Wikileaks

[Arius]

Ok, seriously. You guys post all the random news you can find to discuss and this has been going on a week now and no one has thought of discussing it?

Or were topics deleted like the last two years of Wikileaks in the web archive.

Oh, and Assange was arrested.

Thoughts, opinions, sexual attractions?

I can't believe how the US government is handling this. I know it's a huge and public embarrassment that can really fuck with relations, especially with Russia. But they're calling Wikileaks a criminal organization at the same time that they're trying to make laws to make what Wikileaks does illegal.

I was conflicted for about two seconds, but then I figured, Wikileaks is more about exposure. The shady deals, kidnappings of innocent citizens by the CIA, the pressures on foreign nations to make it easier for our government to break international laws, all of it is stuff that the government did, not Wikileaks. So, in my opinion, it's like watching a criminal [the gov'ment] try to press charges against the person who turned them in [Wikileaks] because if the other guy didn't turn them in, no one would know they were a criminal.

I like redheads and brunettes.

[Lord Chrusher]

Even if it was possible to remove all traces of Wikileaks it is still relatively easy to leak and to spread information so things like Wikileaks will continue to occur.

[empath]

Wikileaks isn't the CAUSE of your problems, *.gov, just the symptom - you might wanna follow the advice of Jim Carrey's character from Liar, Liar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbOtyWTRZ_g


ADDENDUM: Oh, and Twitter execs are totally NOT blocking #WikiLeaks from trending, because they said so.

Huh...maybe that's why Tumblr was down for maintenance all weekend? My feed was starting to show people talking about Cablegate and Assange and the shenanigans his 'victims' were engaging in to cover up their shenanigans. Now? It's all "OMG I'm so glad it's back!"

InB4 the brush full of whitewash hits me, too...

[Evil Jim]

For starters, what is Wikileaks & what exactly happened that inspired this thread?

[Mister Fiend]

So Assange has a "poison pill" in case he's killed or kidnapped, huh? Smart move, sir. Nice to see Wikileaks has so many mirror sites, try taking THOSE down, chumps.

[empath]

For starters, what is Wikileaks & what exactly happened that inspired this thread?

Wow; that gov't cover-up over Cablegate has been working really good...unless they just bribed you into amnesia, Jim.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks

[Lyinginbedmon]

Wikileaks hasn't done anything wrong. They've released information which was given to them by someone with access to confidential information.

They're not a seedy research organisation, they're a media outlet. What they're doing is outletting media.

The person or persons that gave them the intel are the criminals.

[DmitriW]

The person or persons that gave them the intel are the criminals.

Though Assange has had sex crime charges against him for months.

[Dutch guy]

Funny story, a dutch public television company (PowNed, Yes, that is the actual name) is hosting a mirror of WikiLeaks since the .NL adres is down atm. Some politicians are up in arms because hosting a mirror of this site "is not within the duty scope of a public tv network". So a tv company who has always claimed to stand for openness is now getting told off for hosting public information.

[DmitriW]

First off, good on that news company for hosting a mirror!

I'm just waiting for similar cables to leak from other nations--get everybody off their high horses. No way America is the only nation whose diplomats talk smack about its allies.

[the_lone_bard]

fuckin good work i say.
personally i despise war and people involved in them. but that's me.
but apart from my opinion, it's nice to see that someone is finally showing people exactly what is happening in the world.
when was the last time you heard the government say "oh hey, we slaughtered some civilians today by mistake, our bad."
you don't, until it shows up on wikileaks and they get caught out and try to sweep it under the rug.
do you really think this war would have gone half as long if wikileaks had been widely known about to the public? you think public opinion would be in favor if everyone knew the truth?
thats just a little of my argument but my game is starting now so yeah... edits later ftw.

[Dutch guy]

Problem is your not really going to find a leaker in some of those other big nations that might be interesting.

A Russian leaking from the Kremlin? That source will disappear within hours. And no-one by that name will have ever worked at the Kremlin, and the family of 8 never lived at that adres. Nobody will have ever heard of him.
Same goes for a Chinese source. Whats left is maybe France (But probably boring), England (Most likely boring... In England), Germany (Certainly boring), etc.

[octopimpostor]

YOU guys are what's wrong with this country. It's confidential fir a reason. They are doing it to protect the well being of our nation. It is completely illegal to host information that has been deemed confidential and top secret. I can't believe how ignorant you people are on thinking how good of a thing it is. It's similar to posting on here your diary or plan of attack, if your playing paintball. It's letting foreign and enemy countries have access to important top secret information. He is tryin to destroy our country. I think he deserves a .44 through the brain.

[Elomin Sha]

If this was being used to bring the enemy to justice that's a good thing. But if it's being used to bring the perceived 'good guys' to justice because they are not like the enemy it is bad and unlawful.

[sdhonda]

WikiLeaks boss living on borrowed time

By EZRA LEVANT, QMI Agency

Last Updated: November 30, 2010 2:00am

Why isn’t Julian Assange dead yet?

Assange says he’s the editor of a website called WikiLeaks. But he’s not really an editor, because WikiLeaks doesn’t do much writing.

It’s a website where secrets are posted to the Internet.

But most of the secrets revealed there aren’t really leaked either. They’re stolen.

When WikiLeaks debuted in January 2007, it promised to shine a light of scrutiny on dictatorships. Many of its early directors were Chinese dissidents.

