Julian Assange: Dangerous and Conceited

JULIAN ASSANGE: Dangerous and Conceited

Julian Assange’s Wikileaks operation to acquire and publish classified information from the United States government, international governments, and private organizations, is a dangerous plea for attention.

Government secrecy is not something I support, but I still think that military officers, diplomats, and government officials should be able to talk to one another without the fear of it reaching the public. War tactics, personal information of military officers and government leaders should not be put out for everyone to see on a website.

Assange knew that his website would cause conflict in the United States as well as in other countries, yet he continued to post the classified information onto the public website. Assange conveniently admitted to The Guardian that classified documents posted by Wikileaks helped to swing the election in Kenya in 2007. Assange does not care about the 1,300 people that were killed, or the 350,000 people who were displaced. All he cares about is taking credit for affecting the result of an international elections.

Thirty-five women and children were burnt beyond recognition at the Kenya Assemblies of God church in Kiambaa. These people are innocent bystanders in Assange’s open government agenda. Assange thought only of himself and his reputation when he decided to post confidential information about the Kenyan government. He thought that an open government was more important, or more popular than the death toll in these revolutionary nations.

The posting of the legal actions involved in the Love Parade incident in Germany was a dangerous publication. The grieving families could look up the names of the police officers working that day. If a person were to take action into their own hands they would be able to find the police officers and hurt them. This creates a dangerous situation for the German police. There were 21 fatalities that day and a great deal of injured people.

Many people give credit to social networking and Internet communication to the recent revolution in Tunisia, however, Julian Assange thinks he deserves credit for starting the revolution in Tunisia. Wikileaks released cables showing Tunisian president Ben Ali’s all ready known corruption. The Tunisian riots are thought to have been started by the suicide of a young man you was banned from selling fruit without a permit, not from leaked information.

Recently, there have been leaks of information about the war in Afghanistan and how the government has been covering up how bad it really is. When a country is at war, there is almost always going to be lies entangled in the information given to the public. This is to not only protect the American public; it is also to protect to the soldiers who are still fighting today. I am not condoning the government for changing statistics, but sometimes the American people cannot handle knowing that innocent people are dying, or that we are fighting a loosing battle. Even with hidden information the American people are going to come up with their own stance on the war. There are going to be causalities, and yes, maybe there are different reasons than helping Afghanistan form a democracy. But, our soldiers need our support and reassurance that they will be coming home. And I believe that the United States government has its own reasons for being there, but that is not going to stop me from supporting the troops who risk their lives for us every day.

Assange and Wikileaks are currently under a criminal investigation. Some people say that he will be charged under the Espionage Act. Julian Assange received stolen information and decided it was his right to dump it on the Internet for everyone to see. Assange sees Wikileaks as a way to keep the government open and transparent, but Wikileaks is an illegitimate organization brought about to bring one man fame.

Assange has even threatened to blackmail government prosecutors by withholding classified information, which he calls a “thermo-nuclear device.” This man is so self obsessed that he thinks he can avoid the law. He thinks that as long as he has more information there is nothing the United States Government can do to him. It is said that he has 250,000 more cables to release, and he plans to release them in the next few months. Assange’s lawyer argues that Assange is simply trying to protect the Wikileaks information, but I see it as a ploy to keep Assange out of prison. He should not be able to hold onto information and then threaten the United States government, one of the most powerful governments in the world. Assange is able to dangle information in front of the government and he is definitely doing this to get attention for Wikileaks and more importantly himself.

In a recent interview Assange spoke about having information about a major American bank. Julian Assange received information about one of the Bank of America executives. Assange has threatened that he could make this executive resign with the information he holds. This is impending blackmail. Assange should not be holding onto confidential information in order to get what he wants. His whole point was to have a transparent government, but now he is taking it further by targeting and attacking specific individuals in private organizations. It seems he has changed paths on his journey to an open government. He recently signed a $1.5 million book deal to publish a memoir. He obviously is in this business for attention, fame and money.

