The founder of WikiLeaks today revealed he has sent out 100,000 encrypted copies of secret diplomatic cables so they will definitely be released whatever happens to him.
Julian Assange, breaking his silence in an online question and answer session, acknowledged there had been death threats against him and his colleagues because of the damaging leaks.
He told for the first time of the insurance policy he had put in place to ensure that his whistleblowing website will not be silenced, whatever drastic steps may be taken by his enemies.
Mr Assange also hailed the young American soldier suspected of leaking the classified U.S. cables as an 'unparalleled hero'.
The session came as he was still in hiding in Britain. The Australian is wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations but Scotland Yard has yet to arrest him.
'The threats against our lives are a matter of public record. However, we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a superpower,' he said.
All the leaked American diplomatic cables as well as 'significant material from the U.S. and other countries' has been copied to more than 100,000 people in encrypted form, he added.
'If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,' he wrote.
Mr Assange praised U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, 23, without confirming he was the source of the leaks that have deeply embarrassed Washington and its allies.
'For the past four years one of our goals has been to lionise the source(s) who take the real risks in nearly every journalistic disclosure and without whose efforts, journalists would be nothing,' he said.
'If indeed it is the case, as alleged by the Pentagon, that the young soldier - Bradley Manning - is behind some of our recent disclosures, then he is without doubt an unparalleled hero.'
The session was the first time the Australian has spoken in recent days.
It came after Wikileaks was this morning forced to move its website to Switzerland after it was effectively taken off the internet when the U.S firm that 'translates' its address withdrew its services.
The site's U.S. domain name system provider, EveryDNS, said it stopped translating the wikileaks.org name into an address that computers understand after the website was targeted by hackers.
WikiLeaks complained it was being 'killed' and has now moved to a new address based in Switzerland, wikileaks.ch.
The website's move will raise suspicions that the EveryDNS has come under pressure from the U.S. Government to cut ties with the controversial site.
Meanwhile, France has become the first country to contemplate banning Wikileaks.
The country's Industry Minister Eric Besson pledged to 'remove' the whistle-blowing website from people's computers.
In a letter to other officials leaked to journalists Mr Besson wrote: 'I ask you to indicate to me as soon as possible what action can be taken to ensure that this Internet site is no longer hosted in France.
'This situation is not acceptable. France cannot host an Internet site that violates the secrecy of diplomatic relations and endangers people.'
The technical problems involved would clearly be enormous. Many would simply re-route to foreign servers so that they could read the information.
Mr Assange is under intense scrutiny worldwide after WikiLeaks began releasing a selection of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables passed to the whistleblowing website.
The latest batch reveal how the U.S. regarded Gordon Brown as an 'abysmal' Prime Minister and were speculating about possible replacements as early as July 2008.
It was also claimed that British forces were slated as being 'not up to the task' in Afghanistan by the country's president Hamid Karzai.
The accusation sparked indignation among some of those linked to the UK deployment in Helmand, which has swelled to 10,000 troops since it began in 2006.
Today's Q&A was delayed by technical problems, apparently caused by heavy traffic to the website.
Mr Assange praised Manning, who was charged by the U.S. Army in July with mishandling and leaking classified data and putting American national security at risk.
The young soldier has not been charged over the release of the U.S. diplomatic cables, but is suspected of being the source of the latest leaks.
Manning grew up in Oklahoma in the US but moved to live with his mother in Wales when his parents split up in his early teens. He became a pupil at Tasker Milward secondary school in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
The website was offline for six hours after it was dropped by provider EveryDNS. Amazon had already pulled Wikileaks off its servers after coming under intense political pressure.
EveryDNS provides access to some 500,000 websites. It translates domain names - such as www.dailymail.co.uk into an IP (internet protocol) address to direct internet traffic.
To block WikiLeaks, it would have tweaked this process so that the domain name no longer linked to the site. It would then only be accessible by typing a string of numbers into the browser bar.
The firm said: 'Wikileaks.org has become the target of multiple distributed denial of service attacks. These attacks have, and future attacks would, threaten the stability of the EveryDNS.net infrastructure.'
WikiLeaks confirmed the drop on its Twitter account, saying 'WikiLeaks.org domain killed by US everydns.net after claimed mass attacks.'
Mr Assange is still thought to be lying low in the UK. He has apparently been here for two weeks.
Scotland Yard detectives were thought to be preparing to detain the 39-year-old over two claims of rape and sexual assault in Sweden but they refused to comment today.
An extradition warrant is expected to be handed to the Metropolitan Police in the coming days.
Sources told the Mail there should be 'imminent developments' once the papers are in place.
Mr Assange's lawyer Mark Stephens has said any arrest warrant will be challenged in court.
The WikiLeaks founder is suspected of rape, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of unlawful coercion but has not been charged.
He is accused of attacking one woman in Stockholm and then sexually assaulting another woman in the town of Enkoping, 40 miles from the capital.
Police hastily issued a warrant for his arrest over the first assault before even taking formal statements from the alleged victim, but it was dropped within 24 hours when prosecutors said the accusations lacked substance.
The case was then reopened after the woman appealed.
Prosecutors have released no details about the allegations, but copies of the women's police statements have been leaked to Sweden's media.
According to the statements, as revealed by the Mail on Sunday in August, the WikiLeaks founder slept with two women while in Sweden on business.
Mr Assange had flown to Stockholm to speak at a seminar organised by the Social Democratic Party on August 14 last year.
He met Woman A there, who let him stay at her flat. Later, the pair went for dinner before returning and having sex, according to police sources.
A source said: 'When they got back they had sexual relations, but there was a problem with the condom - it had split. She seemed to think that he had done this deliberately but he insisted that it was an accident.'
The next day, Mr Assange met Woman B who had seen him on television and become fascinated so organised to be at the seminar and sat on the front row.
She then loitered outside the building before approaching his entourage and was invited to join a lunch nearby. She and Mr Assange spent the rest of the day together.
They canoodled in a bijou cinema and had a nap side-by-side in a park but Mr Assange was due at a party and had to leave.
They met again at her flat the following Monday and appeared to have had sex. Much of her statement was blacked out except for: 'It felt boring and like an everyday thing.'
One source close to the investigation said the woman had insisted he wear a condom, but the following morning he made love to her without one.
This was the basis for the rape charge but after the event Woman B seemed unruffled enough to go out to buy food for his breakfast and they parted on friendly terms.
Events took a turn only after Woman B rang the office of Woman A, who she had met briefly at the seminar, and they realised they had both been taken in by Mr Assange's charm.
The unprotected sex meant they were scared about disease. It is believed that they both asked him to take a test for STDs and he refused.
Woman B was especially anxious about the possibility of HIV and pregnancy. They later walked into a police station and told their stories.
The claims emerged a few weeks after WikiLeaks sparked a row with the Pentagon by publishing classified war documents and the site claimed it was a smear campaign.
