Ian--I like these questions. That is, even if you understand what denial of service attack is, it still raises the question of how does one launch one, how easy is it to do so, etc.?

Another good piece on the differences between WikiLeaks and OpenLeaks. This one also emphasizes that distribution of responsibility for vetting documents, checking validity, and making determinations about security breaches, etc. to the publishers. The notion of distributed intelligence and distribute responsibility is a key Web concept that has many manifestations. But this is an interesting and important version of it. "Distributed intelligence" is also one of those concepts that has both social and technological implications. 

A basic and useful article on the differences between Wikileaks and Openaleaks. Chief among them that Openleaks claims to be politically neutral. However, there is also a key technical and functional difference in that Openleaks does not store documents but merely acts as a middleman site between whistleblowers and publishers. 

Interesting brief talk about Internet security and the role of proxy technologies, esp under repressive regimes. Though check out the comments too. Clearly there are downsides and social hazards to proxy technologies too.