Wikipedia 'too tough for many'

13 January 2011 Last updated at 19:05 ET By Jonathan Fildes Technology reporter, BBC News <!-- Embedding the video player --> <!-- This is the embedded player component -->

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Wikipedia boss Jimmy Wales: "We point to the results"

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Wikipedia is too complicated for many people to modify despite billing itself as "the free encyclopaedia that anyone can edit", its founder has said.

Jimmy Wales told BBC News the site wants a new generation of contributors, including more women.

The online encyclopaedia, which is 10 years old on 15 January, is the world's fifth most popular site.

It aims to increase its users from 400m to 1bn by 2015. But growth requires a new interface, said Mr Wales.

"We have to support our old power users because they build the site," he said. "But we also need to have a ramp for new users."

He said a lot of people were "afraid" to contribute to the site by the sometimes complicated code - known as Wiki mark-up - needed to format entries.

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People thought: 'let's give the guy the money so he'll go away'"

End Quote Jimmy Wales

"If you click edit and you see some Wiki syntax and some bizarre table structure - a lot of people are literally afraid.

"They're good people and they don't want to break something.

As well as initiatives such as "adopt a user", that allows experienced Wikipedians to take a new user under their wing, he said his for-profit company Wikia had been doing a lot of work designing simple "what you see is what you get" editing tools.

"We're releasing all of that open source and Wikipedia will probably adopt some of that."

'Ugly mug'

However, Mr Wales said that one change he would not make would be to the site's financial model.

It currently operates as a not-for-profit organisation funded by donations from its users.

"We have just finished our fundraiser for the year - we raised $16m (�10m) faster than we have ever done it before," he said.

For many, Mr Wales' face will be familiar from banners that have been running on the site promoting the appeal.

Mr Wales said that he had tried to resist using his picture, but user testing had shown the organisation received more money by using his face.

"Those banners outperformed the other ones two-to-one," he said. "I think maybe because no-one wants to see my ugly mug anymore. People thought: 'let's give the guy the money so he'll go away'."

He said the donation model was "very stable" but admitted it did "constrain" what the site could do.

"We don't have a lot of money - we are running a website with 408m visitors on just over $20m," he said. "I think we're the most efficient charity there is by a long shot in terms of the number of people we impact for a small amount of money."

However, he said that he was not tempted to turn it into a commercial venture to pull in more money.

"If you look at pressures that commercial ventures would be under - suddenly there is a need to produce quarterly results, suddenly there is a need to bring in money."

He admitted the site could run as a non-profit supported by advertisements, but again said that there were no plans to make changes.

"Our view has always been we can always do that if we need to."

'Defensive move'

Mr Wales also used the interview to clear up the organisation's perceived association with the whistle-blowing organisation Wikileaks.

"The core of their work is not about Wiki at all - Wiki is a collaborative editing process, it's a group of people coming together to collaboratively write something. And what Wikileaks is doing is getting documents and leaking them."

However, he said, many people get confused - including airport security, he said.

But the two still have a loose association.

Technically, the Wikia company has until this week legally owned domain names including wikileaks.net, wikileaks.com and wikileaks.us.

"We transferred the domains to them but they never completed the technical part," said Mr Wales. "All they needed to do was sign in and complete the transfer but they have never done it."

He said the domains had been registered "defensively" when Wikileaks launched in 2006.

"When they first launched they put out a press release that said the 'Wikipedia of secrets', which would have been a trademark violation.

"So someone in the office registered two or three domains."

He said that he regularly tries to prompt Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange to complete the transaction, to no avail.

"I saw someone else say that he's prone to saying 'I'm busy fighting superpowers' and that's exactly what he said to me."

Mr Wales said the domains would expire "this week".

"I'm not renewing them," said Mr Wales.

"We may ping them and say they are loose."

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Pioneering computer to be rebuilt

13 January 2011 Last updated at 06:12 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

The first recognisably modern computer is to be rebuilt at the UK's former code-cracking centre Bletchley Park.

The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (Edsac) was a room-sized behemoth built at Cambridge university that first ran in 1949.

Creation of the replica has been commissioned by the UK's Computer Conservation Society (CCS).