If Wikileaks is allowed to take in stolen information and post it on the Internet, what is going to stop other organizations from posting personal information online? What if there is a disliked employee? Can someone give up email correspondences or private conversations? Assange believes that wrongdoing needs punishment, but people make mistakes everyday and so does the government. There are other ways to deal with secrecy. Assange automatically dismisses the American public because he thinks they are ignorant to the government’s activities. He has no faith in our Democratic system and he thinks he has the right to take things into his own hands. But, posting stolen information on the Internet is not going to stop the government from holding secrets; it is just going to make them better at hiding them.

I think former Foreign Service Office Alex Grossman says it perfectly: “fear of publication will only prevent people from voicing frank and honest opinions, assessments and recommendations.”

If there is a fear of a private dialog getting onto the Internet, people are not going to voice opinions, people are not going to protest, and people are still going to hide their information in a more careful manner. This is not only true for the U.S., but it also true for foreign officials. This simply makes dealing with other countries harder because everyone is on edge about Internet-leaked material.

Some might argue that Assange is a journalist, and that he cannot be prosecuted for being the middleman. But, Wikileaks is not a “journalism outfit.” Wikileaks does not filter their information, and the information comes from illegal sources. The information posted is dangerous. Many organizations have written to Assange to criticize his release of the names of Afghans who helped NATO in their war effort. The names given out became prime targets for Taliban retaliation. His goal is to protect the people from a lying government, yet I feel like some people need protection from him.

If Assange is going to post the information the least he can do is change the names in order to maintain the safety of the people involved.

Assange encourages people to give up confidential information, which in turn results in criminal activity by others but not him. For example, Bradley Manning and Assange communicated through an encrypted Internet conferencing service and Assange coached Manning on what to send to him. Now Manning is facing over 22 criminal charges. Wikileaks promotes burglary, larceny, and robber, yet Assange faces no charges for the posted classified information.

The U.S. Government has pressured many companies and organizations to cut their ties with Wikileaks. However, they are not completely successful. I think there are always going to be people who want an open government, but hopefully they will not create an illegal website to post stolen classified information.

"I am the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier and all the rest," Assange reportedly told a colleague.

In the recent future, I do not see Wikileaks going away. Wikileaks now faces a competitor, which will pan out in the next few months. I think if the U.S. Government wanted to stop him, they would have stopped him by now because now other things are sprouting up. There are Wikileaks copycats and other similar organizations. I think that this will only cause more danger and deception. I do not think anything profoundly good will come of this. The other organizations are people who want to get the attention like Assange. However, I do not think they will get as much money as he did. Assange took it to another level.

Assange should be held accountable for what he did, but I do not see that happening any time soon in the United States.

Every Faucet has a Leak, Every Government has a Wikileak

Julian Assange, Terrorist or Hero? He is the man that changed the world with a single click. A website by the name of Wikileaks is revealing secrets of Governments all around the world. Assange founded Wikileaks and is now one of the most talked about people in the World. With Assanges popularity came danger, he is being tracked down by many agencies who are pursuing him relentlessly. Assange committed no crimes. He is exercising his First Amendment rights as a published and speaking the truth as any other publisher does. But what makes Julian Assange more desirable is how incriminating his publishings are. Assange is the man that is slowly but surely revealing the true colors of our government and other governments around the world. Julian Assange has published many things such as: Afghan War documents, Iraqi War documents and Guantanamo Bay procedures. Assange will end up making the world a better place with his Publishings.

He is a very witty and smart individual as you can see from his interviews. He believes he is doing right and protecting the people. But some people still believe he is harming the People with his information. The people need to know about the world they are living in. The government should not and can not hide secrets from us that will affect our lives. Sure, they can keep the coordinates of the latest spy submarine they just sent out. Giving up the coordinates would compromise the safety of those operating the submarine. Something they cannot lie about is war casualties, why are they trying to hide from us actually how many people died? Assange released a video on actually how many casualties were suffered compared to the amount of casualties that were known to the people. The amount of casualties known to the people was much lower then the actual amount of casualties suffered. This raised suspicion about why they were trying to deceive us. Assange frowns upon deception and lying.

“You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.” -Assange

A marriage is hard enough to keep together with dishonesty and lies. How can u keep a nation together when the government is lying to its people and keeping secrets from them. Let alone keep the world at peace, when no one is telling the truth.

