. The Cypherpunks.

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The next hacker group to hit the scene, International Subversives went further, hacked more and were unashamedly political. Trax, Prime Suspect and Mendax - who we now know as Julian Assange were prolific and talented. They hacked phone companies and military networks, but all the time strictly adhering to the hacker ethic. 

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Underground: The Julian Assange Story (Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC)

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It took a while for the Australian Federal Police to take hacking seriously, but when they finally did, the party was over. The Realm Hackers were charged with new laws which had never been tested in the courts. No-one knew what to expect from the judge. They were the canary in the coalmine and a new hacker group, headed by Julian Assange was watching closely. 

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News clips (ABC Library Sales)

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Melbourne hackers were getting a reputation around the world, and none more so than the group known as The Realm. Phoenix, Electron and Nom antagonised system administrators and computer security experts around the world, even shutting down NASA for an entire day. The police needed to act and they were starting to catch up.

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News clips (ABC Library Sales)

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(If you’re from the US and haven’t heard that term, better look it up). The beginning of Hacktivism. The Wank Worm infected thousands of computers around the world. Its target was NASA and there was a strong political message. Although it’s never been proven who was responsible, the hackers left some unique clues which helped investigators trace it back to Melbourne. 

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Midnight Oil: 1984 (Madman Films)

Morris Worm news clip (GBH Archives)

News clips (SBS Archives)

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Computer hacking started off innocently enough. Teenage boys, bored with life in the outer suburbs, exploring a new technology. Hacking credit cards and buying flowers, cans of coke and concert tickets for their girlfriends. They were known by their online handles. In this episode, we meet Optimus Prime, Bit Mapper and Optic Surfer, hackers who were showing authorities what was possible with these new home appliances. It caught police off guard to say the least, there were no hacking laws and their first encounter with a computer hacker didn’t go well. 

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War Games clip (MGM) 

News clips (ABC Library Sales) 

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Introducing Motherlode, a Ranieri and Co. production. The gripping story about the birth of computer hacking from an unlikely centre - Melbourne, Australia. It was here teenage boys, and they were mostly boys, hacked into some of the biggest organisations in the world.

It’s also where a young hacker, Julian Assange, cut his teeth on computers and went on to develop Wikileaks, the most disruptive website the world has seen. But Wikileaks didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. It was 20 years in the making. Motherlode reveals the technological and political motivations behind it.

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