The three-year re-build will be carried out before visitors to The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley.

Digital help

Edsac was one of several early British computers that pioneered the practical use of such machines.

It was conceived and created by Sir Maurice Wilkes as a machine that could carry out many different kinds of calculation for Cambridge researchers and scientists.

"Edsac was the first to go into regular service to help the people Sir Maurice saw in Cambridge, researchers struggling with computation using desk calculators," said Dr David Hartley, chairman of the CCS.

During its nine-year lifespan, Edsac helped two Cambridge researchers win a Nobel and aided many more try out approaches and get results impossible to even conceive without the machine.

The �250,000 cost of the re-build will be paid for from funds raised by a consortium led by entrepreneur Hermann Hauser. Dr Hartley said the project had been given the nod to proceed as the consortium has already received pledges to provide all the funds needed.

The early work of the re-build will involve scouring archives and talking to the remaining Edsac engineers to get a better idea of how the machine worked.

Relatively few parts of the original machine remain, said Dr Hartley, though Cambridge university does have one chassis though it has largely been denuded of valves, a critical part of all early machines.

"We're building up a good picture of what it was like," he said. "But there comes a point at which we have to guess what was in the designer's mind at the time."

Computer conservationist Chris Burton, who was involved in re-creating the Manchester Mark I, is helping to source parts that can be used to build a faithful replica of the original.

"He's making contact with all sorts of suppliers and is optimistic that we will get there," said Dr Hartley.

However, one part of the original Edsac that is unlikely to be re-created is the 1.5m (5 feet) long tubes of mercury used as a memory store. Modern health and safety regulations preclude the use of mercury, said Dr Hartley.

He added that experiments were already being carried out to use different materials to act as a "delay line" memory as in the original.

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Test looms for net address scheme

13 January 2011 Last updated at 10:26 ET

A global trial of the net's new addressing system is being planned for 8 June.

The test is being held to raise awareness about the imminent change from version 4 of the addressing scheme to version 6.

Net giants Google, Facebook, Akamai and Yahoo have committed to taking part in the "test flight" of IPv6.

Net firms are being encouraged to switch to IPv6 as addresses in the old scheme will run out by November 2011.

"The good news is that internet users don't need to do anything special to prepare for World IPv6 Day," said Lorenzo Colitti, a network engineer at Google in a blog post.

"Our current measurements suggest that the vast majority (99.95%) of users will be unaffected. However, in rare cases, users may experience connectivity problems, often due to misconfigured or misbehaving home network devices."

The World IPv6 Day is being co-ordinated by the Internet Society, a non-profit group which educates people and companies about net issues. It has provided a webpage through which people can test their Ipv6 readiness.

On 8 June, those who sign up will make their pages available via IPv6 for 24 hours to help show up and iron out problems created by the switch to the new addressing scheme.

"By providing an opportunity for the internet industry to collaborate to test IPv6 readiness we expect to lay the groundwork for large-scale IPv6 adoption and help make IPv6 ready for prime time," said Leslie Daigle, chief internet technology officer at the Internet Society in a statement.

Google already offers an IPv6 version of its search site as does Facebook.

The addressing scheme used by most sites now is defined in version 4 of the Internet Protocol. This has an address space of about four billion entries.

While this figure was considered to be enough in the late 1970s when IPv4 was being developed it has proved to be wanting as the net has grown in popularity and more and more people and devices use it.

At current estimates the pool of IPv4 addresses will run entirely dry in early November 2011.

Many net authorities and organisations have been calling for net firms to switch to IPv6 which has an effectively unlimited address space, but progress has been slow.

In November 2010 Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet, warned that the net faced "turbulent times" if it did not move quickly to adopt IPv6.

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Palin e-mail intruder imprisoned

13 January 2011 Last updated at 05:52 ET By Bobbie Johnson Technology reporter, BBC News

A man who broke into Sarah Palin's e-mail has been imprisoned - despite being told he might be spared jail.

David Kernell, 23, was found guilty last year of illegally accessing Mrs Palin's e-mail during the 2008 presidential campaign.

At the time, a judge suggested he should serve his year-long sentence in a halfway house.

But after intervention from US government officials he is now in federal prison, the BBC has learned.

