WikiLeaks' Julian Assange has been arrested.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1116327306044354563

The U.S. Justice Department has charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer.

The charge was announced Thursday after Assange was taken into custody in London in connection with a U.S. extradition request, as well as for breaching U.K. bail conditions in 2012.

His lawyer has previously said that Assange planned to fight any U.S. charges against him.

The indictment accuses Assange of assisting Manning, a former U.S. intelligence analyst, in cracking a password that helped Manning infiltrate Pentagon computers.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1116327306044354563

The U.S. Justice Department has charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer.

The charge was announced Thursday after Assange was taken into custody in London in connection with a U.S. extradition request, as well as for breaching U.K. bail conditions in 2012.

His lawyer has previously said that Assange planned to fight any U.S. charges against him.

The indictment accuses Assange of assisting Manning, a former U.S. intelligence analyst, in cracking a password that helped Manning infiltrate Pentagon computers.

Breaking into computers is not included in freedom of the press.

[DrScholl]

Good. I hope he never sees the light of day again. If there is any justice he'll be locked in a dark, solitary cell 24 hours a day and allowed no visitors or phone calls. He needs to pay dearly.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

The reality is that most people on Atlas would consider Assange a hero for the information he released about the US government.  They only hate him because of the information he released about Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

Actually I'd argue that fact the wikileaks happened under a Democratic President might've played a role there. One may imagine how diffrent some reactions back then would've been if it occured when Bush was still in power.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

While I have sympathy in principle for whistleblowing, it is clear that Snowden and Assange were more interested in smearing the US to the benefit of its enemies than in that principle - Wikileaks has repeatedly been found to bury leaks from the Russian government, and they went in hard on trying to discredit the Panama Papers, perhaps the most significant 'leak' of our generation. It will not surprise me at all if it is found that he was a GRU asset from the start.

I wouldn't hastily compare Snowden to Assange. Snowden had revealed a massive, illegal domestic spying operation, something that needed to be revealed in the interest of protecting the rule of law and civil liberties (and attacks on him from the liberal side shows many people's utter hypocrisy).

Assange on the other hand might've been (as you've pointed out yourself) very well rotten from the beginning, and caused great harm to the whistleblowing cause by many of his actions, especially the later ones as Panama Papers and the 2016 election (if he were a true whistleblower, he would've cover the other side as well, instead of effectively aiding them).

[Storebought]

While I have sympathy in principle for whistleblowing, it is clear that Snowden and Assange were more interested in smearing the US to the benefit of its enemies than in that principle - Wikileaks has repeatedly been found to bury leaks from the Russian government, and they went in hard on trying to discredit the Panama Papers, perhaps the most significant 'leak' of our generation. It will not surprise me at all if it is found that he was a GRU asset from the start.

Even beyond the way they target US and its "lackeys" to the near exclusion of every other state actor, the way they treat the leaks themselves is dishonest. They redact their sources and selectively release them, not at once as soon as they receive it, but in dribs and drabs to cause maximum "damage" to their target. That's kompromat, not whistleblowing.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

RIP FF

F

Not the cleanest guy, but what he did was a net good.

[Xeuma]

He lost all credibility in the 2016 election, and even before then he was still a bad guy. Good riddance.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

He lost all credibility in the 2016 election, and even before then he was still a bad guy. Good riddance.

[GP270watch]

Even beyond the way they target US and its "lackeys" to the near exclusion of every other state actor, the way they treat the leaks themselves is dishonest. They redact their sources and selectively release them, not at once as soon as they receive it, but in dribs and drabs to cause maximum "damage" to their target. That's kompromat, not whistleblowing.

 They try to hide behind the laws and traditions that protect journalism without having any of the ethics, balance, or editorial wisdom that members of the press strive to have so they can be considered honest actors. Wikileaks is nothing more than an extension of Russian propaganda.

 

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

A very sad day.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://graphics.reuters.com/US-ASSANGE-INDICTMENT/010091EM21M/Assange%20indictment-1.pdf

USA vs Assange. Indictment.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The reality is that most people on Atlas would consider Assange a hero for the information he released about the US government.  They only hate him because of the information he released about Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

Assange's big crime, his ONLY crime in the minds of most people here, is that he disclosed information that proved beneficial to Donald Trump.

I don't like hackers, so I'm not a fan of Assange.  As for his charges in the UK, we'll see.  But most of the outrage at Assange here is all about the fact that what he did helped Trump.  Let's get real; there's little principled outrage.

I can't speak for others, but I've disliked Assange and Wikileaks since long before the 2016 election and hold other hacker-activists of this century (Snowden, Manning, etc.) in similar low regard.

[PSOL]

Even with his current actions, I still believe he left us in a better state than we were in the dark. Hopefully other whistleblowers follow his steps but don’t fall into the pitfalls.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

According to reports, the DOJ says that Assange will also be charged for unrelated stuff to the Chelsea Manning leak.

VERY INTERESTING!!!

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

[Person Man]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

Would you be OK with you or your child being doxed?

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

Would you be OK with you or your child being doxed?

Depending on if I or he/she committed a real crime.

[Person Man]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

Would you be OK with you or your child being doxed?

Depending on if I or he/she committed a real crime.

What do you mean "commit"?

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

Would you be OK with you or your child being doxed?

Depending on if I or he/she committed a real crime.

What do you mean "commit"?

You know, like actually murdered someone. Not releasing some documents that were vetted for possible harm first.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

He wasn't arrested for releasing the info. He was indicted for the actual hacking. This is not a "freedom of the press" case.

[Xeuma]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

Would you be OK with you or your child being doxed?

Depending on if I or he/she committed a real crime.

What do you mean "commit"?

You know, like actually murdered someone. Not releasing some documents that were vetted for possible harm first.

Except he didn't vet them and put people in a very real danger of harm, y'know, being US operatives in non-friendly countries.

[Person Man]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

He wasn't arrested for releasing the info. He was indicted for the actual hacking. This is not a "freedom of the press" case.

That's where I was trying to get at. There is no constitutional right to commit burglary, espionage, or theft.

Hillary's emails being made public? Ok. Fine. We will deal with that separately. It's been seen. Stealing it? That's a crime, not a right.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

He wasn't arrested for releasing the info. He was indicted for the actual hacking. This is not a "freedom of the press" case.

Ok, fine. Obama would've thrown the book at him for everything so it's probably good it's Trump's admin doing this.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Another reason the left has lost me: This shows the rise of actual fascism when people are arrested for releasing facts.  You want to talk about freedom of the press?  Well, here it was.

He wasn't arrested for releasing the info. He was indicted for the actual hacking. This is not a "freedom of the press" case.

That's where I was trying to get at. There is no constitutional right to commit burglary, espionage, or theft.

Hillary's emails being made public? Ok. Fine. We will deal with that separately. It's been seen. Stealing it? That's a crime, not a right.

Keeping secrets about spying on people is not good either, so I'm going to err on the side of people like Assange and Snowden.  That's the problem with politics in the left: they see things in black/white just like race.  The Democrats good, Orange man bad. Republicans bad.

None of these characters are clean. But some try to do more good than others.