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Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

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Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#11

Post by buboard »

darawk wrote: post #6

Of course they were. Julian Assange's explicit mission was to expose US (and other) intelligence secrets. If they weren't spying on him and his visitors they'd be derelict in their most basic of duties. I don't even know why this is a story. I don't mind Assange, and I think the counterpoint he created to state power was good, but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

Which state, the british, the US, or ecuador? Or all three? I get what you 're saying but this doesnt make it normal or ethical.

Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#12

Post by jMyles »

darawk wrote: post #6

Of course they were. Julian Assange's explicit mission was to expose US (and other) intelligence secrets. If they weren't spying on him and his visitors they'd be derelict in their most basic of duties. I don't even know why this is a story. I don't mind Assange, and I think the counterpoint he created to state power was good, but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

> but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

I think that a healthy plurality of us here don't even really believe that the state's existence is just to begin with, much less its proclivity to spy on those seeking to shine light on its indiscretions.

Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#13

Post by ceejayoz »

buboard wrote: post #10
tptacek wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which international laws would you be referring to in this case?

The vienna diplomatic convention according to which the UK should protect the embassy from intrusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Diplomati...

The Vienna Convention isn't super clear on what counts as "intrusion", but I suspect it's generally read as physical intrusion - you don't send people in to raid the place. Spying on embassies has a long, storied history.

Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#14

Post by kick »

darawk wrote: post #6

Of course they were. Julian Assange's explicit mission was to expose US (and other) intelligence secrets. If they weren't spying on him and his visitors they'd be derelict in their most basic of duties. I don't even know why this is a story. I don't mind Assange, and I think the counterpoint he created to state power was good, but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

I think I know a handful of men who'd disagree with you on the idea of the state not taking things (like privacy) that don't belong to them is "ludicrous"...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Actually, if you go through the Declaration of Independence, everything said about King George...basically applies to now. A lot of it directly applies to Assange.

And that's not even getting into the Constitution.

Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#16

Post by dvt »

buboard wrote: post #11
darawk wrote: post #6

Of course they were. Julian Assange's explicit mission was to expose US (and other) intelligence secrets. If they weren't spying on him and his visitors they'd be derelict in their most basic of duties. I don't even know why this is a story. I don't mind Assange, and I think the counterpoint he created to state power was good, but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

Which state, the british, the US, or ecuador? Or all three? I get what you 're saying but this doesnt make it normal or ethical.

Ethical is of course up for debate, but it's certainly normal that an intelligence asset that leaked thousands of pages of classified documents would be surveilled in captivity. It's spycraft 101.

Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#17

Post by tspiteri »

darawk wrote: post #6

Of course they were. Julian Assange's explicit mission was to expose US (and other) intelligence secrets. If they weren't spying on him and his visitors they'd be derelict in their most basic of duties. I don't even know why this is a story. I don't mind Assange, and I think the counterpoint he created to state power was good, but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

Using that reasoning, there was no story when Klaus Fuchs was caught spying on the Manhattan Project for the Soviet Union: Of course the Soviet Union intelligence were spying on the Manhattan Project, if they weren't spying on it they'de be derelict in their most basic of duties.

Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#18

Post by eecc »

darawk wrote: post #6

Of course they were. Julian Assange's explicit mission was to expose US (and other) intelligence secrets. If they weren't spying on him and his visitors they'd be derelict in their most basic of duties. I don't even know why this is a story. I don't mind Assange, and I think the counterpoint he created to state power was good, but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

Uhm, Assange’s mission is to expose abuse by members of powerful organizations, directed at protecting their own positions and covering up abuses with more of the same.

Re: Julian Assange and visitors were spied on by security firm for US intelligence

#20

Post by roywiggins »

buboard wrote: post #11
darawk wrote: post #6

Of course they were. Julian Assange's explicit mission was to expose US (and other) intelligence secrets. If they weren't spying on him and his visitors they'd be derelict in their most basic of duties. I don't even know why this is a story. I don't mind Assange, and I think the counterpoint he created to state power was good, but the idea that the state shouldn't spy on him in turn is ludicrous.

Which state, the british, the US, or ecuador? Or all three? I get what you 're saying but this doesnt make it normal or ethical.

It's extremely normal. Every intelligence agency is trying to bug each others' embassies. There's tape of the Saudis killing Jamal Kashoggi because the Turkish government was routinely bugging the Saudi embassy. We've been bugging each others' embassies since we had electronic surveillance, and before that we were sneaking informants in on the staff.

Ethics is another question.

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