Daniel Domscheit-Berg

Spokesperson WikiLeaks (2007-2010), Internet Activist

Daniel Domscheit-Berg

Spokesperson WikiLeaks (2007-2010), Internet Activist

A network security expert by trade, Domscheit-Berg is an advocate for transparency and freedom of speech by heart, deeply caring for equal access to knowledge and information in a globalized world. Foreign Policy Magazine named him a Top 100 Global Thinker in 2011. Daniel Domscheit-Berg, born in 1978, helped build the WikiLeaks platform from late 2007 to September 2010, and acted as its spokesperson under the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt. He quit WikiLeaks over disputes about its strategic orientation, lack of transparency and management style. Domscheit-Berg wrote a book about his experiences "Inside WikiLeaks“, which was published in early 2011, was translated into 23 languages and was one source for the subsequent Hollywood movie "The Fifth Estate". Before WikiLeaks, Domscheit-Berg worked for various fortune 500 companies, mainly building enterprise-scale wireless and wired networks for the automotive and transport industries. Domscheit-Berg today is involved with various internet projects related to privacy and anonymity, and furthering the decentralization of the Internet's infrastructure. Running a small innovation lab in Brandenburg's countryside, he passionately teaches kids about electronics and technology. He also works on bringing the open fiber broadband revolution to Germany and therefore founded ViaEuropa Deutschland GmbH.  He has presented and debated on future chances as well as risks in a digitized and networked world in a multitude of both national and international conferences and fora, spanning a broad range from universities via commercial venues to the World Economic Forum, and is regularly present in national and international media on said topics.

About Daniel Domscheit-Berg

A network security expert by trade, Domscheit-Berg is an advocate for transparency and freedom of speech by heart, deeply caring for equal access to knowledge and information in a globalized world. Foreign Policy Magazine named him a Top 100 Global Thinker in 2011.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg, born in 1978, helped build the WikiLeaks platform from late 2007 to September 2010, and acted as its spokesperson under the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt. He quit WikiLeaks over disputes about its strategic orientation, lack of transparency and management style. Domscheit-Berg wrote a book about his experiences "Inside WikiLeaks“, which was published in early 2011, was translated into 23 languages and was one source for the subsequent Hollywood movie "The Fifth Estate".

Before WikiLeaks, Domscheit-Berg worked for various fortune 500 companies, mainly building enterprise-scale wireless and wired networks for the automotive and transport industries.

Domscheit-Berg today is involved with various internet projects related to privacy and anonymity, and furthering the decentralization of the Internet's infrastructure. Running a small innovation lab in Brandenburg's countryside, he passionately teaches kids about electronics and technology. He also works on bringing the open fiber broadband revolution to Germany and therefore founded ViaEuropa Deutschland GmbH. 

He has presented and debated on future chances as well as risks in a digitized and networked world in a multitude of both national and international conferences and fora, spanning a broad range from universities via commercial venues to the World Economic Forum, and is regularly present in national and international media on said topics.

Topics

  • Transparency and privacy in a digital world
  • The big picture of the digital revolution
  • Information and computer security
  • Digital ethics
  • Transformation of workplaces and industries
  • Smart homes, the internet of things, 3D printing, autonomous vehicles
  • Artificial Intelligence

Books

  • Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website, 2011