WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Takes Heat At Home
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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange (Wikimedia Commons)
On top of his legal troubles in the U.S., Julian Assange now faces charges in Australia, The Guardian reported Friday.
In its latest publishing of 251,000 unredacted cables this week, WikiLeaks identified a member of ASIO, the country's intelligence service, violating Australia's law against publishing information "which could lead to the identification of an intelligence officer."
The news cable's original media partners—The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais, Der Spiegel and Le Monde—released a denouncement of sorts following this latest deluge of sensitive information.
"We deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted state department cables, which may put sources at risk," it said.
"Our previous dealings with WikiLeaks were on the clear basis that we would only publish cables which had been subjected to a thorough joint editing and clearance process. We will continue to defend our previous collaborative publishing endeavour. We cannot defend the needless publication of the complete data – indeed, we are united in condemning it.
"The decision to publish by Julian Assange was his, and his alone."
Meanwhile, AlterNet.org considered the implications of and reasons behind dwindling trust in government and institutions. Drawing a parallel between Assange and Robin Hood, author Joshua Holland explains that the public's fascination with 'rogue geeks' is not terribly surprising.
Most of us humans are small, but in this interconnected world, these hackers are apparently able to play with large and immovable institutions on a level playing field. WikiLeaks, for better or worse, exposed thousands of state secrets closely guarded by the world's greatest superpower; they've shone a bright light on war crimes and corporate malfeasance.
Comments
Protecting sensitive information is what people are paid to do, if they fail & the public interest in publication outweighs the public interest in protecting the information, then they can do so. Where, as here, a Country (notably Australia) specifically prohibits publication of certain material (regardless of the source of the information), regardless of where it is published (provided only that it is able to be accessed electronically from Australia & it is), needing only to prove that that information "may" assist or help someone from an organisation/foreign government (or has that tendency), then they mean it. The US First Amendment will not help here (it didn't help the Wall St Journal/Barrons), the United States does not "own" or "operate" the internet. With luck he (and everyone who assisted him to publish, fund the publication and to access the information) will be arrested, extradited to Australia (extremely likely given the relationship between Australia and the UK) and prosecuted with deliberately deciding to break the law. The penalty is up to 25 years in a Military run Federal Prison, personally I had no problem with the idiot (and compatriots) until he decided to risk the lives of others for his own benefit. But if he wants to be a crusader, he'll (and those who acted with him) will just have to pay the price, it isn't anyone else's job to "prevent" idiots from digging their own grave. They stole the rope, were told there may be consequences to using it irresponsibly, even warned not to use it, but they've proceeded to hang themselves anyway...
These people are payed by you and me, Barney "Tax Payer." They are supposed to answer to us! If they are exposed, they can change their names, move to another clandestine location or join the witness protection program. Someone in high places dropped the ball AGAIN!!! Do your job thoroughly so this doesn't happen again, incompetent fools!! GO JULES!