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Tag: Julian Assange

  • Media Groups Voice Support for Julian Assange

    Media Groups Voice Support for Julian Assange

    Media groups have come out in favor of Julian Assange, urging the US to drop the charges against him.

    Twelve years ago Monday, a collection of media outlets published portions of the 250,000 secret documents Assange gained access to in his role as Director of WikiLeaks. Since then, Assange has been wanted by US authorities and spent years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK before Ecuador revoked his asylum in 2019. Assange was set to be extradited to the US, but his legal team is currently fighting extradition, leaving him in London’s Belmarsh prison.

    According to The Guardian, a group of media outlets are petitioning the US government to drop its charges against Assange. The group includes The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País.

    Below is a copy of the letter in its entirety:

    Publishing is not a crime: The US government should end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets.

    Twelve years ago, on November 28th 2010, our five international media outlets – the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel – published a series of revelations in cooperation with WikiLeaks that made the headlines around the globe.

    “Cablegate”, a set of 251,000 confidential cables from the US state department, disclosed corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale.

    In the words of the New York Times, the documents told “the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money”. Even now in 2022, journalists and historians continue to publish new revelations, using the unique trove of documents.

    For Julian Assange, publisher of WikLeaks, the publication of “Cablegate” and several other related leaks had the most severe consequences. On April 12th 2019, Assange was arrested in London on a US arrest warrant, and has now been held for three and a half years in a high-security British prison usually used for terrorists and members of organised crime groups. He faces extradition to the US and a sentence of up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison.

    This group of editors and publishers, all of whom had worked with Assange, felt the need to publicly criticise his conduct in 2011 when unredacted copies of the cables were released, and some of us are concerned about the allegations in the indictment that he attempted to aid in computer intrusion of a classified database. But we come together now to express our grave concerns about the continued prosecution of Julian Assange for obtaining and publishing classified materials.

    The Obama-Biden administration, in office during the WikiLeaks publication in 2010, refrained from indicting Assange, explaining that they would have had to indict journalists from major news outlets too. Their position placed a premium on press freedom, despite its uncomfortable consequences. Under Donald Trump however, the position changed. The DoJ relied on an old law, the Espionage Act of 1917 (designed to prosecute potential spies during world war one), which has never been used to prosecute a publisher or broadcaster.

    This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s first amendment and the freedom of the press.

    Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists. If that work is criminalised, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker.

    Twelve years after the publication of “Cablegate”, it is time for the US government to end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets.

    Publishing is not a crime.

    The editors and publishers of:

    The New York Times

    The Guardian

    Le Monde

    Der Spiegel

    El País

  • WikiLeaks Blasts Google For Giving FBI Personal Data, Delaying Notification

    Google reportedly delayed by two and a half years disclosure to WikiLeaks that it gave emails and other data from three of its staff to the FBI. This occurred after a federal judge issued a warrant.

    Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who is a lawyer for WikiLeaks, wrote a letter to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, telling him they are “astonished and disturbed that Google waited over two and a half years to notify its subscribers that a search warrant was issued for their records.”

    Read the full letter here.

    The three WikiLeaks staffers are Investigations editor Sarah Harrison, Section Editor Joseph Farrell and senior journalist and spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson. The warrant was related to charges of alleged conspiracy and espionage.

    “Importantly, the warrants reveal for the first time a clear list of the alleged offences the US government is trying to apply in its attempts to build a prosecution against Julian Assange and other WikiLeaks staff. The offences add up to a total of 45 years of imprisonment,” WikiLeaks said in a press release. “The US government is claiming universal jurisdiction to apply the Espionage Act, general Conspiracy statute and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to journalists and publishers – a horrifying precedent for press freedoms around the world. Once an offence is alleged in relation to a journalist or their source, the whole media organisation, by the nature of its work flow, can be targeted as alleged ‘conspiracy’.”

    Here’s what it said specifically about Google:

    WikiLeaks’ legal team has written to Google expressing its dismay that Google failed to notify the warrants’ targets immediately. The failure to notify has prevented the three journalists from “protect[ing] their interests including their rights to privacy, association and freedom from illegal searches”. The “take everything” warrants are unconstitutionally broad and appear to violate the Privacy Protection Act so would have a good chance of being opposed; however, Google handed everything over before that was possible.

    Although Google claims that it was at some stage under a gag order from the US government, there is no indication that Google fought the gag and it is unlikely that the gag just happened to expire the day before Christmas. Similar gags for warrants against WikiLeaks journalists have been successfully fought by Twitter in much shorter time-frames.

    While WikiLeaks journalists, perhaps uniquely, do not use Google services for internal communications or for communicating with sources, the search warrants nonetheless represent a substantial invasion of their personal privacy and freedom. The information handed over to the US government included all email content, metadata, contacts, draft emails, deleted emails and IP addresses connected to the accounts. Google redacted the search warrants before sending them to WikiLeaks staff.

