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US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

theguardian.com

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Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#161

Post by belorn »

gamblor956 wrote: post #124
belorn wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took a look at the list for Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting and asked myself, how many of those journalists broke the law? The 2019 winner reported on a University of Southern California gynecologist accused of violating hundreds of young women. In order to write the story they went to former USC employees and solicited, among other things, patient confidential information. This is of course a crime by b…

In order to write the story they went to former USC employees and solicited, among other things, patient confidential information. What you have written is libel, and I suggest you remove your comment, since the LA Times has stated exactly how they conducted the investigation. Ryan, Hamilton and a third colleague, Paul Pringle, kept knocking on doors, and over a period of months, they persuaded more than 20 current a…

From the source you linked:

"This story is based on interviews with more than 20 current and former USC employees. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing patient confidentiality laws"

Odd behavior citing patient confidentiality laws if the former USC employees does not think they divulged any information that is covered by patient confidentiality.

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#162

Post by ataturk »

cyphar wrote: post #35

I find it incredible that it took the Guardian 7 years to decide to write this article. EDIT: In fact, it's not even by the Guardian -- it's an opinion piece by an ex-Guardian editor who was (at least implicitly) part of the smear campaign against Julian Assange "back in the day". Let's not forget that the Guardian sent Julian Assange a basket with soap and socks when he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy[1]. What…

[dead]

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#163

Post by icebraining »

levelist_com wrote: post #115
throwaway100773 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your statement makes no sense. There is a lot of information that ought to be exposed, is classified and will cause harm to some people. Exposing secrets almost necessarily will cause harm to somebody. Furthermore you refuse to allow assange to be classified as a journalist on that basis, which is exactly what Glenn greenwald did. So I suppose you would disqualify Glenn greenwald as a journalist as well? If not you’r…

I personally think Glenn Greenwald is piece of shit but that is beside the point. It doesnt matter what I think about whether or not the information in question should be exposed. As a person that has held a security clearance I can tell you this, it isnt for me to decide - That decision was way above my pay grade. I personally believe both Snowden and Manning should be imprisoned for a better part of the rest of the…

That is a fair position. On the other hand, the people above your pay grade making those decisions are also deciding the fate of others. The distinction, of course, is that they have the legal legitimacy that you and I do not have.

But when those decisions go beyond the law, then that legal legitimacy can no longer be claimed, and they are just as egotistical for believing they can see beyond the lawmakers and courts. And unlike in the case of Assange, Snowden and Manning, we know their decisions have cost the lives of civilians, often children.

So as a citizen outside of the whole thing, I can only look at two groups of "maniacs" (to use your term) and be flabbergasted that we're even talking about the bad deeds of those three, let alone of only those three. If they deserve to be imprisoned for a better part of the rest of their lives, what does the other group deserve? Multiple life sentences?

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#164

Post by icebraining »

levelist_com wrote: post #154
icebraining wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> encouraging the theft of classified intel belonging to the US and then publishing it. Actually the order is the opposite: he received intel which had already been stolen - which is legal, see New York Times Co. v. United States - and then encouraged Manning to search for any more stuff, but never received anything more.

>then encouraged Manning to search for any more stuff So, he did in fact encourage the theft of classified info?! Doesnt matter if it didnt produce any results. There was still intent. Secondly, do you think Manning is the first he tried that with? Don't be naive.

I was just clarifying.

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#165

Post by whamlastxmas »

mr_overalls wrote: post #140
whamlastxmas wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where's the proof of this?

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/mar/18...

>The precise nature of WikiLeaks’ relationship to Moscow is not publicly known. A PolitiFact analysis found a documented pattern in which both parties’ interests appeared to align. Elements of the relationship might be clarified in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, though a full accounting of their possible coordination may never be known.

In other words: this is all speculation, there's no evidence of coordination other than it looking like it for people who are already wanting that as their narrative.

We don't know Wikileak's source. Assange has said it wasn't a state actor or Russia and he has a flawless track record for the information he provides. There's not even a real level of reliability in knowing who hacked the DNC or Hillary servers. The servers were never given to law enforcement to look at, and there are details in the story that don't add up to it being an external party that took the data.

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#167

Post by umeshunni »

teachrdan wrote: post #156
umeshunni wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny you mention Appelbaum - he is another person who upset some powerful entities and had a smear campaign against him.

I have never myself heard that narrative about Appelbaum. It seems clear that, while some of the allegations against him were unfounded, others were made by women who publicly identified themselves and their experiences of being sexually harassed or sexually assaulted by Jacob Appelbaum.[0] Is there really a narrative that these women fabricated stories of sexual abuse by Jacob Appelbaum because he upset some powerfu…

See https://www.zeit.de/2016/34/jacob-appelbaum-sexueller-missbr... from the Wikipedia article) and briefly alluded to in the FAQ at http://jacobappelbaum.net/ (- If you're a sexual predator, what better cover story is there than "the FBI is making shit up about me.") and https://archive.is/UX9Jk

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#168

Post by maxheadroom »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #165
mr_overalls wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/mar/18...

>The precise nature of WikiLeaks’ relationship to Moscow is not publicly known. A PolitiFact analysis found a documented pattern in which both parties’ interests appeared to align. Elements of the relationship might be clarified in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, though a full accounting of their possible coordination may never be known. In other words: this is all speculation, there's no evidence of…

>In other words: this is all speculation, there's no evidence of coordination other than it looking like it for people who are already wanting that as their narrative.

It's amazing that people cannot see beyond their own self-righteous indignation enough to discern that this is what's happening.

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#169

Post by darkpuma »

levelist_com wrote: post #158
darkpuma wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there evidence that you are aware of?

Does there need to be? No. An E-3 isn't in the position to know whether it will or won't and its pretty fucking arrogant to assume that risk. Do you know that it saved lives? No you don't. You couldnt, and whether it did or did not, it wasn't Manning's call to make.

That's what I figured. Not all of us are American sycophants, so yes, more than the word and reputation of the American military is needed.

Re: US efforts to jail Assange for espionage are a grave threat to a free media

#170

Post by dang »

levelist_com wrote: post #153
dang wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't take HN threads straight into repetitive flamewar hell. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Fair enough. However, this is the type of sensationalist garbage that shouldn't be allowed here in the first place. How does this article promote intellectual curiosity?

Assange's story has been discussed on HN for many years. Obviously there's intellectual interest in it, but also many sensational articles. This one was downweighted by moderators and flagged by users.

When there's a major ongoing story, we generally penalize articles that don't add significant new information. Otherwise there are too many follow-up and copycat submissions.

https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

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