Whistleblower site Cryptome began publishing documents in 1996, incurring the wrath of UK and US governments. The archive endures. Young was invited to be the "public face" of Wikileaks at the formation of the venture, but declined. Now Young believes Wikileaks is selling its secrets for commercial gain. Speaking to US talk radio, Young compared Julian Assange to Henry Kissinger, and other "spook insiders" who have turned their insider knowledge into a lucrative sideline.
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From the earliest discussions, Young alleges, Wikileaks intended to pimp out the information for funds.
"Well, it only came up in the topic of raising $5 million the first year. That was the first red flag that I heard about. I thought that they were actually a public interest group up until then, but as soon as I heard that, I know that they were a criminal organisation.
You should take this with somewhat of a grain of salt, as Cryptome is on the highway (freeway?) that leads to the Fever Swamps, with exits at Conspiracy Hollow and Wild Accusation Township. But still, there's a lot of this that rings true about Julian Assange. RTWT.
That said, it's ugly to watch how governments are approaching this. Rather than address the Espionage statutes head on - and risk a trial - they seem to be bringing extra-judicial financial controls (freezing assets so Wikileaks cannot defend themselves) and trumpted-up charges of rape against him. If they can do that to him, they can do that to anybody.
Thanks a lot for that Patriot Act,
5 comments:
The Gubb'mint is doing what's easiest for the prosecutor to pin on him, it's the path of jurisprudential least-resistance.
Isn't it funny that the Gooberment did virtually nothing when the Military reports came out awhile back, but there's Massive Shock and Outrage when the Civilian State Department gets exposed? Why, it's just like someone discovered that Gambling takes place at Rick's!
Ummmmm... speaking of leaks... why is Congress not holding an investigation on WHO was responsible for preventing these leaks in the first place?
Methinks that at sometime, somewhere, out there in government land, there were some low-level IT folks warning the upper level IT folks of the potential for high-volume information theft. The governemnt needs to promote those who warned, and fire those who ignored.
Trumped up charges?
OK without judging the guilt or innocence of the chap:
Thanks to the UK court appearance on the warrant, the charges are now all public and reflect exactly what the rumour-mill circa August-September said he did. You can read the charges on the BBC.
One accusation is that he had unprotected sex with an unconscious sleeping woman. While it is true that the same women had previously consented to protected sex with him, and that in many countries this would make any assault conviction difficult to prosecute, that does not make it OK behaviour.
even more egregious, according to Cyrptome, is that Assange has committed the ultimate libtard sin, stepped across the line to the dark side... and gone captitalist. Selling to the highest bidder. the harrah! (where is that shocked face smilie?)
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