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Wikileaks Source Outed To Stroke Hacker's Own Ego

Posted by Soulskill on from the collateral-jerk dept.

Binary Boy writes "Bradley Manning, the US Army private arrested recently by the Pentagon for providing classified documents — including the widely seen Apache helicopter video — may have been duped by wannabe hacker Adrian Lamo, according to Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com. Lamo told Manning he could provide protection under both journalist shield laws, and the clergy-lay confidentiality tradition, and instead immediately turned him in to authorities in an act of apparent shameless self-promotion." The article also goes into Wired's role in the whole situation, the strange, sometimes sensationalist media coverage, and the odd similarity between this case and proposed scenarios in a US Intelligence report from earlier this year aimed at undermining Wikileaks.

3 of 347 comments (clear)

  1. "Salon" impresses me by spydabyte · · Score: 5, Informative

    Unlike the summary posted above, the article is very unbiased. I'm surprised how sensational slashdot has become on issues like this. This isn't about some hacker wanting street cred, it's about an agent of the government getting a criminal to talk. Salon even stops slander found in other articles that is just journalism upon journalism leads to US Government vs. WikiLeaks, which at this point looks completely ridiculous.

    I for one congratulate Salon for this very well balanced article.

  2. Citation? by twoallbeefpatties · · Score: 5, Informative

    It seems as though this guy didn't leak the data for the public good, but rather because he was angry. He was getting back at people etc, etc. Well that sort of thinking doesn't lead to good decision making.

    TFA has excerpts from the chat in which Manning had told Lamo that he wanted this material out in the public domain to spur debate, that he was having some moral issues with how the military was doing business. What's your source that he was doing this for revenge?

    --
    Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
  3. Re:First rule of breaking the law by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Informative

    Maybe when a stranger at the other end of a keyboard tells you that he is a journalist and priest you should check up on his credentials before you admit to him that you committed a felony?

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.