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Wikileaks Founder Advised To Avoid American Gov't

eldavojohn writes "Media darling Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has been told by his lawyers to avoid the United States on the grounds that the US military would like to ask him a few questions about his source of the Collateral Murder video. Assange claims to be holding yet more video (of a US attack on a village that allegedly killed 140 civilians in May of 2009), as well as a quarter million sensitive cables relating to the current foreign war operations from the US State Department. Assange surfaced for the cameras in Brussels while speaking about the need for the freedom of information. Can he build a high enough profile to protect himself from danger?"

5 of 632 comments (clear)

  1. Learning more about Wikileaks everyday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While the idea of Wikileaks is still quite popular; with more revelations about Wikileaks, Assange is no longer the media darling with everyone taking a more critical view of the man behind Wikileaks.

    America's oldest whistleblowing website Cryptome which Wikileaks described as a 'venerabe anti secrecy organization' has collated the most details about what happens within Wikileaks. Cryptome has published all of Wikileaks founder Assange's chats over a few years as well as Wikileaks insider details about how they need $55,000 to run servers but as much as $200,000 is used by the men who run Wikileaks for business class travel, hotels etc.

    Read Cryptome to see that despite its idealistic mission, at some level Wikileaks behaves like another secret Government department with a couple of people deciding what is public interest.

  2. Re:The Whistleblowers' Blues by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Or perhaps a bathtub in a motel.

    --
    I hate printers.
  3. Re:I am not very sympathetic and here's why... by slyborg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And you have the information to back up this "often" claim, besides the one example you claim?

    I know a guy who worked for a number of years for Reuters as a communications tech in war zones all over the world, and he never "worked both sides" whatever that means to you but whose life was endangered on a number of occasions. He was paid for it and he accepted the possible consequences. However, he, along with I would suspect are the majority of Reuters employees, did not work for for Hezbollah, and didn't, as you appear to suggest, deserve a couple of 30mm shells for doing his job.

    Since this is the Internet, though, people who disagree with you of course deserve death, I suppose.

  4. Re:Good on him by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Like in Vietnam.. News covered how the Americans were butchers, killing women and children. And how they were unrefined even killing their own officers.

    Yet the truth was that GI's were fragging officers because they would order them to kill the children or the scumbag enemy were forcing women to fight or they would kill their children (Sounds like the current cowards), or put the team in un-necessary danger... Oops 4 grenades went off in Lt. Dan's tent.... He must have been depressed....

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    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  5. Re:The Whistleblowers' Blues by TheCarp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > The reality is that there's a lot of information that doesn't belong in the public domain, and it's in the best interest of the
    > country/corporation/individual to keep secured.

    For an indivudual, or a corporation sure. However, a corporation has share holders and/or trustees. There is no legitimate reason for a "corporation" to withhold information from them. They are the owners, the final deciders.

    With a government, or at least, any organization that I am willing to consider as such in a legitimate fashion, the people are the share holders, we are the board. There is no legitimate reason to hide information from even the lowest of us. We OWN IT. It is OUR SECRET.

    Keeping information (with the VERY narrow exception of individuals personally identifiable information like tax, employment, or social security records) is corruption. plain and simple. Justice Roberts claims the government deserves a lot of "leeway" in "national security" matters. I argue it deserves no leeway at all, ever, in any circumstance.

    The single most important function of government is to provide checks and balances against its own corruption. Even defense should be secondary.

    -Steve

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    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"