    The Guardian shares comment from Google:

    Google told the Guardian it does not talk about individual cases, to “help protect all our users”. A spokesperson for the company said: “We follow the law like any other company.

    “When we receive a subpoena or court order, we check to see if it meets both the letter and the spirit of the law before complying. And if it doesn’t we can object or ask that the request is narrowed. We have a track record of advocating on behalf of our users.”

    Assange said, “WikiLeaks has out endured everything the Obama administration has thrown at us and we will out endure these latest ‘offences’ too…’I call on president Obama to do the right thing and call off his dogs–for his own sake. President Obama is set to go down in history as the president who brought more bogus ‘espionage’ cases against the press than all previous presidents combined.”

    WikiLeaks also wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. This requests further details on the investigation.

    Image via Google

  • George Clooney is Engaged to Amal Alamuddin

    Hollywood has been waiting for this day for a long, long time!

    George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin are engaged. What??

    Yep, PEOPLE reports that a source confirmed to the magazine that Clooney asked Alamuddin to be his wife.

    “George and Amal are trying to keep things very low-key but they also aren’t really trying to hide this, it doesn’t seem,” said the source. “I think it’s like they want the people they love to know that this is real, that they plan on being together forever.”

    According to the source, the engagement happened “not that long ago, I think.”

    Alamuddin, 36, was spotted with a huge ring on her left hand as she and Clooney, 52, dined at Nobu in Malibu on Thursday night with Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber, long-time friends of Clooney.

    Alamuddin is definitely a change from some of the women Clooney has dated in the past. Her resume is incredible – she studied at Oxford and the New York University School of Law, has represented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his extradition proceedings with Sweden, speaks three languages — French, Arabic and English — and is currently an adviser to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the special envoy to Syria.

    “He’s with someone who is a very accomplished attorney. She isn’t someone who is pursuing a career in acting or entertainment. She’s on his level,” said a source close to the Gravity actor.

    Clooney and Alamuddin were first photographed together in London in October. The two have since been spotted embarking on several romantic, globe-trotting get-aways.

    Image via YouTube

  • Edward Snowden Is Now An Action Figure

    Edward Snowden Is Now An Action Figure

    For some, the epitome of fame is having an action figure made of them. If Edward Snowden feels that way, he’s now officially famous.

    That’s My Face, a company that makes custom action figures based on pop culture icons, has produced a life-like Edward Snowden doll. The doll comes with a 3D printed Snowden head on a standard 12-inch action figure body. He also comes with one of four outfits. The standard outfit is military brown and comes with a gun, because Snowden is obviously a dangerous expat.

    The other outfits (which cost extra) include a casual outfit, an Indiana Jones outfit and a Business Suit outfit. The product pictures show him in a casual outfit with a NSA-branded laptop prop. He’s also joined by a Julian Assange figurine because people think the two are friends or something.

    If you want to get your very own Edward Snowden, he can be yours in the standard military brown outfit for $99. The other outfits range from an extra $25 to an extra $60. If you have your own standard action figure body, you can get just the head for $60.

    Image via ThatsMyFace.com/YouTube

  • TPP Chapter published by WikiLeaks

    WikiLeaks is at it again, publishing secret political documents of largest-ever economic treaty. A controversial chapter of the Trans-pacific partnership negotiations between twelve countries: United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Chile and Peru.

    Nobody is sure of who “leaked” it to undermine the secrecy of this draft, but six hundred corporate advisors have had access to the draft. The public has been deprived from the public because of the agreements nature, and considering its negotiations have been going on since 2008. The information contained could effect American corporations and those in other country’s economies.

    Now that WikiLeaks has published the copy of the agreement, its possible countries involved may have repercussions, including Australians possibly paying more for drugs and medicines, media: (movies, computer games and software), and be placed under surveillance as part of a crackdown, led by US, on internet piracy.

    The leaked chapter of the trade agreement reveals Australia’s position on copyright, patents and other property issues, with a heavy focus on enforcement for, or lack of, internet piracy. It contains information to aid the multinational movie and music industries, to maintain and increase prices, which are both large American exports, and similarly the same information that may hinder software giants and pharmaceutical manufactures.

    All negotiations have been behind closed doors, and even parts of the document American congress hasn’t even read. The parts Congress has had available to read, they were under supervision.

    “The US administration is aggressively pushing the TPP through the US legislative process on the sly,” says Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.

    “If instituted,” Assange continues, “the TPP’s intellectual property regime would trample over individual rights and free expression… If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs.”

    Feel free to read the the 95-page, 30,000-word chapter, on WikiLeaks.

    Image (via) WikiLeaks.

  • Weekend Box Office: The Fifth Estate Fails Miserably

    Nothing changed this past weekend, in regards to the top two spots as Gravity and Captain Phillips both held onto their first and second position.