Assange also released a video about an Apache Helicopter Attack. These videos and documents being released are going to change the world. People begin to suspect the morals and ethics of the people in command over seas. The Apache Pilots were snickering and seemed to have no emotion while they were killing the people. They were just looking for any reason to shoot. At one point one of the apache gunners said “come one baby, just pick up a weapon.” He was waiting for the wounded soldier to pick up a gun so he could finish him off.

Another incident in which Assange’s documents changed the world was the information released about the Kenyan Election Massacre. Essentially the wikileaks document swung the election. After the document was released, thirteen hundred people were killed and three hundred and fifty thousand were moved. People say that it was his fault that those people were killed, but he says the people had a right to know that information. The information he gave impacted the world, it caused a different president to be elected. Julian Assange is a very powerful man.

Julian Assange has changed the view of the world on journalism. Journalism originally was never as influential as it has become. Assange has made freedom of speech a weapon, but it is a weapon fighting for the good of the people. Many can not decide whether this is good or bad journalism. Whether you like it or not Assange is changing this world, one publishing at a time. To Jail assange for his journalism would mean, you need to reconsider the publishers of The New York Times and The Guardian. Assange has even worked with the New York Times on some occasions. Obama has been working on Separating Those 2 news papers and Wikileaks but can not seem to find a way.

The Governments are trying anything to stop him. He was in Sweden in December of 2010, and he was accused sexual offense against 2 women. He was jailed and the case was taken to court. The 2 women had made accusations against him only after they knew about each others relationships. Swedish Prosecutor told the jury "These charges against him in Sweden are absurd and were judged absurd.” Julian recently filed an appeal against being taken to sweden to face his sexual offense charges. It seems like these women fabricated these lies, or were payed by someone to fabricate these lies just so they can find a reason to put Assange behind bars. To even try and put an innocent man behind bars because his work is showing the terrible secrets you are hiding from the world is not right. If Julian is jailed, you might as well throw out the first amendment, because they just took that mans freedom of speech. Other publishers will be tentative to publish documents even closely criminalizing as Assanges document. It would not be right and it will leave the civilians in the shadow not knowing about their governments.

Some say Assange has not kept the anonymity of the documents he is being sent. In Bradley Mannings case, he is still being held prisoner at the Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia. Assange calls him a political prisoner. Assange publishes the information that is sent to him. He did not make anyone send it to him. The people who are sending out the documents to him, should be well aware of the risk they are taking. People can not say Julian has no care for other humans but him self, he is obviously doing this for the good of all the people in the world. So to say he does not care would be outrageous. Sure some people will go down during this whole thing but thats the price it is going to take, after all, nothing is free anymore. Assange claims Bradley Manning a hero. In any case Assange says “WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed.

Here is the case the government is bringing against Assange. He has done nothing wrong publishing the documents he gets. But if for some reason Assange had any communications with any of the sources enticing them to send him the information then he can be affiliated with them as another conspirator of the leak. They have been searching previous chat logs between Manning and Assange and have yet to find anything incriminating Assange. But him and Assange used an Encrypted conference room which seems to have all the facts hidden. Another way they could try to convict him would be espionage. But he had never actually leaked any information, he was sent all of the information and publishes it. He can also be charged with treason against the government but if you think about it, He is not publishing information about only one government or place. He is publishing about anything and everything, his information is not biased. This falls under the First Amendment right, which makes virtually Assange untouchable.

Assange will be known as the Man that changed the world with a single click. But he did not only change the world with his exposing of governments secrets. He gave a whole new meaning to the words “ Freedom of speech”. He inspired people to not just stay in the dark. To come out and ask questions, learn about their government, learn about the world they live in. Thousands of people will get new ideas from what Julian has done. To be able to change the world from your house is simply amazing, and this man has done it. The whole world is looking for him, he is always on the run. This is a man using his genius for good, and not only benefitting himself but mostly benefiting the common good of the people. He is unselfish and should be the next person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. We are all lucky to have such brave people in this world willing to put them selves in danger for the truth. Not only is Julian Assange putting him self of the line, but every source that sends him any information is also at the same risk. Any day our government could find out how to track his anonymous sources and shut them down. But until then Julian Assange will keep leaking important secrets about our world and each day we will be learning new things about our world.

