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Julian Assange's Unauthorized Autobiography

Posted by samzenpus on from the unleash-the-biography dept.

macwhizkid writes "After signing a major book deal for his autobiography, Julian Assange backed out (allegedly worrying about self-incrimination) but failed to return his £500,000 advance payment. The publisher is understandably unhappy with this outcome, and intends to publish the 'world's first unauthorized autobiography' from an early draft Assange submitted. The book will be in stores tomorrow, but I'm still hoping it'll be published early on WikiLeaks..."

2 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. I thought that too, except .... by King_TJ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe the publisher feels they stand to profit more by publishing the now controversial book, based on what they've already got?

    If they sued over breach of contract, sure - they could try to get their money back, but as we all know, court judgments are FAR from a guarantee of getting repaid. With a character like Assange, perhaps they think it's a FAR better bet to take a chance on making money from his rough draft they possess than by counting on the court system to make him cough up the money?

  2. Re:This seems funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If someone backs out on a contract with you, you don't just take what you have and say "oh well, we'll do with what we have." You hit them with breach of contract and get your money back.

    You're aware that you're talking about Julian Assange, right? Spend the next ten minutes trying to work out a scenario wherein someone sics lawyers on him, finds him (that is, gets through the layers of paranoia embedded deep within him to hide his location and activities), hauls his ass back to whatever jurisdiction is needed for legal proceedings, and ultimately manages to get five hundred thousand quid out of him sometime EARLIER than the next twenty-five years (money which, inevitably, has already been spent).

    I'd say this is probably the best idea they have: Threaten to release the draft. If Assange comes out of hiding to protest, nail him and get money back. If he refuses and stays hidden, carry out said threat (which I suppose at that point would be a "promise", more than a "threat"), leading to a marketing campaign as an unofficial biography of the man who wanted to reveal everyone's secrets but wouldn't share any of his own. It's brilliant, really.

    (I only added the "spend the next ten minutes" caveat in there to hopefully stave off you falling into an endless loop and overheating your brain looking for an answer that will simply never decide to exist. Think of it as a short-term memory watchdog circuit for your logic senses.)