Officials confirmed that Mr Kernell reported on 10 January to begin serving his time at a federal corrections institute in Ashland, Kentucky.

That is not the situation that his friends and family were hoping for, however.

During a hearing in November, Judge Thomas Phillips indicated that Mr Kernell's sentence of one year and one day should be served at a halfway house to reflect the case's "unique circumstances".

"Even if the defendant serves his sentence at a halfway house, this combined with a criminal conviction is significant punishment," he said at the time, adding that it would mark "a sufficient restriction of the defendant's liberty".

The US Bureau of Prisons, however, has decided to make Mr Kernell serve out his term in the low-security prison camp nearly 300 miles from his home in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The move comes more than two years after the virtual break-in took place, at the height of the former Alaska governor's failed campaign to win the US vice presidency.

Using the online pseudonym "rubico", Mr Kernell - a student whose father is a senior Democrat politician in Tennessee - answered a series of security questions that gave him access to her private inbox, and then shared the details online.

A copy was retained by Wikileaks, the whistle-blowing website currently at the centre of a controversy over leaked US diplomatic cables, and details of her messages were published in several media outlets.

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The state gives power to the Bureau of Prisons to determine the nature of incarceration."

End Quote Professor Robert Weisberg Stanford University

As a result, Ms Palin's family received abusive emails and phone calls. A subsequent FBI investigation led to Mr Kernell's arrest five days later.

Although he was eventually charged with four crimes - including identity theft and fraud - a court in Knoxville, Tennessee, only found him guilty of two lesser counts after a two-week trial last May.

The US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) would not comment on why Judge Phillips' recommendations had not been followed, but said decisions concerning inmates took into account a number of factors.

The BOP is not bound by judicial recommendations, one legal expert said federal sentencing was often "arbitrary".

"The judge can give either incarceration or probation, but if it's incarceration the state gives power to the Bureau of Prisons to determine the nature of incarceration," said Professor Robert Weisberg, director of the criminal justice center at Stanford University in California.

"There is not a general or uniform US rule," he added. "There is huge local variation."

Ms Palin - now seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2012 - has been in the headlines again after the fatal shootings in Arizona that left six dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life.

Critics have singled out aggressive political rhetoric as a possible aggravating factor in the shooting - particularly focusing on fliers distributed by Ms Palin's office during last year's mid-term elections, which included a picture of Giffords in the cross-hairs of a gun.

In a video posted online, the former governor said such suggestions constituted a "blood libel".

"Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own," she said, rejecting claims that the flier and her "don't retreat, reload" slogan were an incitement to violence.

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Sony takes PS3 hackers to court

12 January 2011 Last updated at 06:00 ET

Sony has launched legal action against hackers who uncovered and published security codes for the PlayStation 3.

The hack potentially allows anyone to run any software on their machine, including pirated games.

Sony's lawsuit argues that this constitutes copyright infringement and computer fraud.

But George Hotz, one of the hackers at the centre of the controversy, told BBC News that he was "comfortable" the action would not succeed.

"I am a firm believer in digital rights," Mr Hotz said.

"I would expect a company that prides itself on intellectual property to be well versed in the provisions of the law, so I am�disappointed�in Sony's current action.

"I have spoken with legal counsel and I feel comfortable that Sony's action against me doesn't have any basis."

The twenty-one-year-old, who rose to prominence for breaking the iPhone's security, is named in the lawsuit alongside more than 100 people associated with a hacking group known as fail0verflow.

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Already, pirate video games are being packaged and distributed with these circumvention devices."

End Quote Court filing

In the filing, submitted to the Northern District Court of California, Sony asks for a restraining order that bans Mr Hotz from further hacking and prevents distribution of the software produced as a result.

"Working individually and in concert with one another, the defendants recently bypassed effective technological protection measures employed by Sony," the document states.

"Through the internet, defendants are distributing software, tools and instructions that circumvent the [protection measures] and facilitate the counterfeiting of video games. Already, pirate video games are being packaged and distributed with these circumvention devices."

Secret codes

The controversy centres around a series of secret codes that Sony uses to protect its system from being used for unauthorised purposes.

