We should remember, of course, that Assange has not yet specified which major U.S. bank would implicated in an upcoming data release. Nevertheless, rumors have swirled that Bank of America is the target.

The article also raises the possibility that Wikileaks' potential document dump could have come from the U.S. government. The authorities deny this theory:

Officials at the S.E.C., the House oversight committee and the New York attorney general’s office insist the information they received had been turned over in the form of papers and discs, never a hard drive, and deny they are the source of the WikiLeaks cache.

It's an interesting hypothetical to consider -- that government officials, who have for the most part regarded Wikileaks as a dangerous threat, would perhaps deploy secrets to Wikileaks in hopes of bringing down one of thier targets.

In any case, this story indicates that Bank of America is concerned enough about Assange's threat that it's basically playing Whack-a-Mole with its own internal documents. Not a good sign for America's biggest bank.

mtaylor [at] observer.com | @mbrookstaylor