Its focus would be “oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.” They said their “roots are in dissident communities and our focus is on non-Western authoritarian regimes.”

But then Assange, a computer hacker from Australia, took over.

His obsession is to embarrass the world’s freest countries — the U.S. and U.K. And as to repressive regimes, well, put it this way, Assange says U.S. forces must remember “shooting the Taliban is shooting the Afghan people.”

He’s not anti-war. He’s on the other side.

Assange published the names of Afghan human rights activists and others who have co-operated with the U.S. — giving out names of villages and GPS coordinates.

That’s not journalism. That’s not whistleblowing. That’s setting up “deadly revenge attacks,” says Reporters Without Borders.

Zabihullah Mujahid is grateful. He’s a Taliban spokesman who says “we know how to punish them.”

Assange published details about technology used to stop improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from being detonated. WikiLeaks calls roadside bombs a “rebel investment,” proudly pointing out for every dollar spent by the terrorists, the U.S. and Canada have to spend a thousand to defend against them. So Assange published those anti-IED details online.

This week, Assange started to publish 250,000 U.S. diplomatic messages, many marked secret. The fight against terrorism is being endangered.

Other members of WikiLeaks have complained about Assange’s anti-American obsession. But it’s his show now.

So who is he?

Assange has never been a democracy activist. His parents were travelling entertainers in Australia. When Assange was eight, his mother remarried a member of a cult called “The Family,” infamous for abusing children with psychiatric medication. When that relationship crumbled, Assange’s mother took him into hiding for five years.

She boasts she moved her son 37 times before he was 14.

Assange became a computer hacker and took the nickname Mendax, which means liar in Latin. He was convicted for hacking into Nortel.

His run-ins with the law continue. This month, Interpol issued an arrest warrant against him for rape. Assange claims the sex was consensual. But the Swedish prosecutor says Assange refuses to present himself for interrogation.

Why is Assange still alive? Why is he being treated as a journalist or political activist? If someone had published the intimate details of the D-Day plans during the Second World War, he would never have been seen again.

Assange and his colleagues act like spies, not journalists. WikiLeaks could have its assets seized, just like the Taliban has. And U.S. President Barack Obama could do what he’s doing to the Taliban throughout the world.

He doesn’t sue them or catch them. He kills them. Because it’s war.

Obama has even ordered the assassination of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki.

How does Obama see Assange any differently?

[Metcarfre]

Not only is it (wikileaks) entirely necessary, it (or similar 'leak' sites) are going to be ubiquitous and unavoidable. Maybe it would be better if governments behaved in a manner consistent with their stated values and were forthcoming about information, hmm?

[Lyinginbedmon]

I'm getting a little sick of the whole "war on terror" nonsense.

Terror is a concept, you can't kill it. What you can kill however is the dudes in the Middle East hiding in caves with RPGs and IEDs trying to scare people across the Atlantic.

At some level I'm fairly sure the whole "war on terror" moniker was something Bush thought up to make his war seem more bold and courageous, it's not.

[sdhonda]

I'm getting a little sick of the whole "war on terror" nonsense.

Terror is a concept, you can't kill it. What you can kill however is the dudes in the Middle East hiding in caves with RPGs and IEDs trying to scare people across the Atlantic.

At some level I'm fairly sure the whole "war on terror" moniker was something Bush thought up to make his war seem more bold and courageous, it's not.

No, it was named such because most of the alternative things to name the war, such as "The war on Islam" would be catastraphic. There would likely have been progroms against Muslims in the United states if that happened.

[elvor]

WikiLeaks boss living on borrowed time

Because clearly the best solution is for the US to just 'disappear' those who disagree with it. And censor them, of course. And then criticise China for killing and censoring those who talk back against them...

[Elomin Sha]

The more I read up on Wikileaks and Assange the more I draw parallels with the two GITS Stand Alone Complex series. Excuse me, the fillings in my teeth are receiving a coded message.

[sdhonda]

WikiLeaks boss living on borrowed time

Because clearly the best solution is for the US to just 'disappear' those who disagree with it. And censor them, of course. And then criticise China for killing and censoring those who talk back against them...

Assange is doing more than disagreeing with the United States. He is distributing stolen classified documents en masse while the United States is at war.

Thats not innocent kiddie stuff.

[sdhonda]

The more I read up on Wikileaks and Assange the more I draw parallels with the two GITS Stand Alone Complex series. Excuse me, the fillings in my teeth are receiving a coded message.

You fail are drawing then.

[octopimpostor]

"Ever modest, when asked about the impact the impending “megaleak” may pose, Mr. Assange told Forbes, ” It could take down a bank or two.”"

[elvor]

Because clearly the best solution is for the US to just 'disappear' those who disagree with it. And censor them, of course. And then criticise China for killing and censoring those who talk back against them...

Assange is doing more than disagreeing with the United States. He is distributing stolen classified documents en masse while the United States is at war.

Thats not innocent kiddie stuff.

And therefore all these decidedly illegal suggestions of what to do with him are perfectly justified?

[Lyinginbedmon]

My full feelings on war in general could fill their own thread, but the simplest way to put it briefly is this:

War is wrong no matter how you publicise it.

As for how Wikileaks might affect it, cerrtainly they'll sour international relations some, and aren't helping much on keeping people (on either side) alive, but they haven't broken into classified data storage to get their intel, they've just released it. The same thing would be happening if the originator of the intel had leaked it to the web themselves, we just wouldn't be hanging Assange for it.