Meet the Most Dangerous Man in Cyberspace: The American Face of Wikileaks

Article from Rolling Stone Magazine. This article came out Sept 2, 2010 the first time that Wikileaks made headlines.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/17389/238944?RS_show_page=0

Some of this reads like a Grisham novel, except it is not fiction. I backed into some of this story when I read about this guy, Moxie Marlinspike, being detained and ending up on the TSA list for reasons that include having his name on the ceased phone of Jacob Appelbaum (along with other things...)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/hacker-border-search/

It is all an interesting and somewhat scary view to another world while making me question the world that I really live in. Is this information catching the bad guys or controlling those who wish not to give their information?

Tifosi2k2 wrote: It's only a matter of time until Mr. Assange commits suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head four times, then tying his own hands in front of him.........

or the "rape" charges leveled by CIA paid wikileaks staffers AFTER they cheese off the US.

I need to read into the whole wikileaks situation some more but right now it seems like some people got caught making comments about people they didn't like or agree with - like many people do. It just so happens someone recorded that info and now everyone knows about it. Sounds kind of like high school to me. If that is what they want to expose, I bet they have or want dirt on other places too.

I must admit to being confused by the reactions of all those that want to shut down the site or label it a terrorist action -- seems like a First Amendment issue to me.

Since Assange has decided to conduct business off of US soil, the First Amendment does not apply. Not only that, he is an Australian citizen. Dunno just how the Aussies deal with something like this.

He thinks he will change the world by releasing all of this. Yeah, he's changed a couple of things, chief among them is the tightening of computer security big time. I wish him and his buddies good luck taking on the NSA. They will need it.

With this latest release, somewhere along the way there will be something which reveals method and source and I am not referring to his compatriot. This means someone other than Assange is very likely to get killed due to his desire to cause embarassment. At that point, Assange has committed murder. I hope he can live with that knowledge.

He is hell bent on causing trouble for the US. His first time around he at least stuck with traffic dealing with US actions in Afghanistan. Now he has brought other countries into it.

The CIA won't have to lift a finger.

When it happens: good riddance to bad rubbish, as the British say.

So does that mean that we should have the right to view secrets about the country's nuclear program? or what the presidents security detail consists of?

I could go on with examples but the point is that these were classified documents and they were stolen and put out there with the sole intention of discrediting the Unites States.

There is nothing First Amendment about it.

I read both of those links. I love how Rolling Stone wants the reader to feel sorry for this guy. I'm sorry but if you play with fire eventually you will get burned. The second link I felt a little differently - it was more guilt by association. But when it comes down to it he was questioned and sent on his way - I don't exactly consider his rights being infringed upon.

Hasn't he refused to reveal his sources? Seems sort of counterintuitive to a guy preaching total openness.

My only real problem with him, is he's releasing the names of informants in foreign countries, which could be as good as putting them in the grave sometimes. We keep them secret for a reason. I partly agree with him, but I partly think he's just doing it to be a rabble rouser and he likes attention.

I'm inclined to side a little more towards Applebaum than some of the other posters. It seems Assange might have an anti-US bias, but in general the concept seems to have some validity.

When they say off the grid, they mean that literally. Most people couldn't live that way, but a dose of paranoia might be good for us all. I've seen some of the stuff the local govt has done and with some of the hairbrained stunts the present regime has done in the name of change just leaves me worried about when (not if) someone in the govt will decide what's best for us.

Big Brother was a piker!!

We've lost a lot of freedom in the name of "fighting terrorism". I dearly hope that one day the freedom pendulum swings back.

Thank for the articles. Reading them was very informative.

It was my understanding that the Wikkileaks servers were in the US (I thought hosted by Amazon), hence my comment about the First Amendment. And I think it still stands -- a traditional role of the press has been to hold governments, politicians, and government officials accountable for their actions. It stands to reason that websites will do that, too.

Sure the information is classified -- limited to only 3 million or so people who can access it. But I wouldn't want my government to call everything "classifiedf" in order to restrict my access to it, or ability to see it in print. Some things need to be secret, but there is a balance between keeping important secrets, and restricting information for the purposes of restricting information.

Here are some interesting "tools" from Moxie Marlinspike.
Android Phone Apps:
Red Phone, encrypted phone calls from your smart phone.
Text Secure, encrypted text messages from your smart phone.
http://www.whispersys.com/
Are these the tools of privacy or the criminal tools of evasion? Of course, that would sort of be determined by how they are used but could just possessing them get you onto a gov't watch list?

Fear that google knows too much about you? Then here is an answer; http://www.googlesharing.net/

An interesting contradiction that I see is in order to get the most out of an Android phone you have to have a google email address.

Drewsifer wrote: Hasn't he refused to reveal his sources?

That's because he's got people stealing the documents and giving them to him, people on the inside. He's also probably hacking gov't computers.

The defense company I work for sent out an email last week to NEVER visit the wikileaks site from one of our computers due to "concerns about the safety of the web site."

Tifosi2k2 wrote: Messing with Russia is another thing all together - I get the feeling they are prepared to handle this problem with solutions we wouldn't think of doing. Medvedev may be the President, but I'm pretty sure Putin still runs things, and the last thing I would want to do is irritate a guy who goes shark hunting with a cross bow.... in an inflatable rubber boat. It's only a matter of time until Mr. Assange commits suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head four times, then tying his own hands in front of him.........