    Probably the biggest shock / surprise of the weekend was the 8th place finish for the Wikileaks movie, The Fifth Estate. To put this into perspective for you, it debuted with a per-screen average nearly equal to Prisoners, a film in its FIFTH week of release. Another interesting nugget is that Machete Kills has already fallen off, just a week after its release.

    You can peruse the weekend box office numbers below:

    1.) Gravity – $31 M
    2.) Captain Phillips – $17.3 M
    3.) Carrie – $17 M
    4.) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 – $10.1 M
    5.) Escape Plan – $9.8 M
    6.) Prisoners – $2 M
    7.) Enough Said – $1.8 M
    8.) The Fifth Estate – $1.7 M
    9.) Runner Runner – $1.6 M
    10.) Insidious: Chapter 2 – $1.5 M

    This coming weekend we get Ridley Scott and writer Cormac McCarthy’s all-star thriller “The Counselor” as well as “Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa”.

    Are you planning on seeing one of the new releases this coming weekend? Let us know in the comment area below.

    (Lead image via Screen Robot)

  • Julian Assange Discusses Life in Exile

    Julian Assange has once again gained international attention. This time, however, it has less to do with his leaking-abilities and more to do with his cinematic critiquing.

    The Fifth Estate, a movie about the Wikileaks phenomenon and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, has received harsh criticism from Assange. The Wikileaks founder has stated that the film is a “massive propaganda attack,’ and personally accosted Cumberbatch for agreeing to play the role.

    Unfortunately, Assange was not able to accost Cumberbatch face-to-face. Assange is still currently living under asylum at the embassy in Ecuador. Assange has been living in the embassy since 2012. The initial charges which sent Assange underground were those concerning a European Arrest Warrant for questioning in a sexual assault case. The British government wants Assange to be extradited to Sweden to answer the charges, but Assange refuses due to fears that he will then be sent to the US to face charges against him for information leaking. Because Ecuador has no laws in the books concerning the release of information to the masses, Assange was granted asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

    In a recent Skype interview with the Daily Telegraph, Assange discusses his everyday life in the embassy. Since Assange was granted asylum, police have been waiting outside to arrest him if he dare step foot outside. Therefore, Assange has lived every moment of his life for over 1 year in his small office/living space in the embassy: “Of course it’s difficult to wake up for 500 days and see the same walls but on the other hand I am doing good work and I have no time for anything else so it’s a bit counter-productive to trap me here, because what else can I do but work?”

    Assange works in a small, converted office space. The room has a bed, telephone, sun lamp, computer, shower, treadmill, and a small kitchenette. While he is not allowed to leave the embassy due to fear of being arrested, Assange can still receive visitors. The Wikileaks founder has entertained such celebrities as Graham Nash, Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, John Cusack, and the rapper MIA. When not entertaining visitors, Assange passes his time by watching TV shows and movies, such as Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.

    The most recent project to receive Assange’s attention has been raising awareness of the inherent ability of the US to spy on Latin Americans. In an interview with Russia’s RT television, Assange stated, “Ninety-eight percent of Latin American telecommunications to the rest of the world – that means SMS, phone, email etc. – passes through the U.S.”

    Assange added that “U.S. intelligence agencies ‘can easily intercept these communications … and therefore gain understanding of how Latin America is behaving, where it is moving, its economic transfers, the activities of its leaders and major players. That permits the U.S. to predict in some ways the behavior of Latin American leaders and interests, and it also permits them to blackmail. Nearly every significant person in Latin America is blackmailable by the U.S.”

    This news from Assange is not terribly surprising. Recent reports suggested that the NSA was spying on the communications of the presidents of both Mexico and Brazil, prompting the president of Brazil to cancel her trip to the United States. Latin America has responded by proposing “the creation of a communications system to curtail U.S. spying in the region” to the Union of South American Nations.

    In an interview with Reuters, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, Richard Patino, stated “We have decided to begin to work on new Internet communication systems of our countries, of our societies, to avoid continuing being the object and prey of illegal spying that U.S. spying entities have developed against us.”

    Latin America has been the victim of US intervention for multiple decades now. However, a new sense of pride and a burgeoning economy has Latin America seeking greater sovereignty from the United States, a move which the US needs to desperately avoid due to the important trade relations amongst the countries.

    Image via YouTube

  • Wikileaks Leaks Script for ‘Fifth Estate’

    With a tweet, a leak:

    Nearly six days ago, WikiLeaks released what they claimed was a “mature version” of the script for the upcoming Dreamworks film The Fifth Estate, “obtained at a late stage during the principal photography.” They also claim that it compares with the final version of the film as it premiered in Toronto on September 5.

    So, WikiLeaks leaked something else, and the world keeps turning. Where’s the controversy? It goes back to WikiLeaks head guru Julian Assange, who The Guardian reported exchanged a series of emails with actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Assange.

