Wikileaks

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

Anonymous shut down Mastercard with a DDOS attack. They also did it to the bank that froze Assange's account.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

It looks to me like there is a fair amount of embarrassing stuff in the released documents, including the stuff relating to the Scottish release of the Libyan prisoner. Stuff that makes diplomats and government officials cringe, and that provides more ammo for making fun of politicians in general. But has there been anything released that anyone believes will stop the involved governments from doing "bad" things, or that will change anything for the better? I can't think of anything, but maybe someone else more familiar than I am can come up with something.

On the other hand, I can think of some negative consequences likely to flow from this. I suspect that some Arab governments cooperating in the anti-terrorism fight with the U.S. and other western nations may pull back a bit because of some of the disclosures. I also suspect that we may see less "plain talking" between diplomats, and fewer diplomatic messages and inquiries transmitted electronically. More compartmentalization so as to limit the damage of other leaks in the future.

Is this really a good thing?

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

On the other hand, I can think of some negative consequences likely to flow from this. I suspect that some Arab governments cooperating in the anti-terrorism fight with the U.S. and other western nations may pull back a bit because of some of the disclosures.

This is a good thing. The "anti-terrorism fight" is unadulterated evil.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

".... the Official Secrets Act is not to protect secrets, but to protect officials."

-Sir Humphrey Appleby

I have strong suspicion that Wikileaks will end up like Napster. It's too centralized and the powers that be have too strong an interest in shutting it down. Nevertheless, in creating an outlet for whistleblowers to anonymously use with the assurance that what they said won't be buried in a filing cabinet,it created a demand that needs to be filled.

In twenty years, Justin Timberlake will play Julian Assange in a movie about one of his post-Wikileaks projects.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

This is a good thing. The "anti-terrorism fight" is unadulterated evil.

Just out of curiousity, how would you describe terrorism itself? How about those terrorists who deliberately target civilians to maximize casualties, and to impose their religious views and dogma on other people, whether heretics, infidels, or apostates?

[CloudFlare]

<SNIP>

A lot of guys are jerks, but few of them are rapists.

Kobe was a jerk for cheating on his wife, but he didn't rape Katelyn Farber.

The Duke 3 engaged the services of a stripper, but they didn't rape her.

Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the powers that be are ginning up the charges against Assange to get rid of him?

[Arthmail]

Just out of curiousity, how would you describe terrorism itself? How about those terrorists who deliberately target civilians to maximize casualties, and to impose their religious views and dogma on other people, whether heretics, infidels, or apostates?

Is that before or after we invade their countries? Before or after we spend fifty years fucking around behind closed doors messing with the internal politics of another country?

[Lord O' Bones]

Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the powers that be are ginning up the charges against Assange to get rid of him?

I'm sure it never occurred to her. *furious :rolleyes: *

And that wasn't what she was saying besides.

Is that before or after we invade their countries? Before or after we spend fifty years fucking around behind closed doors messing with the internal politics of another country?

Who's 'we'?

[Swordfish]

I'm sure it never occurred to her. *furious :rolleyes: *

And that wasn't what she was saying besides.

Who's 'we'?

I have a mouse in my pocket......

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

Is that before or after we invade their countries?

You're Canadian, right? Who has Canada invaded recently?

[The Iceman of the North]

Did the U.S. government freeze his accounts? I wasn't aware that he had any assets under U.S. jurisdiction.

Now, if other governments or organizations have frozen his accounts, it likely is due to the Interpol warrant, because you don't want fugitives having access to ready cash.

According to PayPal, the accounts were frozen due to a letter from the US State Department. MasterCard, Visa and PayPal all have to adhere to US jurisdiction.

[Lord O' Bones]

You're Canadian...

OIC

I have a mouse in my pocket...

It's not as if Canadians are mice; far from it.*

But it does make the use of "we" far more egregious.

*Damnit, Thor WE KNOW.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

According to PayPal, the accounts were frozen due to a letter from the US State Department. MasterCard, Visa and PayPal all have to adhere to US jurisdiction.

None of those entities have frozen assets either Wikileaks, or Assange personally, owns. They simply will not permit themselves to be used as contribution conduits to Wikileaks.

For Paypal, it was simply applying their own preexisting policy:

PayPal claimed in one of their posts on it’s blog that it was forced to cut off the money to Assange because of the policy of the company “which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity.”

Clearly, Wikileaks encourages people to violate the law of their own government in disseminating classified material, so permitting continued payments to Wikileaks would be a violation of their own policy.

[Arthmail]

I'm sure it never occurred to her. *furious :rolleyes: *

And that wasn't what she was saying besides.

Who's 'we'?

Yes, i am Canadian. And by we, i mean the west. While the US/Britain have been major agressors in terms of damaging foreign policy for the last fifty years, at the minimum, other countries have tacitly gone along making us partly responsible.

So i say we.

[Lord O' Bones]

Yes, i am Canadian. And by we, i mean the west. While the US/Britain have been major agressors in terms of damaging foreign policy for the last fifty years, at the minimum, other countries have tacitly gone along making us partly responsible.

So i say we.

I'll hold you to it.

[Swordfish]

OIC

It's not as if Canadians are mice; far from it.*

But it does make the use of "we" far more egregious.

Turns out it wasn't a mouse after all.

*scurries off to panty sniffing thread*

[Cantabile]

I wonder about the fate of revealing classified documents. Someone compared Wikileaks to Napster and it's downfall, and we all know that the death of Napster simply heralded the birth of numerous other networks of piracy, which are still going stronger than ever today. If Wikileaks crumbles will other organizations and methods arise, or will the government persecution of Wikileaks cause enough fear to keep everyone in their place?

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

I wonder about the fate of revealing classified documents. Someone compared Wikileaks to Napster and it's downfall, and we all know that the death of Napster simply heralded the birth of numerous other networks of piracy, which are still going stronger than ever today. If Wikileaks crumbles will other organizations and methods arise, or will the government persecution of Wikileaks cause enough fear to keep everyone in their place?

I personally think governments will adjust their behavior to put fewer communications in electronic form. But maybe the next evolution will be much more akin to piracy, with hacker invasions of government records, tapping into government voice communications, etc.

[gryphon strike]

None of those entities have frozen assets either Wikileaks, or Assange personally, owns. They simply will not permit themselves to be used as contribution conduits to Wikileaks.

For Paypal, it was simply applying their own preexisting policy:

PayPal claimed in one of their posts on it’s blog that it was forced to cut off the money to Assange because of the policy of the company “which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity.”

Clearly, Wikileaks encourages people to violate the law of their own government in disseminating classified material, so permitting continued payments to Wikileaks would be a violation of their own policy.

Assange has broken no Australian laws and as far as I can determine no US laws, he is in fact protected by your "Freedom of the Press laws".

So please before you call him irresponsible and condem him how about you look at those responsible for keeping this stuff "Secret" the ones who are guilty of breaching US security.

[Tempra]

Assange has broken no Australian laws and as far as I can determine no US laws, he is in fact protected by your "Freedom of the Press laws".

So please before you call him irresponsible and condem him how about you look at those responsible for keeping this stuff "Secret" the ones who are guilty of breaching US security.

The US is. Do you think Manning (or whoever leaked these documents) is going to get off scot-free?