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Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

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Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#21

Post by jacobush »

chmod775 wrote: post #6
sixQuarks wrote: post #2

I'm surprised Julian Assange doesn’t have a kill switch in place, where sensitive info which has been held up to this point will be released upon his death or conviction. At least none that we know of.

I'll read that as "[I'd be] surprised if Julian Assange doesn't have a [dead man's switch] in place". And indeed he does. Some time ago Wikileaks/Assange distributed an encrypted insurance file. The torrent is about 90GB: https://file.wikileaks.org/torrent/2016-06-03_insurance.aes2... There was actually multiple versions fo this file, each larger than the previous one. This is the most recent version afaik. It's like…

I wonder if this could backfire. With the "normal" or old guard politicians, this could have been a credible threat. Nobody wanted a scandal. With the new breed, scandals are just life.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#23

Post by dmurray »

plutonorm wrote: post #19
threeseed wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is alleged that Assange coordinated with Chelsea Manning and the Russian government to obtain information for Wikileaks. This would make him an active conspirator in breaking the law. Completely different from Facebook, Google, Twitter etc where they merely provide a platform for others to upload content and aren't actively involved in sourcing illegal content.

Authoritarians emphasise the fact he broke laws, everyone else appreciates the moral act.

It's much more tribal than that. For example, Russian authoritarians are pretty happy with him.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#24

Post by JaimeThompson »

What ever happened to all that banking information that Wikileaks said they would release?

"Wikileaks honcho Julian Assange told Andy Greenberg at Forbes that he was in possession of a trove of documents that "could take down a bank or two." The documents wouldn't necessarily show illegality but they would reveal an "ecosystem of corruption" at one of the biggest banks in the United States. Wikileaks would release it "early next year." "

https://www.cnbc.com/id/42762811

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#25

Post by jpz »

flurdy wrote: post #15

I thought he would be released from remand when the Swedish charges were dropped. And then expected the UK gov to keep him at a psychiatric ward as he seems a little unstable which they could embellish. Did not expect him to still be in Belmarsh.

He is in jail for the offence of jumping bail. That Sweden dropped the charges doesn’t dismiss that offence.

The UK spent 10s of millions on policing costs monitoring abscondment.

It is entirely right that he is serving a sentence as for reasons of deterrence.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#26

Post by grzm »

amelius wrote: post #20
threeseed wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is alleged that Assange coordinated with Chelsea Manning and the Russian government to obtain information for Wikileaks. This would make him an active conspirator in breaking the law. Completely different from Facebook, Google, Twitter etc where they merely provide a platform for others to upload content and aren't actively involved in sourcing illegal content.

If the Russian government wants to leak information, why do they need WikiLeaks? Also, I'm curious, where is the line between investigative journalism and criminal disclosure of information?

> "If the Russian government wants to leak information, why do they need WikiLeaks?"

One doesn't always want to be known as the source of information, for a variety of reasons.

> "Also, I'm curious, where is the line between investigative journalism and criminal disclosure of information?"

Can depend on the jurisdiction and one's own perspective. The "ethical dilemmas" section of this Wikipedia article on ethics in journalism provides a taste:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standard...

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#28

Post by foldr »

amelius wrote: post #20
threeseed wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is alleged that Assange coordinated with Chelsea Manning and the Russian government to obtain information for Wikileaks. This would make him an active conspirator in breaking the law. Completely different from Facebook, Google, Twitter etc where they merely provide a platform for others to upload content and aren't actively involved in sourcing illegal content.

If the Russian government wants to leak information, why do they need WikiLeaks? Also, I'm curious, where is the line between investigative journalism and criminal disclosure of information?

The main issue here is criminal acquisition of information, not disclosure.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#29

Post by m-p-3 »

jacobush wrote: post #21
chmod775 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll read that as "[I'd be] surprised if Julian Assange doesn't have a [dead man's switch] in place". And indeed he does. Some time ago Wikileaks/Assange distributed an encrypted insurance file. The torrent is about 90GB: https://file.wikileaks.org/torrent/2016-06-03_insurance.aes2... There was actually multiple versions fo this file, each larger than the previous one. This is the most recent version afaik. It's like…

I wonder if this could backfire. With the "normal" or old guard politicians, this could have been a credible threat. Nobody wanted a scandal. With the new breed, scandals are just life.

Even worse, they thrive on scandals.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#30

Post by sneak »

nabla9 wrote: post #18
moksly wrote: post #10

Why is the WikiLeaks foundation responsible for the content posted on their platform, when Google and Facebook aren’t? I haven’t really been following this a whole lot, but as I understand it, the US wants him extradited because his platform was used to leak sensible information that put American soldiers in danger. But why is that a thing when it isn’t for other platforms? I mean, twitter, Facebook and YouTube have…

WikiLeaks is journalistic organization. (Some claim that they are shitty journalistic organization, but that is not a good argument for removing their status as journalistic organization) The question you should be asking is why Assange and not journalists in NYT, Guardian etc. who published what Assange provided? The answer is that charges against Assange are not about publishing secret information. Charges are Assa…

He has not yet been put on trial. He must be presumed innocent of all charges until such time that he is.

Torturing even a guilty person is not acceptable. Torturing an innocent one is presumably less so.

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