Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/10/17/wikileaks-assanges-internet.html
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In principle, I condemn the severing of internet access for political activists taking asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy. If this stands, what happens to the next self-styled political activist seeking to avoid sexual assault charges while living in the Ecuadorian embassy? Our grand tradition of sheltering self-aggrandizing blowhards at the Ecuadoran’s expense could be in jeopardy!
Practically speaking, I chortle.
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I hope his FaceBook is now updated…
[note sarcasm]
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At one point Wikileaks stood for something…now it stands for Assange getting petty revenge. Honestly, I didn’t need to see Trump’s taxes. He didn’t want to post them…his right. So long as he was a private citizen at the time he did this, it was his and only his business.
Same with Hillary’s speeches. Were they pandering? They sure where. And did the DNC not like Bernie after he decided that after 30 years of telling the Democratic Party that he didn’t want anything to do with them, that he should be able to come in at a moments notice and tell the party to change their rules? I mean, I agree with Bernie on these rules, but I understand why they didn’t want to listen to his demands.
All these things that Wikileaks has posted have been things we all kinda figured out on our own. Seeing them in black and white didn’t make things any better. They weren’t our business to know – even if it makes our opinion stronger in the end. We talk about personal privacy and then get angry that someone wants personal privacy. I don’t get it.
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“Trapped”. He’s free to leave anytime.
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So basically, the landlord turned off the net?
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The minute he leaves for some smokes mom & dad have the locksmith on speed-dial.
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He isn’t confined against his will. He’s actively resisting a sexual assault investigation.
Are his fears about being extradited to the US if he goes to Sweden legitimate? Quite possibly; I don’t know enough about the relevant extradition treaty to have any idea. But I do know that he’s holed up on “foreign soil” to avoid a sexual assault investigation. He could leave at any time, but he might end up convicted of rape if he does.
I guess Brock Turner should have moved to the Ecuadorian consulate in Beverly Hills before he was arrested; I’m sure BoingBoing would have described him as “trapped” there too.
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There go my webcam views!
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I think you’re confused. Wikileaks never released Trump’s taxes. The NY Times published a couple pages from some mid-nineties.
Thw defections at Wikileaks destroyed their whistleblower submission system. At this point Wikileaks is just a way for Assange to self-aggrandize himself by acting as the publisher for whatever anti-Clinton stuff the Russians feed him while he hides from his rape charges.
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He’s quite clearly not there to avoid the sexual assault charges. The punishment for them wouldn’t be sufficient to get him to consider such a long stay in his current situation even when he had internet.
Don’t get me wrong, he seems capable. I have no trouble believing he’s a creep, but if there was no threat of extradition he wouldn’t be in the embassy pissing them off by treating it like a hotel.
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I wish people would report on every time I don’t have internet access.
Also, why can’t WikiLeaks exist without Assange? Isn’t it a Wiki?
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Um yeah, after 4 years of sponging, the landlord changed the Wi-Fi password.
I’m pretty sure it’s possible to tether to 3G or something from the middle of Knightsbridge if he wanted to.
Politically, it’s certainly an interesting twist, but ‘cut off’ is not a reality there.
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Like most commenting here, I think Assange’s creepy. And this IS kinda funny.
But it seems that we used to talk about US overreach, extra-jurisdictional intervention and the appearance of a politically motivated vendetta when this topic came up. Have these concerns gone away? Does no-one feel anymore that Assange may have legitimate fears re. getting a fair trial if he emerges?
These are sincere questions btw, I haven’t followed all developments. Maybe the legal situation has shifted?
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I suppose it’s technically true, but referring to the embassy housekeeper who tripped over the cable modem as a “state actor” is a little misleading.
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Ah, but the creepy and egotistical don’t get to have civil rights, and their fear of extraordinary rendition and then torture is a source of mirth and hilarity. After all, someone who, in the best case scenario, will spend the rest of their life in house-arrest, is clearly doing so for kicks.
Seriously, though, yes these things are concerns. But earlier, I guess, we weren’t in Cold War 2.0 and dark mutterings about ‘Russians’ would have been seen as risible.
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Oh how the mighty have fallen in your eyes
I find myself a lot less disappointed the fewer pedestals I put other people on.
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But not just any investigation.
I’m not defending him, I am asking you to turn up the innocent until proven guilty and turn down the innuendo. It’s as justified as the hero worship.
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You may be right, I’d have respected them more if they were behind it. At least they’d be equal opportunity in this game pretending not to simply want chaos in the world.
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Fallen? No, I’ve never liked the man. It isn’t a big statement to say that at least the other members of the org tried to maintain some integrity…they did 99% of the work, most of them working on things like this before Asante showed up to take the credit…and now they have largely disappeared because even those that know the man intimately think he is a creep.
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