    According to Cumberbatch, Assange sent him “a very considered, thorough, charming and intelligent account of why he thought this was morally wrong for me to be part of something he thought was going to be damaging in real terms – not just to perceptions but to the reality of the outcome for himself.” The WikiLeaks founder also called the film a “massive propaganda attack” on him and his organization.

    Cumberbatch’s reply to Assange said something along the lines of, “Listen, this film is going to explore what you achieved, what brought you to the world’s attention, in a way that I think is nothing but positive. I admit to doing work because I’m a vain actor … yet I’m not acting in a moral vacuum. I have considered this, and whatever happens I want to give as much complexity and understanding of you as I can.”

    The WikiLeaks post included not only the complete script, but an extensive memo detailing problems the film has with handling events, from allegations regarding harm caused by WikiLeaks to the effects the film may have on global perceptions of the organization: “There are very high stakes involved in how WikiLeaks is perceived. This film does not occur in a historical vacuum, but appears in the context of ongoing efforts to bring a criminal prosecution against WikiLeaks and Julian Assange for exposing the activities of the Pentagon and the US State Department. The film also occurs in the context of Pvt. Manning’s upcoming appeal and request for a presidential pardon.”

    The memo went on to recommend that readers not treat the film as an accurate historical account of the WikiLeaks organization or the people who participate in it; it also suggested that the film was one-sided and told its tale with a political agenda that involved portraying Assange as a “cartoon baddie” and an “antisocial megalomaniac.”

    If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, the WikiLeak is here.

    [Image via Wikileaks.org]

  • Edward Snowden Is Now In Russia, Is Seeking Asylum In Ecuador

    Edward Snowden, the man behind a series of leaks that exposed NSA spy programs, is now on the run from the U.S. He was originally lying low in Hong Kong, but now he’s going to try the Wikileaks escape route.

    The Guardian reports that Snowden has hopped on a plane from Hong Kong to Moscow. From there, he’s planning on making his way to Ecuador. You may recall that Ecuador had previously granted asylum to Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange.

    Before he can get to Ecuador, however, Snowden must be approved for asylum by the government. The country’s foreign minister has received his asylum request, and now he’s reportedly in talks with an Ecuadorian diplomat in the Moscow airport. Assange, who is currently living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, is also petitioning the Ecuadorian government on Snowden’s behalf.

    Of course, all of this raises a question – how did Snowden get out of Hong Kong in the first place? The U.S. put in a request to have him returned to the U.S., but that request was denied after it was found that the U.S. “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.”

    To add insult to injury, Hong Kong officials did not notify the U.S. that Snowden had left the city for Moscow until five hours after. The reason? Snowden leaked that the U.S. government regularly hacks computer systems in Hong Kong. In its statement, the Hong Kong government says that it has requested “clarification on reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies.”

    So, where does all of this leave us? Snowden will be holed up inside a Moscow airport for a while until he can figure out a way to leave the country. That’s going to be problematic as his passport was revoked and he does not have a Russian visa. The Russian government may intervene on his behalf, however, as it has indicated that it may offer him asylum itself. He may very well be discussing that right now as his plane to Cuba, and then Ecuador, was found to not have him on it.

  • Julian Assange, Eric Schmidt Discuss Censorship, Bitcoin And The Internet In Recently Published Conversation

    Julian Assange, Eric Schmidt Discuss Censorship, Bitcoin And The Internet In Recently Published Conversation

    It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder that’s still hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after the UK approved his extradition to Sweden. During that time, he has entertained a number of guests, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

    WikiLeaks shared a verbatim transcript of a five-hour conversation between Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Julian Assange, Jared Cohen, former Secretary of State advisor to Hillary Clinton, and Lisa Shields, a member of the Council for Foreign Relations. The meeting was arranged so Schmidt and Cohen could speak with Assange about their new book – The New Digital Age.

    A lot of the conversation comes from Assange as he discusses his motivations for starting WikiLeaks. Many people may already know his motivation – to make information free – but his conversation with Schmidt provided a few more details. Assange thinks that the current system of sharing information is broken because it has to go through three or four different channels before it reaches the average citizen. He said that WikiLeaks is “an attempt… at a total system” that collects, curates and disseminates primary sources without any of the self or government mandated censorship that crops up in traditional news publishing.

    Much of the conversation after that is Assange continuing to discuss state and economic censorship, which the latter he claims is the more prevalent of the two. After a bit of that, however, Assange starts to discuss Bitcoin. He voices full support for the digital currency and advises people to jump in early because he assume that its value is going to skyrocket:

    The Bitcoin actually has the balance and incentives right, and that is why it is starting to take off. The different combination of these things. No central nodes. It is all point to point. One does not need to trust any central mint. … The problems with traditional digital currencies on the internet is that you have to trust the mint not to print too much of it. And the incentives for the mint to keep printing are pretty high actually, because you can print free money. That means you need some kind of regulation. … Bitcoin instead has an algorithm where the anyone can create, anyone can be their own mint. They’re basically just searching for collisions with hashes.. A simple way is… they are searching for a sequence of zero bits on the beginning of the thing. And you have to randomly search for, in order to do this. So there is a lot of computational work in order to do this. And each Bitcoin software that is distributed.. That work algorithmically increases as time goes by. So the difficulty in producing Bitcoins becomes harder and harder and harder as time goes by and it is built into the system.