Among them is a number used to "sign" all PS3 games and software as a way of proving that they are genuine.

Once the key is known, however, it can be used to sign any software - including unofficial software and, potentially, pirated games.

The PlayStation's protection had remained impenetrable for several years, but members of fail0verflow demonstrated the first breakthrough in December when they presented a security exploit at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin.

Mr Hotz then revealed that he had uncovered the secret signing number using a similar method.

fail0verflow's website was taken down overnight, replaced with the message "Sony sued us" and a brief statement.

"We have never condoned, supported, approved of or encouraged videogame piracy," it says.

"We have not published any encryption or signing keys. We have not published any Sony code, or code derived from Sony's code."

The group has said in the past that it is vehemently against games piracy and that it had worked on the hack so that users could install other operating systems and amateur software on the console.

Sony had indicated previously that it would try to fix the hack by updating the PS3's software over the internet.

Console hacking and online copyright infringement is a contentious topic, frequently ending in high-profile court cases as technology companies seek to prevent their systems from being copied or modified.

While most cases in recent years have involved music and video file-sharing services like Napster, Grokster and Kazaa, a growing number of cases have involved the hacking of video games consoles.

Last year, a team released a piece of hardware called PSjailbreak that allowed gamers to play homemade and pirated games on the PlayStation 3.

Although the company has issued software to block the device and launched legal action, it has not prevented it entirely - with a Spanish court ruling that the gadget is not illegal.

In December, meanwhile, federal prosecutors dropped their case against a student accused of pirating games for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

The case against California resident Matthew Crippen was dropped after the judge said that he had "serious concerns" about the legality of the evidence collected against him.

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Microsoft opposes Apple trademark

12 January 2011 Last updated at 09:52 ET

Microsoft has said that it has asked US officials to block Apple's attempt to trademark the words "App Store".

Apple submitted an application for the phrase - used for its iPhone, iPad and Macintosh download services - in 2008.

But Microsoft has now told BBC News that it is has asked the US Patent and Trademark Office to reject the application.

The company says the term is too generic and competitors should be able to use it.

"An 'app store' is an 'app store'," said Russell Pangborn, Microsoft's associate general counsel. "Like 'shoe store' or 'toy store', it is a generic term that is commonly used by companies, governments and individuals that offer apps."

"The term 'app store' should continue to be available for use by all without fear of reprisal by Apple."

It is not clear why Microsoft has filed papers now, more than a year after the USPTO opened up Apple's original application for opposition.

However the move comes just days after Apple launched its latest App Store, for computer software.

Since the iPhone and other high-end mobile handsets emerged over recent years, downloadable applications - or apps - have become commonplace.

Microsoft runs its own application store for Windows phones, while Google and Nokia also have their own equivalents. Amazon, meanwhile, recently announced plans to open its own retail channel called Amazon Appstore.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment, but it is not the first time the company has found itself on the end of a trademark dispute.

After the iPhone launched in 2007, it emerged that technology rival Cisco owned the trademark, used for a range of internet-based telephone handsets. The two companies eventually settled and have now agreed to share rights over the name.

In addition, the Californian company took nearly 30 years to completely settle its conflict with Apple Corps, the record company founded by the Beatles.

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Piracy sites &#39;attract billions&#39;

11 January 2011 Last updated at 10:42 ET

A study by anti-fraud firm MarkMonitor has offered a snapshot into the changing nature of online piracy.

It monitored illegal traffic levels on 43 file-sharing sites and found that they generated more than 53 billion visits per year.

The top three - RapidShare.com, Megavideo.com and Megaupload.com - generated more than 21 billion visits.

Such sites are becoming as popular as peer-to-peer methods of accessing illegal content.

The study only used a small sample of sites suggesting that the problem could be in fact much bigger.

"The numbers are staggering," said Charlie Abrahams, vice president of MarkMonitor.

The study was put together following requests from the US Chamber of Commerce to identify trends and rogue sites.

Very easy

Mark Mulligan, an analyst at research firm Forrester, points out that the numbers of visits does not necessarily equate to the number of downloads.

But it does show that commercial file-sharing sites, alongside other non-network based methods, are becoming as popular a way of sharing pirated music and films as peer-to-peer technologies.

