To anyone reading this, please note that while some of beloch's points are valid, the analysis of AES and the breakability thereof is not. While it's true that at some point it's likely that AES will be broken, it's also true that at some point our solar system will be destroyed.
OTP is theoretically unbreakable, but that would require a key that is as long as the ciphertext, at which point Mr Assange can just keep the data on the USB stick around his neck.
Yeah, the whole point of distributing huge "insurance" data in an encrypted form is that the key is tiny. It's possible to maybe censor distribution of a 10GB file, at least generally, but it would be exceedingly difficult to prevent distribution of a 128-256 bit key. Literally you could shout it from the rooftops.
Nothing remains sensitive forever. It's likely everything in the "insurance file" would be public and mainly of interest to historians in 50-100 years, even without Assange. Most sensitive information in government ceases to be sensitive once everyone involved in the decision-making process is dead, and almost all of it is only operationally sensitive or for the lifetime of a piece of technology or particular source.
I mean, if we found out incontrovertible proof about the USS Maine or Gulf of Tonkin being engineered casus belli, who would really care?
It may be sensitive, but have you ever tried to put in an FOI request for anything. The entire process is marred by bureaucracy. Wikileaks would have a role to play even if there were no classification system. Don't underestimate how hard it is to get a good historical record :-)
I actually supported Wikileaks (and thank god didn't donate!) back when they were publicizing public-but-not-popular information, like about corporate malfeasance, public government documents, etc. Which is partially why I'm so pissed at Julian Assange for hijacking it into a largely anti-US agenda. ("Collateral Murder" had a really obvious spin when released, which was intentional; if they'd just dropped the video without commentary it would have been much more defensible.) Obviously I'm also against the illegal disclosure of any sensitive or classified government data; the correct recourse for someone like PFC Manning is to bring issues up through the chain of command, and if that fails, to the IG, and failing that, to Congress or the judicial system.
OTP is theoretically unbreakable, but that would require a key that is as long as the ciphertext, at which point Mr Assange can just keep the data on the USB stick around his neck.