    It should be noted that this conversation took place before recent Bitcoin boom and the subsequent crash.

    Assange also touched upon how the Internet is inspiring revolution today, particularly in countries with oppressive governments:

    The radicalization of internet educated youth. People who are receiving their values from the internet… and then as they find them to be compatible echoing them back. The echo back is now so strong that it drowns the original statements. Completely. The people I’ve dealt with from the 1960s radicals who helped liberate Greece and.. Salazar. They are saying that this moment in time is the most similar to what happened in this period of liberation movements in the 1960s, that they have seen.

    He also says that the Internet is turning the youth of the Western world, who are typically a-political, into political activists thanks to the information they are able to receive on events that they would have otherwise not been exposed to in traditional media.

    You can check out the rest of the transcript here. It’s incredibly fascinating and definitely worth your time.

  • Julian Assange Forms Wikileaks Party, Runs For Australian Senate Seat

    Early last year, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange found that he could technically run for the Australian senate while under house arrest in London. A lot has happened since then, but Assange’s political aspirations have not diminished.

    The Age reports that Julian Assange will be on the ballot for thet Australian Senate in Victoria come election time on September 14. He has been registered under the Wikileaks Party, a newly formed political party comprised of 10 close friends of Assange and pro-Wikileaks activists.

    The newly formed party, according to Assange’s father John Shipton, will be focused on “the democratic requirement of truthfulness from government.” It’s obviously a very Wikileaks-centric platform, but the party has yet to mention how it will use this to appeal to voters who probably have more than just government secrets on the mind.

    So, how does this all work? Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he evades a state mandated extradition to Sweden. The Age explains that Assange is eligible as an overseas elector:

    Australian citizens living overseas can enrol to vote as an overseas elector, and consequently run as a Senate candidate if they left Australia within the past three years and intend to return within six years of their date of departure.

    The rules make Assange eligible to run, but there’s a very real possibility that he would not be able to return to Australia even if he did win. If that turns out to be the case, he will appoint a Wikileaks party nominee to the seat.

    This is a strage, but not unexpected, turn of events. Assange may just be popular enough to win the election in September. If it’s successful, we may just start seeing Wikileaks parties popping up in countries all over the world, especially Europe. The continent has already seen an increase of applications for the alternative Pirate Party, which has already won a number of seats in various levels of government across Europe.

  • Place Your Bets Now On How Julian Assange Will Escape The Ecuadorian Embassy

    Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, is still holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He’s been there since June, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be leaving anytime soon despite being granted political asylum. What if he did leave the embassy though? How would he do it?

    Irish bookie paddypower.com recently set up a betting page for Julian Assange. The site lists the various ways that Assange could escape the embassy and the odds going for each method. Some of the methods, such as a jetpack, are a little ridiculous, but that’s why the odds are set at 100/1.

    Operator of the This Day In Wikileaks blog, M Cetera, has created a pretty awesome gif showing off the more interesting escape plans that Assange could employ to get out of the embassy. My bet is on an official Ecuadorian car, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a dramatic escape via hot air balloon or jetpack.

    Julian Assange bets on escape

    It’s highly unlikely that any of these will actually come to pass. Assange will stay holed up in the embassy until he is allowed to leave for Ecuador. The UK and Sweden aren’t going to let that happen. Ecuador is doing its best to rally other South American countries around Assange’s right to asylum, but much of Europe and the US remain opposed.

    [h/t: Daily Dot]

  • Anonymous To Launch Their Own Wikileaks Competitor

    Anonymous and Wikileaks were the best of buds for the last few years. Members of the hacker collective even risked arrest to obtain emails from Stratfor that were leaked in the GIFiles. That’s why Anonymous wasn’t happy when Wikileaks began to implement aggressive fundraising tactics, including a paywall. In response, Anonymous is creating their own Wikileaks-style site.

    Speaking to The Voice of Russia, a member of Anonymous talks about the future of Wiklleaks and their own approach to the leaking game -TYLER. The representative says that Anonymous has serious concerns in regards to Wikileaks and will publish a paper on what they see as “ethical violations and lack of transparency problems” within the organization.

    Interestingly enough, they see the fate of Wikileaks intrinsically tied to that of Julian Assange. The representative even goes so far as to say that Assange is Wikileaks. Without him, the whole organization would falter. To that end, they are planning TYLER to be there when and if Wikileaks fails.

    So what is TYLER exactly? Anonymous wouldn’t go into much detail, but the representative did say that it won’t be “deployed on a static server.” Instead, TYLER will be “P2P encrypted software, in which every function of a disclosure platform will be handled and shared by everyone who downloads and deploys the software.” It’s their hopes that this system prevents it from ever being shut down.