Right to Know: Freedom of speech in an electronic era.

If Julian Assange is persecuted for opening the diplomatic channels, every media outlet should be persecuted for the same act. His persecution is wasting taxpayers’ money. I do not think this is ought to be brought up at all. Time and energy are being wasted on the wrong cause.

Assange offered to be persecuted by the Swedish police here in the U.S. and in Sweden. So how did he end up on the chopping block to go to prison? How can all the gold posts be changing all the time and then not supply documents to report or validate their point for even starting a persecution?

Many people have claimed that anything less than executing is too kind of a penalty. That could be true, but it is clear that a failed attempt to persecute Assange would surely be worse than not persecuting him at all. The United States has already been painted as very ineffectual as a result of the leaks; a persecution would definitely not help the United States.

A successful prosecution, on the other hand, would not achieve the desired prevention effect.

Come on United States, face it!

The WikiLeaks copycats are quickly proliferating around the world; there is no way to catch them all. It is just like trying to catch two mice at the same time with a net where only one could fit.

Bottom line, no one can shot down this mass media effect. It is just like trying to close an eggshell that has already been broken.

Also, a conviction would make a martyr of Assange, encouraging fellow American citizens, and others, to test the limits of the constitutional laws in an attempt to stop authorities from moving any further or continuing to press any charges.

Not only that, but we are in an electronic media era, where some people do not even go to the grocery store in order to get their groceries anymore. This trial could particularly cause some damage to American freedom of speech. It would definitely be a challenge to try to make a distinction between what the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the L.A. Times have done in comparison to WikiLeaks or Assange. Many other journalists receive classified information, which they publish on a regular basis, but nowhere are they mentioned when it comes to reporting illicit acts.

Some people say that we must stop journalists from seeking and publishing classified information. Stopping journalists could be a good idea, but that would cause a different type of damage. In pure reality, disclosure of illegal or indiscreet government behaviors would cause national security officials to have to think twice about what they are doing in secret with their current lack of direct oversight.

This reminds me of the issue with drugs. Now, when they are illegal, everyone wants to have them and to be able to do as much as they can with them. But once they become legal or available somewhere, it will be like as though nobody cares anymore.

Diminishing the ability to freely report will definitely diminish a vital form of accountability, in a time and place where it is needed the most in order to bring to light important information that our nation should be aware of.

Wake up government!

Why worry so much about what Assange is doing? The government should focus instead on tightening the security that allowed the leaks in the first place. Although in the current diplomatic environment, this could sometimes be easier said that actually being done.

Nevertheless, many people agree with the above statement, but it is fair to say government officials could be using the opposite strategy. They seem to be making people focus on who Assange is and what should be done in order to persecute him, instead of having people focus on the channels which embarrassed the government so much, and what they are all about.

In my opinion, Assange and Bradley Manning, by publishing thousands of classified documents while committing no crime, have performed a public service. But, predictably, no one is grateful.

It makes sense if you do not think about it. These times that we are going through now represent a generational challenge in the United States, much like the peace movement of the late 1960’s, the Feminist movements in different periods of the 20^th century, and the awakening of environment consciousness that has taken hold in recent years.

Now, for the Internet generation, this is our challenge and this is our time. We support a cause that radical because it has elected to scrutinize the state. The state has asserted its authority by surveillance, monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness. Surely, it was only a matter of time before citizens pushed back and asserted their rights. The legal rights which citizens are hardly given true access to, because of all the regulations that are currently being imposed when it comes to the disclosure of anything “secret”.

This brings me to a stronger point, that it is important to recognize the difference between secrecy and privacy. They are clearly two different things, except for in the eyes of the government. The government wants to make those words synonymous. That being said, I strongly believe individuals, not governments, have the right to privacy. Strong powers must be held accountable, and the weak must be protected. We must believe in transparent power, not in transparent people. It is our duty to educate ourselves about what is surrounding us.

Let’s not be foolish and let the government decide what is best for us. Not only do we have free will, but we also have the right to know. The right to know that other people’s lives should not be controlled by a small group of individuals somewhere in Washington, D.C.