"These upload sites index their files. It is very easy and convenient," he added.

"Upload sites, alongside instant messaging and blogs, are now on a par with peer-to-peer sites when it comes to piracy," he said.

What is more it is "proving difficult for content owners to do much about them", he said.

No filters

One of the sites highlighted by the study, RapidShare, has come under scrutiny from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) which blames the Swiss-based file-hosting firm for carrying huge amounts of pirated content.

It and other content owners want the firm to install filters to police the illegal content changing hands via its site.

In Germany this week, that aim was struck a blow when the Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf ruled that Rapidshare does not have to install such filters.

It found that the firm was taking "reasonable measures" to fight piracy.

The attempts to block the content being transacted over such sites brings back memories of the early attempts to shut down Napster, said Mr Mulligan.

"It is complete deja vu and it took a very long time to close that down," he said.

With legislation on dealing with peer-to-peer illegal file-sharing already looking out of date, it could be time to find other ways to crack the nut, he thinks.

"Illegal file-sharing is becoming incredibly complex and it is becoming over-burdensome to try and police it," he said.

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MySpace cutting workforce by half

11 January 2011 Last updated at 13:03 ET

Struggling MySpace is cutting almost half of its global workforce.

The social networking website is getting rid of 500 positions, or 47% of its employees.

The announcement comes as MySpace continues to be eclipsed by Facebook, and as it tries to reinvent itself as an entertainment website.

MySpace was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation for $580m (�372m) in 2005, but it has struggled to make money for its parent company.

Mike Jones, MySpace's chief executive, said the job cuts were "tough but necessary", and had been taken to put the website on the path towards growth and profitability.

He added: "These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no way reflect the performance of the new product."

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Court hears trio&#39;s Facebook case

11 January 2011 Last updated at 16:01 ET <!-- Embedding the video player --> <!-- This is the embedded player component -->

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The Winklevoss twins tell Rory Cellan-Jones in April 2010 that they will continue their fight

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Three men who say Mark Zuckerberg stole the Facebook concept from them have asked a US appeals court to re-open a $65m (�42m) legal settlement with the company.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and Divya Narendra argue Facebook undervalued its share price when they struck the deal.

With the company now valued at about $50bn, they charge the deception cost them millions and now want more money.

Mr Zuckerberg, who was at Harvard with the three men, has denied the claims.

In a courtroom in San Francisco, lawyers for the Winklevoss twins and Mr Narendra asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow them to re-open a $65m settlement forged in 2008 after they sued the company.

Facebook agreed to the settlement to end "rancorous litigation" but did not admit Mr Zuckerberg had taken their idea.

Senior Judge Clifford Wallace said on Tuesday that the twins had several lawyers representing them at the earlier settlement talks, and that that their father was a business expert, factors he suggested made it hard to believe that anyone took advantage of them.

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At the scene

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This long-drawn-out legal battle was immortalised by Hollywood in a hit movie last year.

Today, the drama enveloping Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss was played out in courtroom three of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The identical twins in dark suits sat stony-faced in the front row as they heard their lawyer argue that they had been robbed of millions of dollars in the deal.

But Facebook lawyer Joshua Rosenkranz said the twins were never interested in pinning down a valuation for Facebook. "They were more interested in owning a portion of the world's hottest start-up," he said.

In what seemed like a less than sympathetic line of questioning, Senior Judge Clifford Wallace pointed out that the Winklevoss twins had several lawyers in the room at the time representing them in the talks.

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"I agree my clients were not behind the barn door when brains were passed out," said Jerome Falk, a lawyer for the twins.

The three men are effectively gambling the $65m settlement, analysts say. If the court unwinds the agreement, Facebook will have to decide whether to offer more money or fight it out in court.

Facebook's lawyers have dismissed the claims as a case of "settlers' remorse".

In the 2008 settlement, the brothers received $20m in cash and $45m in stock, based on a $36 per share valuation, Mr Falk said before the hearing.

He argues Facebook had agreed to a $9 per share price in a compensation offer to employees, a price they say the company was obligated to disclosed.

