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WikiLeaks: Ecuador Cut Off Assange's Internet Access (bbc.com)
Following a report from WikiLeaks claiming that its co-founder's internet service was intentionally cut off by a state actor, the anti-secrecy organization released a statement confirming the state actor was Ecuador. WikiLeaks tweeted: "We can confirm Ecuador cut off Assange's internet access Saturday, 5pm GMT, shortly after publication of Clinton's Goldman Sachs speechs." BBC reports: There was no way to immediately verify if he had been knocked offline, and if so, what was Ecuador's motivation. The anti-secrecy organization did not return calls and emails on Monday, though it said in a tweet: "We have activated the appropriate contingency plans." A woman who picked up the phone at the Ecuadorean embassy said: "I cannot disclose any information." The Wikileaks claim follows the latest emails it disclosed from a hack of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails. It released three transcripts on Saturday of Mrs Clinton's paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, which her campaign had long refused to release. The scrips reveal her bantering relationship with the investment bank's executives, which is unlikely to allay fears among liberal Democrats that she is too cosy with Wall Street.
The very idea that he has a "dead-man's switch" to me blows any and all credibility he has as some kind of freedom fighter for the people's right to information. If he has information he isn't releasing, he's just as bad as the government he rails against...he's just replacing a government that thinks you shouldn't know X, Y, and Z with an A** holed up in an embassy who thinks you shouldn't know it. Every time he delays releasing something until a given date, it just makes him appear like another guy with a political agenda hiding behind a banner of righteousness. If the issue was ever really about getting all information out there, he would have put it all out there already. And don't give me the "he hasn't released things that he realizes will cause real harm or damage to innocent people because he really cares about those people." He already has released things that had no political or informative value but which nevertheless exposed private and personal information about plenty of folks.