WikiLeaks founder chooses to blackmail

[discreetgent]

Originally Posted by Can I Play Too???

Also, prob because you're a Canuck, you've never heard of The Freedom of Information Act?

Huh? Freedom of Information provides a mechanism where I can ask the government for information. The government can then respond by providing the documents, providing them with redactions, or stating they are classified and cannot be release. How would FIA apply to these leaks?

[Rudyard K]

Originally Posted by Lauren Summerhill

The allegations that Assange raped and sexual molested one woman and sexually molested and unlawfully coerced another stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex," Stephens said.

C'mon Lauren. I don't know the details here...but a quote from his own lawyer as the basis for what this is about is hardly middle or the road.

The truth is a little harder to come by.

[Sisyphus]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

What a surprise. Thumb your nose at various world governments and they come down on you like a ton of bricks. Imagine that.

Nothing new under the sun. Don't strike the king...unless you strike him dead.

It would seem to be time to find out what's in his neutron bomb...

[TexTushHog]

All these threats of prosecution are highly overblown. He's done nothing at all to endanger the safety of the U.S. or any other country. The most "secret" documents that have been released were accessible to three million individuals. Some secret.

For many other excellent points, see these articles:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/gl...aks/index.html

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/gl...aks/index.html

[terbul]

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

All these threats of prosecution are highly overblown. He's done nothing at all to endanger the safety of the U.S. or any other country. The most "secret" documents that have been released were accessible to three million individuals. Some secret.

For many other excellent points, see these articles:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/gl...aks/index.html

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/gl...aks/index.html

Agreed. Another example of "security theatre"

[WTF]

Evidently in Sweden if you have sex with one lady then have a press confrence , meet another lady, have sex with her, go back to the first lady apt. who is throwing a party for you have sex with her again, then meet up with the second lady have sex again with her, have her buy you a train ticket and then those two talk and find out that you were screwing them both.....well in Sweden they charge you with rape if there at any point a condom was not involved. Remind me to j/o repeatedly before/during should I ever visit that country.



http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/380215/condomgate%3A_assange's_rape_c harges_may_hinge_on_whether_se x_was_unprotected/

''But others say Assange, who denies any wrongdoing and says the sex was consensual, may have just run afoul of Sweden's unusual rape laws, which are considered pro-feminist because of the consideration given issues of consent when it comes to sexual activity -- including even the issue of whether a condom was used.
In fact, the current prosecutor, Marianne Ny, who re-opened the case against Assange, has been active in the proposed reforms of Swedish rape laws that would, if passed, involve an investigation of whether an imbalance in power between two people could void one person's insistence that the sex was consensual''

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by terbul

Agreed. Another example of "security theatre"

I love security theater!

[Guest083011]

Daniel Ellsberg praises WikiLeaks

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=78596

I am not agreeing or disagreeing just offering up a PoV.

[TexTushHog]

An interesting article on some new charges that the DOJ is trying to conjure up. And about the very serious problems with those charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/world/08leak.html

[Mazomaniac]

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

The most "secret" documents that have been released were accessible to three million individuals. Some secret.

Have to completely agree here.

I read through the "high value targets" cable. The only thing it revealed was just how poorly the list was put together. All the talk about "enabling terrorists" and such is just a load of hooey. My cat could identify 90% of the sites on that list - and she'd also know that the other 10% didn't even belong there.

When the US really wants to keep a secret it gets classified far above the "SECRET/NOFORN" category that these cables had and it certainly doesn't get sent out as a mass distribution diplomatic alert. As a friend of mine in the field likes to say "Marking something SECRET just means the NY Times doesn't get it until after lunch."

I have so far not seen anything in any of the Wiki releases that would not have been general knowledge to either foreign governments or high-end think tank specialists in that field. While the stuff may be shocking to the general public it's just not big news to anybody else.

Cheers,
Mazo.

[charlestudor2005]

The government (Emperor in this case) is caught in the unenviable position of having to enforce stupid regulations. You're all amazed, I know.

The given: the information was classified (how high, IDK). There is an EO (don't remember the number, Google it if you are interested) that says no matter how public classified docs become, they are still classified until legally declassified (or is it unclassified?). So, even though you kind find classified docs in the public domain, they are still classified, and anyone involved in putting it out there "violated" the declassification procedure.

Now, what makes this even more ridiculous is that quite a few people who have read the Wikileaks disclosures (I haven't) poo-poo the secret nature of the documents.

So, the government is placed in the position of enforcing the classified documents even though they're not considered "secret" information by many people.

Makes the government look pretty bad. And it should.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by Lauren Summerhill

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that a megalomaniac would commit such an awful act. .

Commit?
You Canadians convict people before any evidence is presented?
Have you even looked at how ridicules the evidence that I have heard about is?

One woman hosted a party in his honor after one alleged rape and another cooked breakfast and bought him a train ticket.

What appears to be going on is to get him to Sweden so the US can get him over here. I really don't understand why the Brits don't turn him over. Not that I think they should but not sure why the US is waiting to get him from Sweden...probably less political fall-out.

In the meantime maybe you Canadians can read on innocent until proven guilty!

Originally Posted by Lauren Summerhill

I think an added charge of treason is appropriate.

Hopefully you now understand that he is not a US citizen.

[Can I Play Too???]

Ty TexasTushHog for ever so eloquently stating what I was trying to say.

In the Freed of Information Act, the burden of proof is on the govt to demonstrate why the data is off limits to the public for 1 of 9 reasons/categories. None of the information was top secret.

'Of the 251,287 documents Wikileaks has obtained, 134,000 are outright unclassified; 102,000 are classified “confidential”; and 15,652 are classified as “secret”. '

[jasmin]

Wag the Dog............

[JahiaraQ]

Did I miss something? Are we not in America ? What happened to that lil piece of paper, you know the one that idiot G.W. Bush wiped his ass with? What was it called ? Oh yeah the constitution & Bill of Rights. Was I misinformed about this in grade school or didnt it cover a thing called freedom of the press? I hope he continues to tell the gvt to fuck themselves. This isnt communist era russia. Its America and whe have rights, no one should be punished for using them.