    The hacker collective plans to launch TYLER on December 21, 2012. Anonymous says they chose the date for the publicity, not because they believe in any end of the world predictions. The launch of TYLER will also coincide with Project Mayhem, a movement that Anonymous hopes will inspire wide spread street protests and the publishing of embarrassing state secrets.

    For now, Wikileaks continues to operate as Julian Assange battles for his right to political asylum. The site would most likely continue to operate even if he were to be extradited to Sweden as well. It will be interesting to see who publishes the better information as Wikileaks is notorious for taking a long time between receiving and publishing information. Anonymous would most likely throw caution to the wind and publish any information that’s seemingly legitimate.

  • Wikileaks Angers Anonymous By Implementing A Paywall

    Wikileaks has always been about the free distribution of information. In every interview and speech, the site’s founder Julian Assange speaks on how important freedom of speech and information is to a democracy. That may be the site’s mission, but Wikileaks is incredibly underfunded. They may have found a way to fix that problem.

    If you went to check out the GIFiles on Wikileaks last night, you would be greeted by this:

    Wikileaks Paywall

    The paywall coincides with a new GIFiles release containing over 200,000 emails from Stratfor regarding Obama, Romney and their respective parties. The emails could garner significant interest from US citizens as we head into the final stretch of the election.

    All of this would be perfectly acceptable if it was just an ad asking for support. People are angry because Wikileak isn’t asking for support, they’re demanding it. The above image is a legitimate paywall that you can’t get behind unless you donate money. One of Wikileaks’ biggest allies wasn’t too happy with it.

    Anonymous, or at least the guy who runs the @YourAnonNews Twitter feed, was livid last night in regards to the paywall.

    The sentiments expressed here were widespread throughout Twitter with many users angry that Wikileaks would force donations. It appears that the anger got through to the Wikileaks staff as they reportedly suspended the paywall. Some people, such as yours truly are still seeing it, but others are getting to the site with no problems.

    In their defense, Wikileaks had this to say about the paywall:

    UPDATE: The paywall appears to have been taken down. Users can now access the GIFiles normally without having to donate.

  • Wikileaks Finds A Friend In Anonymous With #OpFreeAssange

    Wikileaks and Anonymous have been close for quite some time now. Many of the recent leaks that have come out of Wikileaks were obtained by members within Anonymous. With Julian Assange under fire at the Ecuadorian embassy, Anonymous have taken it upon themselves to back him up with their usual tactics.

    Computer World UK is reporting that Anonymous attacked various UK government Web sites with DDoS attacks. It’s called #OpFreeAssange and it’s a protest against the UK’s handling of the Assange situation. After being granted asylum by the government of Ecuador, the UK says that they will still arrest Assange if he steps out of the embassy.

    Anonymous took down the Web sites for the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and the Prime Minister. Like most Anonymous protests, the main goal is to draw attention to the issue. The government isn’t going to give Assange a free ride just because Anonymous hacked a couple of Web sites.

    While the fight is taking place in the UK, it was started in Sweden. Anonymous is hoping to rile up the citizenry of Sweden to demand that the authorities stop their campaign against Assange. They took down the site for Primavi (it’s still down) and defaced it with a message and the YouTube video of Assange’s speech from the embassy.

    As of this writing, the UK sites are all back up and functioning properly. There appears to be a countdown clock pointing to when Anonymous will resume their DDoS attacks, however, so expect the sites to go back down in about 5 hours. Like I said, it won’t do them any good as far as influencing the outcome of all of this. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes out of a meeting of South and Central American countries later this week.

  • Wikileaks Says Assange Will Go To Sweden If Certain Conditions Are Met

    Wikileaks, and its Australian founder Julian Assange, have been under fire for the past two months. He has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy since his bid to stay his extradition to Sweden was denied. It all came to a head late last week when Ecuador granted asylum to Assange and the U.K. threatened to storm the embassy.

    According to Wikileaks, all of this could be avoided if they could just get a simple guarantee from Sweden. A spokesperson for Wikileaks said that Assange would gladly go to Sweden for questioning if they were able to guarantee that Assange wouldn’t be extradited to the United States. He’s wanted in Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual misconduct.

    This particular case is made all the more strange as Ecuadorian government sources revealed that Sweden refuses to question Assange at the embassy. Sweden claims they only want to question him and that can be done anywhere. He’s not been formally convicted of any crime yet so why extradition? Wikileaks will tell you that the U.S. wants to extradite Assange from Sweden to stand trial under the Espionage Act.

    Ecuador’s Foreign Minister claims that they are providing asylum to Assange because the countries that “have a right to protect him have failed him.” It’s assumed that he means Australia and the U.K. as both countries are in support of Assange being extradited to Sweden. It’s made all the more problematic since Assange will not be receiving any aid from his home nation of Australia.

    Regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s still crazy to think that all of this has been caused by a Web site. The Wikileaks debate just proves the power of the Web – for good or for bad. It just so happens that a hacker turned journalist from Australia turned out to be the catalyst. He also tends to further fan the flames whenever he speaks, like yesterday’s speech from the Ecuadorian embassy. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and see if anything comes out of the first international incident caused by a Web site.

  • Julian Assange Demands That The U.S. Stop Persecuting Wikileaks

    It’s official – Julian Assange has been granted asylum by the South American country of Ecuador. Unfortunately for Assange, it’s looks like the U.K. government isn’t going to let him go. He’s been locked up inside the Ecuadorian embassy for almost two months now. The Wikileaks founder made a public appearance yesterday afternoon to address his being granted asylum and what he views as a “witch hunt” against whistleblowers.

    Assange made his speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy because he would be arrested on sight if he were step out of the building. He even referenced as much in the beginning of his prepared speech by saying, “I speak to you from up here, because I cannot be down there.”

    From there, Assange praised his supporters who came out to protest the police presence in front of the embassy on Wednesday night. He claims that the police would have raided the embassy if it wasn’t for his supporters Tweeting and live streaming the events to the world.

    He also praised Ecuador and its president, Rafael Correa, for taking “a stand for justice.” He also praised Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino for upholding “the Ecuadorian constitution and its notion of universal rights.”

    After the numerous thanks were out of the way, Assange directly addressed his situation and the situation of others around the world who are being persecuted for being whistleblowers. He said that a threat against Wikileaks is a threat against “the freedom of expression and the health of all our societies.”

    He also said that this moment is integral for the United States and its continued prosperity. He questioned if the U.S. would “return to and reaffirm the values, the revolutionary values it was founded on” or would the country “lurch off the precipice dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world.”

    At that point, Assange directly addressed President Obama. He demanded that the administration “renounce its witch-hunts against Wikileaks” and “dissolve the FBI investigation.” He demands that the country must also “vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters.”

    He also came out in support of Whistleblowers and said that “the U.S. administration’s war on whistleblowers must end.” He called upon the U.S. government to pardon all the whistleblowers that have been detained during the current administration and that they must be compensated for their troubles.

    Finally, he made a special note to single out Private Bradley Manning who has been in detention for 815 days. He was arrested on charges of leaking confidential military documents to Wikileaks. He said that Manning is “a hero and an example to us all and one of the world’s foremost political prisoners.”

    As of this writing, Assange is still inside the Ecuadorian embassy. It remains to be seen if he will get to leave the country or not. There will be meetings among Latin and South American countries this week on the topic of Assange. For its part, the U.K. is not backing down on its threat to extradite Assange to Sweden.

    We’ll continue following this story and will update if anything happens. For now, here’s the video of Assange’s speech from yesterday:

    [h/t: The Independent]

  • Julian Assange Granted Asylum As UK Police Surround Ecuador Embassy

    We brought you word a few days ago that Julian Assange was to be granted asylum to Ecuador. The country’s president, Rafael Correa, quickly tweeted that the news was fake and that a decision would be made Thursday morning. It’s now Thursday morning and that decision has been made.

    Ecuador has announced that they are granting Julian Assange asylum. They claim that Assange can get in a car and drive to the airport under their protection.

    The news comes after a tough night that had the UK police lined up outside of the Ecuadorian embassy. The UK government claimed that they could invoke a law that would allow them to revoke Ecuador’s embassy status. That would allow the police to raid the embassy and arrest Assange. Ecuador says that no national law can supersede international laws such as the Geneva Convention. The country also said that any such action would be viewed as a “hostile act.”

    As many people on Twitter pointed out, this may be the first time that an International incident was caused over a Web site. Julian Assange was the founder of WikiLeaks, but is wanted in Sweden for questioning over rape charges. Many people saw the extradition to Sweden as just a stepping stone for extradition to the U.S. where Assange would face charges under the Espionage Act.

    As expected, Twitter has exploded with the news. Here’s a few of the choice Tweets:

     

    As the last Tweet points out, safe passage for Assange is going to be the big issue today. There are rumors going around on Twitter that Ecuador has granted Assange not only asylum but citizenship and diplomatic immunity as well. Under international law, the UK government would have to let him go. They’ve already proved that their willing to risk an International incident by threatening Ecuador so who knows what’s going to happen next. We’ll continue to follow the story as it develops.

    [Image Credit]

  • Julian Assange Granted Asylum To Ecuador [Rumor]

    The biggest political event this year isn’t the presidential race or that Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate. The biggest event that could have repercussions for years to come is the Julian Assange extradition case. If the U.S. had their way, Assange would be extradited to Sweden for questioning over an alleged “rape.” It looks like the U.S. isn’t going to get their way though.

    A government official from Ecuador told The Guardian that the country “will grant asylum to Julian Assange.” Assange has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the past two months after his bid to avoid extradition was denied by the Supreme Court.

