Julian Assange arrested (merged)

Skybird · 12-07-10, 07:15 PM

No matter what you think about him, Assange is no thief or spy, Takeda. He neither ordered nor organised the theft of data (cablegate or any other, American or non-American), nor has he or his subordinates conducted theft, he also did not commit any act of espionage, nor did Wikileaks. He has been approached by people who had according interesting file-sets, no matter how they obtained them. Wikileaks is no news magazine, but they behaved like any jpournaolist: they took the material, checked it as best as they can, even in case of Iraqgate and Cablegate gave the other site the oppportunity to show which names indeed would be in riak of getting killed if they would be released, which compares to a journalist giving the major figure of his research the opportunity to comment by his own views on the issue in question. And again, Wikileaks has cooparated with several newspapers with qualified journalists to scan the material, and Wikileaks has increasded this cooperation both regarding time, and numbers of papers.

If you want to talk abiout the violation of laws, you need to limit it to the people who obtained the original data, this Pr. Manning, for example. But for the reasons you already mentioned in faviour of Wikileaks, I am glad that Manning did what he did, no matter what his motives are.

The US still has not raised any charges against Assange, which makes it somewhat obscure that they demand his extradition, or plan to file in such a request. It is in dohbt that Assange can be held legally responsible for anytyhing regarding Wikileaks. If that would happen, then all newspapers and magazines and journalists would need to fear for their safety and freedom, for their insider reports and occasional revealing articles, or things like Watergate, base on material they get much the same way like Assange got his.

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Wikileaks is now mirrored on around 800 sites, so that it is virtually impossible to silence them via technological means, access-denial-attacks or something like that.

Financially, over the past 12 months Wikileaks has collected four times the money it needs as a minimum to run for one year, and one must assume that the current events and the arrest will make sympoathsiers invest even more in Wikileaks. I think it is illusional that Wikileaks could be financially dried out.

The organisation is operational, and has obviously enough personnel to run it's business. One must assume that the bigger share of their personell is not even known. So: you cannot silence or intimidate them.

The arrest of Assange has already brought him and Wikileaks additonal sympathies and moral support. The longer the legal battle lasts, the more Wikileaks benefits from that. If it is given enough time, they sooner or later will be compoared to the way Putin tries to silence the former head of Yukos oil - bet!?

I have the impression that the political establishement has absolutely zero idea of how to deal with the situation. The rethoric amok runs of some people in the US tells it all. As Jefferson put it so nicely: "When the people fear the government, it's tyranny. When the government fears the people - it's freedom."

12-07-10, 07:15 PM	#11
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,717 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	No matter what you think about him, Assange is no thief or spy, Takeda. He neither ordered nor organised the theft of data (cablegate or any other, American or non-American), nor has he or his subordinates conducted theft, he also did not commit any act of espionage, nor did Wikileaks. He has been approached by people who had according interesting file-sets, no matter how they obtained them. Wikileaks is no news magazine, but they behaved like any jpournaolist: they took the material, checked it as best as they can, even in case of Iraqgate and Cablegate gave the other site the oppportunity to show which names indeed would be in riak of getting killed if they would be released, which compares to a journalist giving the major figure of his research the opportunity to comment by his own views on the issue in question. And again, Wikileaks has cooparated with several newspapers with qualified journalists to scan the material, and Wikileaks has increasded this cooperation both regarding time, and numbers of papers. If you want to talk abiout the violation of laws, you need to limit it to the people who obtained the original data, this Pr. Manning, for example. But for the reasons you already mentioned in faviour of Wikileaks, I am glad that Manning did what he did, no matter what his motives are. The US still has not raised any charges against Assange, which makes it somewhat obscure that they demand his extradition, or plan to file in such a request. It is in dohbt that Assange can be held legally responsible for anytyhing regarding Wikileaks. If that would happen, then all newspapers and magazines and journalists would need to fear for their safety and freedom, for their insider reports and occasional revealing articles, or things like Watergate, base on material they get much the same way like Assange got his. --- Wikileaks is now mirrored on around 800 sites, so that it is virtually impossible to silence them via technological means, access-denial-attacks or something like that. Financially, over the past 12 months Wikileaks has collected four times the money it needs as a minimum to run for one year, and one must assume that the current events and the arrest will make sympoathsiers invest even more in Wikileaks. I think it is illusional that Wikileaks could be financially dried out. The organisation is operational, and has obviously enough personnel to run it's business. One must assume that the bigger share of their personell is not even known. So: you cannot silence or intimidate them. The arrest of Assange has already brought him and Wikileaks additonal sympathies and moral support. The longer the legal battle lasts, the more Wikileaks benefits from that. If it is given enough time, they sooner or later will be compoared to the way Putin tries to silence the former head of Yukos oil - bet!? I have the impression that the political establishement has absolutely zero idea of how to deal with the situation. The rethoric amok runs of some people in the US tells it all. As Jefferson put it so nicely: "When the people fear the government, it's tyranny. When the government fears the people - it's freedom." __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.