Wikileaks offers $100,000 bounty for the secret chapters of Obama's landmark Pacific trade deal

Advertisement

Advertisement
Julian Assange

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Wikileaks is trying a new incentive to encourage whistleblowers to come forward: money.

On Tuesday, Wikileaks announced that it is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone with the 26 still-secret chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a controversial trade deal negotiated behind closed doors between the US and eleven Pacific nations.

"The transparency clock has run out on the TPP. No more secrecy. No more excuses. Let's open the TPP once and for all," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement.

In a rare twist, Democrats have opposed the Obama administration's push to get TPP passed in Congress. Democrats say it doesn't offer enough protections against abuse by large multinational companies, and could result in US job losses.

Supporters disagree, claiming that the agreement will open up trade and help the US and its allies blunt economic competition from China.  

Advertisement

Despite security measures designed to keep TPP under wraps, over the past several years, Wikileaks has managed to get its hands on several draft chapters that detail the intellectual property rights and proposed environmental rules. 

There's one slight problem with Wikileaks' current offering: the group doesn't exactly have the bounty yetBy Tuesday afternoon, Wikileaks had raised over $25,000 toward its goal.

As Politico notes, the bounty is part of the group's new strategy to incentivize whistleblowers to come forward by offering them cash. Wikileaks is now allowing donors to donate to rewards for specific documents that donors may be interested in. So far, TPP is the only bounty posted. 

NOW WATCH: These Surveillance Balloons Are The Hot New Way To Spy On People