WikiLeaks

[Derek]

Am I the only one who doesn't find Julian Assange a hero, or find what WikiLeaks has done to be a good thing? The amount of American people I've seen racing to this guy's defense, is disgusting. He broke the law, and not only did he break the law, he leaked highly classified and potentially endangering information. I have no sympathy for him at all, and hope he gets severely punished for what he's done. To me, freedom of speech has nothing to do with this. There's a difference between saying anything you like, and blatantly undermining national security.

Thoughts?

[Luke]

I don't think he's a hero (in fact I think he's a total nutjob) but I've always thought it vital that the general public don't just accept what their government and the media present to them. I'm no conspiracy theorist (much of one anyway) and I'm not in favour of anarchy or any of that nonsense, but I am totally in favour of the public knowing the full picture of what their government is up to and more importantly what they're guiding them into. I think it's in the public's interest to know if their government has turned a blind eye to torturing prisoners of war or just how stable relationships with so-called 'allies' actually are among other things.

[Dean]

All I have to say is it's funny how some of the material has actually got as far as being treated as though it's shocking and controversial. Like, someone thinks Silvio Berlusconi is a dick? NO WAY.

[Derek]

It's not so much the "shock" factor of the leaks that worries me...it's the potential harm it to do to some of our diplomatic relations with these countries, as well as (in the case of the videotaped killing of a civilian in Iraq) the risks it puts soldiers at overseas through that footage getting into the wrong hands. It's just absolutely reckless of this guy and while I'm all for a transparent government, this is not the way to go about it.

[$pvcxGhxztCasey]

these documents shouldn't be hidden from the people that put these mongrels in their high up, cushy positions, though. that doesn't just go for americans, it applies to all countries across the globe. citizens in china need to know that their own government attacked google and stole company secrets and are now monitoring private g-mail accounts of people of special interest.

i don't honestly care about this whole thing one way or another, though. he was arrested in sweden connected to some sex crimes, apparently, but that won't stop the machine that is wikileaks.

like luke said, people shouldn't take what their government says at face value. i'll go a step further and say that people NEED to know this information, international relations be damned. i think it's a sad day in our country when protecting the "security" of our nation and relations with other global powers are more important than our own citizens knowing what our government, and others, are really doing.

it's the deaf and dumb leading the blind and dumb.

[El Muerto]

How can you NOT find Assange a hero? He proved just what hypocrites the American officials are (even thought we all know that). And they just confirmed that by accusing him of some made-up bullshit about rape in Sweden from a couple of years ago. And btw, he's not even accused of an actual rape, in Sweden if you say you'll use condom and you don't use it, it is considered a rape, and that's what he's accused of. Come on, someone has to be really, reaaally stupid to believe that.

I guess Hillary would gladly accuse him of undermining the national security of the US, but unfortunately for her and fortunately for the rest of the world, he's not a US citizen.

He said that if they arrest him, he'll release some serious information that would seriously harm the US diplomatic relations, and honestly, I can't wait to see what he's got.

(in the case of the videotaped killing of a civilian in Iraq) the risks it puts soldiers at overseas through that footage getting into the wrong hands

WTF, they shouldn't be killing the innocent civilians in the first place in a country they have nothing to do with. I don't give a shit what happens to motherfuckers who kill civilians.


edit:

P.S.

At the moment wikileaks is located on this adress: http://213.251.145.96/ since all the other sites have been shut down.
If anyone can donate to the site, please do it.

[Tim]

[Agent O]

How can you NOT find Assange a hero? He proved just what hypocrites the American officials are (even thought we all know that). And they just confirmed that by accusing him of some made-up bullshit about rape in Sweden from a couple of years ago. And btw, he's not even accused of an actual rape, in Sweden if you say you'll use condom and you don't use it is considered a rape, and that's what he's accused of. Come on, someone has to be really, reaaally stupid to believe that.

I guess Hillary would gladly accuse him of undermining the national security of the US, but unfortunately for her and fortunately for the rest of the world, he's not a US citizen.

He said that if they arrest him, he'll release some serious information that would seriously harm the US diplomatic relations, and honestly, I can't wait to see what he's got.




WTF, they shouldn't be killing the innocent civilians in the first place in a country they have nothing to do with. I don't give a shit what happens to motherfuckers who kill civilians.


edit:

P.S.

At the moment wikileaks is located on this adress: http://213.251.145.96/ since all the other sites have been shut down.
If anyone can donate to the site, please do it.

My thoughts exactly.