No gun shots.

The Russians will poison him with a rare radioactive substance.

Big ego wrote:

Tifosi2k2 wrote: It's only a matter of time until Mr. Assange commits suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head four times, then tying his own hands in front of him.........

or the "rape" charges leveled by CIA paid wikileaks staffers AFTER they cheese off the US.

Trumped-up "rape" charges will put someone in a Swedish prison.

Leaking Soviet documents will get someone dead.

Don't mess with Putin and his KGB 'cause you have more to worry about than becoming Sven's playmate for a few years..........

All I can say is that I'm relieved to know that if I ever stumble across some Classified Australian government information I can put in on a website and I'll be safe since I'm an American.

their sheep count?

z31maniac wrote:

Tifosi2k2 wrote: Messing with Russia is another thing all together - I get the feeling they are prepared to handle this problem with solutions we wouldn't think of doing. Medvedev may be the President, but I'm pretty sure Putin still runs things, and the last thing I would want to do is irritate a guy who goes shark hunting with a cross bow.... in an inflatable rubber boat. It's only a matter of time until Mr. Assange commits suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head four times, then tying his own hands in front of him.........

No gun shots. The Russians will poison him with a rare radioactive substance.

Or inject him with a mysterious little ball loaded with poison via an umbrella.

One thing about the Stone article (possibly inadvertently) made Applebaum look like a total scumbag. They mentioned that he wanted to make the Tor software available to anyone without questioning their morality or the uses they plan to put it to. It would be one thing if the software was just tossed out on the Internet and available for everyone to download, but this guy goes and actively trains people in its use. And it sounded like he'd be just as enthusiastic about training a resistance group opposing a totalitarian government and helping the same totalitarian government use Tor to help them steal nuclear weapon secrets.

That comes across as one of two things. One, he could simply be your basic self-centered mercenary. Two, he could be one of those fanatics who have latched on to one particular moral precept of a religion of philosophy and made that his only goal, ignoring the rest of the precepts that should come attached. Like a guy who tries to murder a doctor for performing abortions who has forgotten that the whole reason his religion opposes abortion is that his religion is opposed to murder. That category seems a bit worse in my mind, since at least the mercenary knows he's morally bankrupt.

Either way, a dangerous man.

Matt hit the nail on the head. Applebaum and Assange have decided they know better than anyone what information should be released to the public.

This afternoon, Faux News (threw that in to make iggy happy! ) reported that Assange has threatened to release some other stuff he has held back if the WikiLeaks site is brought down. So he feels blackmail is necessary to accomplish his aims. That indicates that in his view 'the ends justify the means.'

Looks like Assange is a student of Machiavelli.

He seems like an anarchist with the Tor thing. Helping those in power, and also heping those fighting against those in power.

Here is an interesting bit that you are not hearing much about. The San Fran Chronicle and Australian Herald Sun newspapers are reporting more details of the rape charges.

Swedish prosecutors charge that while Mr. Assange did have consentual sex with his two accusers, he allegedly did not use a condom, which, according to The Herald Sun, is against Swedish law. Thus, Swedish authorities are in the process of re-issuing the once-closed arrest warrant for Assange.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=78430
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/swedens-reputation-is-on-trial-in-julian-assange-case/story-e6frfhqf-1225965772832
Photos:
Anna Ardin......Sophia Wilen.......Julian Assange

Did anyone else think that Wally was the Most Dangerous Man in Cyberspace?

Jensenman wrote: Matt hit the nail on the head. Applebaum and Assange have decided they know better than anyone what information should be released to the public. This afternoon, Faux News (threw that in to make iggy happy! ) reported that Assange has threatened to release some other stuff he has held back if the WikiLeaks site is brought down. So he feels blackmail is necessary to accomplish his aims. That indicates that in his view 'the ends justify the means.' Looks like Assange is a student of Machiavelli.

You must have a lot of trust in government.

Most times if you tick off a large powerful government they will employ dirty tricks. Things like accusing you of "enough" rape to put you in jail. Once you're in jail you can be dealt with. Either a convict can kill you, you can be extradited, or you can be sent to black ops prison in some distant portion of the world where the NSA is safe from Congressional oversight. When the government won't protect you, wat do?

You do what Assange has done. Create your own protection.

I'm not supporting Assange or his agenda. I'm just trying to give another viewpoint. Just because the guy is trying to protect himself against people who don't care about his well-being doesn't mean the guy is a monster.

I do find it ironic that most authorities will say "If you're doing nothing wrong, why hide something?" That's their excuse for disregarding your privacy. Now that the government's privacy is non-existent it's a world crisis. Welcome to the life of a private citizen! Hell, if you're doing nothing wrong why worry about hiding stuff?

Xceler8x wrote: I do find it ironic that most authorities will say "If you're doing nothing wrong, why hide something?" That's their excuse for disregarding your privacy. Now that the government's privacy is non-existent it's a world crisis. Welcome to the life of a private citizen! Hell, if you're doing nothing wrong why worry about hiding stuff?

Power does not appreciate it's own hypocrisy or really enjoy irony all that much.

cxhb wrote: He seems like an anarchist with the Tor thing. Helping those in power, and also heping those fighting against those in power.

That's my take on the whole Wikileaks operation too. Seems they want to leak anything damaging to government or business institutions.