"This was a highly material fact and the fact they didn't disclose it is a violation of federal security law," Mr Falk told BBC News.

He said as a result the brothers were due four times the 1.25 million shares they were awarded.

The $65m deal was made up of $20m in cash and $45m in shares now worth $140m. Had the lower valuation been used, the shares would be worth $600m today.

Facebook's legal team disagreed, arguing that the company was under no obligation to reveal an internal valuation.

The internal valuation was an opinion and there were other valuations out there that the twins could have used, lawyer Joshua Rosenkranz said.

After the hearing the Winklevoss brothers, who are elite rowers, declined to comment except to say they looked forward to the court's decision. A ruling is not expected for two to three months.

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US wants Wikileaks Twitter data

8 January 2011 Last updated at 05:36 ET

The US government has subpoenaed the social networking site Twitter for personal details of people connected to Wikileaks, court documents show.

The US District Court in Virginia said it wanted information including user names, addresses, connection records, telephone numbers and payment details.

Those named include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and an Icelandic MP.

The US is examining possible charges against Mr Assange over the leaking of 250,000 classified diplomatic cables.

Reports indicate the Department of Justice may seek to indict him on charges of conspiring to steal documents with Private First Class Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst.

Mr Manning is facing a court martial and up to 52 years in prison for allegedly sending Wikileaks the diplomatic cables, as well military logs about incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq and a classified military video.

'Given a message'

According to the court order issued on 14 December by the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the US Attorney's Office has provided evidence to show that the information held by Twitter is "relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation".

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

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As the Wikileaks saga has unfolded, Twitter has been one of the main forums where supporters and opponents of the whistle-blowing site have debated the issues. Now the social network has been dragged into the affair, as the US authorities pursue a case against Wikileaks.

This leaves Twitter executives in a very difficult position. Like all social networks, they have been keen to stress that they comply with local laws, especially when it comes to tracking down criminals. But they have also been eager to promote Twitter's role as a forum for free expression in countries like Iran.

If confidential details of overseas Twitter users are disclosed to the US authorities, how keen will an international audience be to trust this or other American social networks in future?

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The San Francisco-based website was given three days to respond was also told not to disclose that it had been served the subpoena, or the existence of the investigation.

However, the same court removed those restrictions on Wednesday and authorised Twitter to disclose the order to its customers.

The subpoena requested the details of Mr Assange, Pfc Manning and Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir, as well as Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and US programmer Jacob Appelbaum, both of whom have previously worked with Wikileaks.

The information sought includes mailing addresses and billing information, connection records and session times, IP addresses used to access Twitter, email accounts, as well as the "means and source of payment".

Mr Assange condemned the court order on Saturday, saying it amounted to harassment.

"If the Iranian government was to attempt to coercively obtain this information from journalists and activists of foreign nations, human rights groups around the world would speak out," he said in a statement.

The order was unsealed "thanks to legal action by Twitter", he added.

Twitter has declined comment on the claim, saying only: "To help users protect their rights, it's our policy to notify users about law enforcement and governmental requests for their information, unless we are prevented by law from doing so."

Ms Jonsdottir, who until recently was a vocal supporter of Wikileaks, revealed on Friday that the Department of Justice had asked Twitter for her personal details and all of her tweets since November 2009.

She said she had 10 days to appeal against the subpoena.

Ms Jonsdottir wrote on her Twitter feed: "USA government wants to know about all my tweets and more since 1 November 2009. Do they realise I am a member of parliament in Iceland?"

She said that she would call Iceland's justice minister to discuss the request.

"I think I am being given a message, almost like someone breathing in a phone," she said.

Ms Jonsdottir was the chief sponsor of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) law, which made Iceland an international haven for investigative journalism and free speech.

She has said she helped to produce a video for Wikileaks showing a US Apache helicopter shooting civilians in Iraq in 2007.

The classified video, released by Wikileaks last April, brought the whistle-blowing website to the world's attention.

The website's founder, Julian Assange, is currently fighting extradition from the UK to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning as part of an inquiry into alleged sex offences.

Ms Jonsdottir reportedly left Wikileaks late last year after she argued unsuccessfully that Mr Assange should take a low-profile role until his legal troubles were resolved.

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