    We must still classify the news as rumor for now, but President Correa of Ecuador said that he will make an announcement regarding Assange’s asylum bid this week. The president was reportedly looking deeply into the political ramifications of granting asylum to somebody that the U.S. desperately wants to get ahold of.

    According to The Guardian, Assange may not be in the clear even if he’s granted asylum. He’s safe while he’s inside the embassy, but it’s fair game as soon as he steps outside. The police have an outstanding warrant on Assange for violating his bail conditions. It seems unlikely that the police would just let Assange leave the country.

    So what will happen if Assange does make it to Ecuador? He will be protected by their government, as he is now, but it would cause a huge stink among the governments that want a piece of him. It might even be enough to throw the coverage off of the current presidential race in the U.S. to nothing but Assange. The WikiLeaks founder would probably like nothing more.

    UPDATE:

    Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa just Tweeted out that the rumors about Assange being granted asylum are false. He also says that no decision has been made. He’s waiting for a report from his Foreign Minister:

  • WikiLeaks Has Been Down For Nine Days Following Massive DDoS Attack

    WikiLeaks is no stranger to being brought down by DDoS attacks. The Web site has been attacked multiple times, usually after a major leak. This past week has been a little difference because the Web site and all its mirrors have been down for nine days. What did they leak this time that caused such an uproar and who’s behind such a massive attack?

    WikiLeaks says that they’ve been under attack since revealing TrapWire. According to a leak from Stratfor, TrapWire is a massive surveillance system operated by a private security company called Abraxas. Its goal is to collect information from security cameras around the nation and feed them into a central database. For more on TrapWire, check out this lengthy and comprehensive post that cuts through all the conspiracy theories that have popped up since its unveiling.

    WikiLeaks claims that their servers are being attacked by 10 Gbps of bogus traffic per second. If true, this is one of the largest DDoS attacks on record. Having lasted for nine days, it might also be the longest sustained DDoS attack on record.

    A group called AntiLeaks claims responsibility behind the attack. The group claims that Wikileaks is a terrorist organization. The DDoS attack is apparently their way of making sure that the group can’t release any more cables. Here’s a statement from AntiLeaks leader, DietPepsi:

    You can call me DietPepsi. I am the leader of AntiLeaks. We are not doing this to call attention to ourselves. We are young adults, citizens of the United States of America
    and are deeply concerned about the recent developments with Julian Assange and his attempt at aslyum in Ecuador.

    Assange is the head of a new breed of terrorist. We are doing this as a protest against his attempt to escape justice into Ecuador. This would be a catalyst for many more like him to rise up in his place. We will not stop and they will not stop us.

    When asked how long AntiLeaks would keep up its DDoS attack, the group simply said, “Forever.” It’s hard to say how possible that goal really is, but they have kept WikiLeaks down for over a week. Only time will tell if they’ll be able to keep WikiLeaks down for longer than two weeks.

    It’s hard to actually say who is behind AntiLeaks. There are probably many people in the pro-WikiLeaks camp who think it’s somebody within the U.S. government. There also also some who think that this is all just another self-serving media stunt like their fake NY Times editorial.

    Beyond the initial facts, nothing is really clear at the moment. It’s almost like the Internet has enabled a world like the one we see in comic books. I never thought that WikiLeaks would encounter a group called AntiLeaks, let alone do battle with them in cyberspace. Combine this with Trapwire and we have ourselves a great cyberpunk novel.

    We’ll continue watching WikiLeaks over the next few days. It’s only five days until AntiLeaks has kept the WikiLeaks down for two weeks. At that point, I think it would be safe to say that AntiLeaks is a legitimate group.

    [h/t: RT]

  • Jeremy Renner Rumored For Julian Assange Role In Upcoming Wikileaks Film

    There have been few organizations in recent memory that have changed the way we receive news (and few that have stirred up as much controversy) than Wikileaks. Unsurprisingly, there are numerous films in the works that focus on Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange – both on the documentary and drama ends of the spectrum.

    You can add another to the list of rumored Wikileaks movies, as Deadline is reporting that DreamWorks is still in the process of developing their own film.

    And apparently, they’re eyeing Jeremy Renner for the Julian Assange role.

    Renner, of course, burst on the scene with his Oscar-nominated performance as an emotionally scarred bomb technician in the film The Hurt Locker. Recently, you’ve seen him in The Avengers, and you’ll soon see him in the The Bourne Legacy.

    Also attached to the film is Bill Condon, director of Kinsey, Dreamgirls, and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Parts 1 & 2).

    The film would likely be based on at least two book about Wikileaks, WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy, by David Leigh and Luke Harding, and Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World’s Most Dangerous Website, by Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Dreamworks bought the right to those books back in March of 2011.

    You can be sure than any film about Wikileaks will not only tackle the controversial organization, but Julian Assange’s various legal struggles as well. At least, we would hop so.