Oz Government says WikiLeaks disclosures likely to be illegal

CANBERRA - The Australian Government has declared the whistle blowing web site WikiLeaks initial leaking of classified documents and their subsequent distribution as likely to be illegal.

“The unauthorised obtaining of the information may well be an offence,” Attorney-General Robert McClelland said today.

“The distribution of that information I would think would have a solid argument, again without knowing the United States law, would be an offence. Certainly to release that sort of information by an officer of the commonwealth, if it were Australian material, would in my view certainly involve criminality,” McClelland said in Sydney after launching a new guide for businesses entitled The Insider Threat to Business - A Personnel Security Handbook. (ANI)