Wikileaks revelations underwhelming

I dunno, I think the revelations about US diplomats spying on Ban Ki-moon and other UN leaders, and being urged to obtain credit card numbers, DNA samples and login passwords was pretty juicy. And we've only had 2% of these documents released so far.
 
Been following the Wikileaks saga?
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Will the leaking Aussie escape the world-wide manhunt? I hope so, although I have to wonder if he have a legal foot to stand on if the US/Zim/SA/China/Australia/... authorities catch up to him. Which country will be the safest to run/swim to? Will they ship him off to Quantanama Bay? Or will the country that catch him, keep him as a trophy prisoner? Will he ask assistance from the enemies of his enemies or will he not stoop that low?

These are some of the questions I hope will be answered in the next 5 highly anticipated articles.
 
I think Jeremy fails to see the bigger picture in this, Julian has released a portion of these documents thus saying to the government that he is not messing about and he even stated that he would be releasing it in the next coming due to the sheer overwhelming content. I assume that the U.S government is aware what he might hold in his possession and thus are trying to get him.
 
Poor article, this is a much better read:

  1. the U.S. military formally adopted a policy of turning a blind eye to systematic, pervasive torture and other abuses by Iraqi forces;
  2. the State Department threatened Germany not to criminally investigate the CIA's kidnapping of one of its citizens who turned out to be completely innocent;
  3. the State Department under Bush and Obama applied continuous pressure on the Spanish Government to suppress investigations of the CIA's torture of its citizens and the 2003 killing of a Spanish photojournalist when the U.S. military fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad (see The Philadelphia Inquirer's Will Bunch today about this: "The day Barack Obama Lied to me");
  4. the British Government privately promised to shield Bush officials from embarrassment as part of its Iraq War "investigation";
  5. there were at least 15,000 people killed in Iraq that were previously uncounted;
  6. "American leaders lied, knowingly, to the American public, to American troops, and to the world" about the Iraq war as it was prosecuted, a conclusion the Post's own former Baghdad Bureau Chief wrote was proven by the WikiLeaks documents;
  7. the U.S.'s own Ambassador concluded that the July, 2009 removal of the Honduran President was illegal -- a coup -- but the State Department did not want to conclude that and thus ignored it until it was too late to matter;
  8. U.S. and British officials colluded to allow the U.S. to keep cluster bombs on British soil even though Britain had signed the treaty banning such weapons, and,
  9. Hillary Clinton's State Department ordered diplomats to collect passwords, emails, and biometric data on U.N. and other foreign officials, almost certainly in violation of the Vienna Treaty of 1961.
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I think the bigger picture from a tech point of view is how they are cutting down the wiki leaks site and trying to catch him.
 
This article is satire, not a critical analysis, although it does touch on very serious issues.

BTW: Jeremy Gordin is too modest to admit that he is (edit: was) the author of the Karen Bliksem columns in the Sunday Independent.
 
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I suppose that as satire it works, because it does sound like a lot of people I know. However, there's a lot of misinformation going around regarding this issue, and I think that it's a little irresponsible to further spread it, even as satire.
 
Gatecrasher said:
I dunno, I think the revelations about US diplomats spying on Ban Ki-moon and other UN leaders, and being urged to obtain credit card numbers, DNA samples and login passwords was pretty juicy. And we've only had 2% of these documents released so far.
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Yes, this is a very bad article.

I mean, I could do the same as this Assange guy
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I seriously doubt it. Assange is a very intelligent man, technologically and otherwise.

Don't try to trivialize the matter. It really is serious. As I said lots of times before, this isn't idle gossip about 'this guy said this, that guy said that'. There are some serious implications, like Gatecrasher said about the spying. And there are lots more to come. I can't wait for the banking related leaks. Yes, we all know there are bad things happening in secrecy, but getting solid proof about it is obviously a whole other story than speculation.
 
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I agree they are very underwhelming. Nothing as damning as what everyone was expecting. And besides, most of this is just discussion that took place between diplomats, so none of it is regarded as formal US policy. I think the fallout from this though will be way more interesting than the actual contents of the leak. I can't see Wikileaks coming out from this unscathed.
 
Don't have much taste for the author's views, domestic affairs, writing style, or shameless marketing of his "buddy's"; however he does have a point.

As for the content that has up to date been released by WL, one could have gleaned most of this from the traditional broadcast networks - therefore why the exaggerated reaction by the north american state, contributing to the media frenzy.

Speculation: Might it be that the juicy bits (Mr. Assange's insurance files) are left for a bargaining tool with the north american (two party) police state and for ultimately securing a "pension".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange - If Mr. Assange's intent is honorable and the final outcome improves the lives of individuals, I will gladly support him and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks
 
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I think the bigger problem here is how the governments of the world are trying to control the media, journalists and the internet. It is a total disgrace...just go over to cnn...nothing nada about the wikileaks saga...why? I will let you decide that for yourselves! A media puppet for the US, oh most definitely. Also remember that Assange has actually not committed any crime, it is very clear that the warrant for his arrest is totally bogus and politically motivated. This is all very bad news for us the people...power hungry governments who are willing to break their own and international laws just to save face...where is this world going to...If you believe in Freedom of Speech then your full support should be behind Wikileaks, if not, shut up and be one of the puppets and let the government pull your strings.
 
eddief1 said:
I think the bigger problem here is how the governments of the world are trying to control the media, journalists and the internet. It is a total disgrace...just go over to cnn...nothing nada about the wikileaks saga...why? I will let you decide that for yourselves! A media puppet for the US, oh most definitely. Also remember that Assange has actually not committed any crime, it is very clear that the warrant for his arrest is totally bogus and politically motivated. This is all very bad news for us the people...power hungry governments who are willing to break their own and international laws just to save face...where is this world going to...If you believe in Freedom of Speech then your full support should be behind Wikileaks, if not, shut up and be one of the puppets and let the government pull your strings.
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Um, you have to be kidding me??? there are currently three links about wikileaks on the CNN front page. I agree it has toned down (probably due to the underwhelming content of the revelations), but a week ago just about every thread on CNN was about Wikileaks and it was being discussed on all the major networks.... I saw it... I was there. Are you sure you are not maybe just a wee little bit going off on a conspiracy theory tangent?

And hosting stolen information is most definitely a crime... in any country in the world. It remains to be seen what Australia and the US will do to Wikileaks and it's head honcho.
 
compare these: http://cnn.com , and just an example http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Censorship, i think it is clear to see... "hosting stolen information is most definitely a crime" ok so why not put out a warrant for his arrest relating to these crimes instead of the alleged rape charges which were initially dropped by Sweden's chief prosecutor and only later reinstated when a Swedish politician intervened! I think you have to be either dumb or stupid to not see what is actually going on here....
 
Garyvdh said:
And hosting stolen information is most definitely a crime... in any country in the world. It remains to be seen what Australia and the US will do to Wikileaks and it's head honcho.
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It's only a legal issue in certain jurisdictions. The internet has blown a huge hole in the 19th and 20th century legal systems. There is no international law that allows for extraditions from countries where something is not a crime.
 
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