December 24, 2010 - 16:11 AMT
"Effective number two" behind Assange to publish book about WikiLeaks founder

Jonathan Cape British publisher is to release a title by a former Wikileaks insider, Daniel Domscheit-Berg.

Under the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt, Domscheit-Berg was the "effective number two" behind Julian Assange at the whistle-blowing website.

The Random House Group subsidiary Crown acquired world English rights to Inside Wikileaks: My Time With Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website from German publisher Ullsteinbuchverlage. Jonathan Cape will publish on February 15, 2011.

Inside Wikileaks will be published simultaneously in 12 other countries, including Canada (Random House Canada); Australia (Scribe); France (Grasset); the Netherlands (Lebowski); Italy (Marsilio); Denmark (Politken); Finland (Tammi); Hungary (Nyitott Konyumuhely); Japan (Bungeishunju); Brazil (Elsevier); and Korea (KPI).

The title will reveal the "evolution, finances and inner tensions" within the organisation, beginning with Domscheit-Berg's first meeting with Assange in 2007. It will also describe the circumstances that led to his withdrawal from Wikileaks in September 2010, including his "disenchantment with the organisation’s lack of transparency, its abandonment of political neutrality, and the increasing concentration of power by Julian Assange".

Domscheit-Berg is to launch a new secret-sharing website called Openleaks.org early next year, The Bookseller reported.