[Jesse]

Derek, I'm sorry but I just don't understand your approval of a transparent government and then your disapproval of WikiLeaks. You say that you're for it but just not in the way that it's going about right now. But wouldn't a completely honest transparent government give out the exact information that WikiLeaks does? Citizens would still have access to the information they have now, we'd be in "the know" and others would most definitely be as well. I'm not saying it doesn't matter who gives out the information but really in this the who is sort of irrelevant, see, the information if it SHOULD in fact be put out in the first place and if it is NOT put out when it should be, then there is only one way to go about it. Also to say it is illegal is absolutely up for debate. It's a grey area, it's not black and white. There's no "This is definitely wrong" in this I don't think.

As for my own personal opinion if it should be kept shut down, I haven't really decided on one hand I really hate censorship and on the other I really hate for people to be in danger.

[sotrix]

I'm not a fan of how Wikileaks is a collaborative effort by people all over the world and yet Julian gets all the credit in the media.

[Gloomy Mushroom]

Sex charges I understand, treason I don't. There has been calls for him to be trialled in Australia because he is Australian born but I don't think he needs a trial. The person that gave him those classified documents should be done not WikiLeaks. He is a hero for publishing them. By not classifying these documents to the public, the American government in my eyes are more distrustful as ever. I reckon the Freedom of Information Act is in place for a reason and they've denied us, the right to know the truth about military operations etc. I understand that it could fall into the wrong hands, but can't anything be misused and abused?

I'm appalled that our Prime Minister Julia Gilliard supports the American calls to have him persecuted with treason. I thought him being Australian, she would be supportive of the WikiLeaks founder.

[El Muerto]

I'm not a fan of how Wikileaks is a collaborative effort by people all over the world and yet Julian gets all the credit in the media.

Because it's not a collaborative effort. Wikileaks is not like Wikipedia.

[Jeff]

I'm with Derek on this one.
There's a difference between freedom of speech, and potentially harming citizens of multiple countries because someone wants to "stick it to the man" as Assange feels he is doing. These leaks could possibly lead to something extremely dangerous, and I for one would not like to witness World War 3 anytime soon.

[El Muerto]

I'm with Derek on this one.
There's a difference between freedom of speech, and potentially harming citizens of multiple countries because someone wants to "stick it to the man" as Assange feels he is doing. These leaks could possibly lead to something extremely dangerous, and I for one would not like to witness World War 3 anytime soon.

If you don't want war then go on the streets and tell your government to stop the oil plunder they started in the middle east and don't worry about the journalists who are doing their job

[Jeff]

If you don't want war then go on the streets and tell your government to stop the oil plunder they started in the middle east and don't worry about the journalists who are doing their job

Or, we could just prevent sites like Wikileaks from leaking confidential information that could ENDANGER the lives of 100s of millions of people worldwide. There are somethings that are better left kept secret.

[El Muerto]

Or, we could just prevent sites like Wikileaks from leaking confidential information that could ENDANGER the lives of 100s of millions of people worldwide. There are somethings that are better left kept secret.

Or, your government should stop doing and saying things that even now engender the lives of 100s of millions of people worldwide and prevent the need for sites like wikileas. Accept it, the problem is not in Wikileaks, the problem is in your government.

[Jeff]

Or, your government should stop doing and saying things that even now engender the lives of 100s of millions of people worldwide and prevent the need for sites like wikileas. Accept it, the problem is not in Wikileaks, the problem is in your government.

What need for Wikileaks is there? The guy broke the law and you are sitting here praising him.

[El Muerto]

What need for Wikileaks is there? The guy broke the law and you are sitting here praising him.

Why the hell do you care if an Australian citizen broke an American law. I'm pretty sure you broke Serbian laws plenty of times and I'm not asking for your prosecution.

[Jeff]

Why the hell do you care if an Australian citizen broke an American law. I'm pretty sure you broke Serbian laws plenty of times and I'm not asking for your prosecution.

As I said before, the laws that Assange broke could endanger millions of people worldwide. Any Serbian laws I may or may not have broken, aren't going to cause a global conflict that could end up catastrophic.

[El Muerto]

As I said before, the laws that Assange broke could endanger millions of people worldwide. Any Serbian laws I may or may not have broken, aren't going to cause a global conflict that could end up catastrophic.

Oh really? So, why didn't you say anything when Bill Clinton broke the international UN laws and attacked my country or when Bush broke the international UN laws and attacked Afghanistan? Millions of people were endangered in those cases as well, but now that your own ass is on the line you worry about armed conflicts.

And the sad thing is that this will probably lead to new wars, most likely USA attacking some random middle east country to distract its citizens' minds from the Wikileaks affair.