Some people say they would rather not know the truth. It is certainly fine if a person does not want to know the truth, but it certainly not the best of decisions to let someone else tell us what the entire truth is. This is how bullshit ends up being history. There is no transparency.

Assange is reporting the news rather than addressing rallies. Although this is not ordinary news, it ought to be disclosed to all of us who, with ignorance, have accepted every bit of information we thought was true before these alternative channels were publicized.

This is a critical lynch pin, and if the media sources such as twitter and the New York Times can be intimidated, then the rest of the press will surely go along. The government gets it; if you can intimidate whistle-blowers and the press who covers them, then you can suppress the damaging information and go on doing whatever illicit activity it is that you want to hide from the public. Guess what? The government will execute its power and do whatever it takes to make things the way they want them to be.

This is a nation run by the people, not a nation that people are just a part of and have no right to change. As many people may recall this quote: “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

Stay at the front line of the truth

Why is that some officials who have advised us to watch for and report suspicious activity, react so badly when the light is turned on them? According to Assange, it is possible to be a member of a conspiracy without even knowing that you are. In this case, a lot of diplomats actually know that they are part of a conspiracy, but they prefer to think that they are not. When it comes to publishing materials that are of public interest, the protection of private life against the freedom of expression should lie in the contribution the material has to the public interest.

I find it interesting that some diplomats have been implementing the precaution principle when it comes to the environment but are assertive when it comes to the reporting of the confidential materials revealed to the public. Diplomats have come up with hypothetical scenarios in which they claim that somehow, someday those stories might somehow harm someone somewhere.

To tone it down a little bit, in the own words of Assange: "If your objective is to get a rise out of media that are fear-based media," he said, "of course, doing something destructive is always a great way to go. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's right." Later, he added, "I don't really care about what's legal anymore because

there are so many different versions of that. I care about what's right."

Diplomatic silence. This is what covert sources want, but what we need is transparency, integrity and honesty. Interesting how everyone singles out Assange and WikiLeaks, yet do not mention the monstrosities that the United States have been committing, to say nothing of what other powerful organizations have done.

THEREFORE, I have arrived at the conclusion that Assange should not be prosecuted. Many people want him behind bars, but why don’t you think about this?

That which is assertive without evidence can be dismissed without argument.

This is the main reason that it is okay for all of those documents to have been brought to light. I just wish that all of those leaks had been brought up at an earlier point in time. Since if those leaks had existed, something tells me that they would have created a pressure valve for those agents who were terribly worried about what might happen and frustrated by their superiors seeming indifferent to provocative matters.

Why the government should not prosecute Julianne Assange.

Julianne Assange is a man who showed viewers the true color of the American government. Government officials have been trying to find a way to prosecute Julianne Assange and Wiki Links for the massive leak of State Department cables. Julianne Assange’s case should not be sent to trial because it would be a challenge to convict him without violating his first amendment rights. The national governments record of keeping classified information concealed form the general public would also be tainted. His conviction would also diminish a form of accountability from government officials. Taking Assange to trial would cause greater harm to the governments reputation than it would regain their municipal image.

The First Amendment (The Freedom of speech and practice) protects Assange right to speak freely as an American citizen. Assange simply collected disclosed documents and published them, making the documents accessible to the public. Because the information exposed did not depict a United States government fit for positive public relations they immediately struck defensively. Under no circumstance did Assange break any laws. The information published in Assange’s assembly of documents are not considered violations of specific statues that prohibit the disclosure of explicit material. When this issue arose of a statue to prevent this, Bill Clinton vetoed the idea of over classification within the government. He is completely within his right to publish this information. The government officials who are attempting to concoct some sort of crime to convict Assange of committing have no actions to base these claims on. If they want to challenge his exploitations they need to do so without infringing on his right to practice free speech.

For this case to have any chance of standing in front of the courts the facts in the articles would have to put the safety of the United States communities in danger. Assange would be at fault if what he had circulated proposed a threat to the national security of America. Assange has embarrassed the repute of the U.S. government. Attempting to get themselves out of the hot seat they are placing all blame on Assange. The lack of reputable positioning will not uphold in a serous trial. It has been rumored that Julianne Assange edited the information in order to avoid this exact scenario. To protect the safety of his nation, he ensured there was nothing going to be leaked that would break the governments rigidity. Assange has claimed to have had Wiki Links contact the New York times as an intermediary. He wanted the NY Times to contact the White House and have their officers review the disclosed material to guarantee no ones safety was in jeopardy. Unwilling to take responsibility, the Obama Administration did not respond and later the Pentagon denied the report of any meeting ever existing. New York Times editor, Bill Keller has validated Assanges attempts, but still headstrong the US government will not back down from their stance.

