If that headline accurately describes the situation, in what sense of the words is it "my data" instead of "data about me?"
Readit Newsfixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
Not sure why you're getting grayed down, but what you say is right on the money.
+1. When I was a Boy Scout, I had confirmation direct from an FBI agent that once somebody is wanted, the Agency has a long memory and a long reach.
The anecdote he shared was a fugitive fled to Saudi Arabia. Over a decade and a half, the fugitive grew a small business empire and was well-connected. In tandem with allies in Saudi Arabia, the FBI arranged a lavish party on a yacht to which their target was invited. The yacht sailed out to international waters and FBI agents apprehended him and put him on a Navy cruiser out at sea.
fixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
The US government is not a monolith, it consists of many competing factions.
It's not at all obvious which faction initiated the extradition request, or for what purpose.
It's possible this is to pressure Assange to provide evidence in the investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 election.
It's also possible this is an attempt to sequester him to prevent disclosure of information about those events.
A third possibility is that this is an attack on the press.
Even without a conviction, it will have a chilling effect on journalists publishing classified information, which is not currently a crime.
With a conviction, it will establish a dark new precedent that criminalizes much of the most consequential reporting.
And that would not be irony, it would be tragedy.
It's interesting that it may have been avoidable if he'd accepted rendition to Sweden to stand trial for the sexual assault accusation, given that the previous administration was apparently uninterested in extraditing him for this charge.
He likely made the situation worse by hiding out in the embassy---he became a symbol of something untouchable by American power, and this administration cares more about that sort of perception than the previous one.
fixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
The actual indictment:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/press-release/file/1153481...
Snowden: The weakness of the US charge against Assange is shocking. The allegation he tried (and failed?) to help crack a password during their world-famous reporting has been public for nearly a decade: it is the count Obama's DOJ refused to charge, saying it endangered journalism.
If Assange gets extradited on a charge that the previous administration wouldn't push but the administration his organization assisted in getting elected is willing to (because they don't care about such a paltry thing as "endangering the protections provided to freedom of the press by the US Constitution"), it will be the highest of ironies.
fixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
You're basing this on what? St. Mueller has finished his investigation, and precisely no one will be going to prison for "Russian election meddling". If they didn't do this horrible thing (that is entirely protected by 1A), then how could anyone have helped them do this horrible thing?
First Amendment protections are not extended to non-US citizens.
fixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
I doubt anybody involved in targeting and suppressing Wikileaks post-2016 is leaking their plans to Wikileaks itself.
Why? Every organization has whistleblowers. By the same token that Chelsea Manning leaked the state department cables, one can imagine a middle-tier operative with differing political ideology dropping a hint.
fixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
The CIA killing him would have created a huge us pr nightmare.
Correct. And would have been entirely unnecessary, because they could just wait him out.
If the goal is deterrence, he works just as well as a symbol rotting in the Ecuadorian embassy as either dead or rotting in jail.
fixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
I wish Australia would step up and actually defend one of their citizens.
Wikileaks has leaked 10 some-odd documents on Australia, so I don't expect them to go to bat for him.
The problem with being a uniform thorn in everybody's side is you run out of friends.
fixermark commented on Julian Assange arrested in London bbc.co.uk/news/uk-4789173... · Posted by u/kragniz
Despite Julian's character or the surrounding controversies, let's not forget the positive impact Wikileaks made with contributions like Collateral murder [0].
0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007,_Baghdad_airst...
Or the release of the Vatican letters.
https://jacquesmattheij.com/the-unofficial-hn-faq/#deleteacc...