Freedom has been the welcome mat to Americas front door since it established itself as its own unit. Prosecuting Julianne Assange would dispose of the concept the government and citizens of the United States base the nations core values on. “Freedom of expression is an internationally-recognized human right that limits the power of the state to prohibit the receipt and publication of information. The burden is on the state to demonstrate that any restriction is both necessary and proportionate, and does not jeopardize the right to freedom of expression itself.” Amnesty International notes. Standing back and allowing this to happen would undue everything that historically sets America apart from all other unions. This would also show hypocrisy to America’s push and support for broad press freedoms in the Middle Eastern disturbance. With the U.S. prosecuting Assange it would ruin our protection of human rights leading to further prosecutions in the future.

If the government were to convict Assange is would most likely be under the Espionage Act approach. The Espionage act is an attempt to interfere with any military operations. The problem with the act is that it is very broad and there has never been a conviction of someone receiving information. He would only be convicted of the act if there was evidence of him encouraging the leak from the PTE Brian Manning. There is no evidence linking Assange to the young soldier. Prosecuting Julianne Assagne under this act would fall through considering he did not break the set circumstances of its outlined laws.

The US government wants to make an example of Assange to prevent any leakers in the future. What the government doesn’t see is that publishing confidential information has made government officials accountable for their action. Some of the information reveals corruption of National Security Officials. Security Officials are accustomed to doing everything in secrecy without any consequence of their behavior. Assange now forces officials to think twice when conducting shady relations, fearing that the act will get out to the public. The prosecution of Assagne will encourage officials to continue to do what they please, even if it is harmful to the nations standards. This will allow slack and confidence that officials will get away with their actions without having to worry about the outcome. The information that was published allows people to see and hold officials accountable for the acts they committed.

Assange should not be convicted because it is a National Security officers duty to ensure that no disclosed information gets out to the public. How could one soldier download so much confidential information and go undetected for so long? It raises the question of who will step to the face of these problems of securing information. The government needs to figure out a better way to oversee downloads and the accesses of different forms of confidential documents. If Assange did check with government officials then why should he be punished? He reached out for his approval by showing them what he was going to publish. They should have confronted him then before this case got out of hand.

The government should work on keeping their documents secure if they are afraid that the leaking of information endangers national security. In the end it was not Assange who hacked confidential information but a soldier. They should keep a better eye on their inside intelligence rather than prosecuting outside source. The government should not be worried about the conviction of Assagne but worried about keeping confidential documents out of the publics eyes. If a young soldier can gain access to so much information and get away with downloading it, then the government should be worried about who gains access to this information. Assange was not a threat to national security but, if the information ends up in the wrong hands it could be potentially dangerous. Instead of blaming people for the leak the officials should just ignore his documents and work on preventing the leaking of future disclosed information.

Julianne Assange will always be remembered as the man who exposed the government of embarrassment through the publishing of confidential documents. The Government should not attempt to try Assagne though. The case is already hard to try without going through the first amendment and the support of media freedom would be seen as hypocrisy. The Documents also have government officials fear of acts of their corruption will get out to the public. Diminishing this fear will diminish a essential form of accountability where it is needed most. The Government is better off ignoring the matter and thinking of away to secure confidential information in the future. Assagne has introduced a dilemma in that will force a movement from the government to ensure something like this will never happen again. Vanity fair says “Assange’s view, is to be a passive conduit for reality, or at least for slivers of reality, with as little intervention as possible—no editing, no contextualizing, no explanations, no thinking, no weighing of one person’s claims against another’s, no regard for consequences”. Julianne Assange believed it was necessary for the people to hear the reality of what goes on within the government. Allowing viewers to evaluate reality themselves. In the end why should the government punish a man who told the truth to Americans without bringing danger to anyone?