The Man Behind Wikileaks

I chose to dive a little deeper into the life and character of Julian Assange. I think that his persona is very interesting and that knowing more about him will show more about the Wikileaks Controversy, his reasoning behind his activism, and his protest against censorship.

Assange was born in Townsville Queensland, and spent much of his youth living on Magnetic Island Assange says he did not meet his biological father, John Shipton, until the age of 25. When he was one year old, his mother Christine married theatre director Brett Assange, who raised him from the age of one and gave him his surname. Assange moved 30 times before he turned 14, attending many schools, Assange stated that he had lived in 50 different towns and attended 37 different schools. In 1987, after turning 16, Assange began hacking under the name "Mendax". He and two other hackers joined to form a group they named the International Subversives. In this group Assange wrote a code of honor that in essence stated that they could not harm any systems that they hack, which included crashing them. The Australian Federal Police became aware of this group and set up "Operation Weather" to investigate their hacking. In September 1991 Mendax was discovered in the act of hacking into the Melbourne master terminal of Nortel, the Canadian telecommunications company. The Australian Federal Police tapped his phones, which lead to his arrest. It took a grand total of 3 years before his trail made it to court. He was charged with 31 accounts of hacking and was released on a bond for good conduct with a fine of $2,100. The judge had said that he would have received a more severe punishment if it weren’t for his ruff childhood. In 1989, Assange started living with his girlfriend and they had a son, Daniel Assange.  They split up during the period of Assange's arrest and conviction. They subsequently engaged in a lengthy custody struggle and did not agree on a custody arrangement until 1999. In 1993, Assange was involved in starting one of the first public Interent Service providers in Australia, Suburbia Public Access Network. Starting in 1994, he lived in Melbourne as a programmer and a developer of free software. During this period he worked in a number of different fields, as a security consultant, a researcher in journalism and started his own IT company. From 2003 to 2006, Assange attended the University of Melbourne mainly studying physics and mathematics and briefly studying philosophy and neuroscience. Then finally in 2006 WikiLeaks was founded and his controversy with that began.

"Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Editor - News, Articles, Biography, Photos - WSJ.com."Wall Street Journal Topics - Profiles and Biographies - Wsj.com. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://topics.wsj.com/person/A/julian-assange/6198>.

"Julian Assange." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange>.

Interpreting Data

From my poll “Do we want the government pushing for censorship of what Internet media publish?” It was clear that people don’t want the government interfering with what we can publish on the Internet, which is congruent with what I have found in my research. In my research it was clear that the only people that would push for censorship of media posted on the internet, are the organizations that fear exposure. There argument is valid, because they fear that confidential information may be a threat to national security. Despite this, the people have the right to know what their government is doing, and therefore should not be able to censor us.

"Censorship: Should Wikileaks Be Regulated Or Let Free Speech - TechnicalCommunication." Welcome to Professor Gomrad's Course Wiki - TechnicalCommunication. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://techcomm.wikidot.com/censorship-should-wikileaks-be-regulated-or-let-free-speech>.

"The WikiLeaks Battle: Should Information Be Shared or Censored?"Knowledge@Wharton. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2653>.

The WikiLeaks Controversy

Wikileaks has been in the spot light because its purpose and following raises many issues. Although there are many aspects to this issue that make it controversial, such as national security, what it really comes down to is the fundamentals of our government. If Assange can be convicted of a crime for publishing information that he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the first amendment and the independence of the internet? Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on Wikileaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy than it is about national security? There is a huge difference between releasing secret information to help the enemy in a time of declared war, which is treason, and the releasing of information to expose our government lies that promote secret wars, death and corruption. Assange has the right to have Wikileaks and continue to publish information on his site because he isn’t targeting an enemy and what he is doing is not treason, but rather something nobler that gives checks and balances to our government and others.

         Patriotism is something that we should ponder in order to better understand what wikileaks is doing. However it is also what defines both sides of the argument. It seems, if you consider yourself a patriot, Assange is doing something that is putting national security at risk, and that risk alone is enough for our government to step in and do something. On the other hand, was it not once considered patriotic to stand up to our government when it is wrong? Assange isn’t even trying to rebel against our government, more so he is using our principals in government (The 1^st Amendment) to publish information that exposes the reality of our government and its decisions.

Governments want to get there hands on Assange badly, to stop what he is doing, because he is exposing the dark side of government and because of that he shows weakness within it. The better question is - Why is hostility even directed at Assange, the publisher, and not at our government’s failure to protect classified information? What all governments need to do, in any case, is to re-examine what should – or should not – be marked as confidential or secret. Governments are accountable to people, not the other way round, and therefore they must become more transparent. They need to make a case to the people why certain things are confidential, instead of marking every document as confidential.

The predicament that Assange has procured is now something that despite all his allegations (for Sex crimes in Sweden, where there rules are much more strict) and the controversy of Wikileaks. He is doing something contemporary that restricts government more and gives the people more power. He has the right to do this, because we should have the right to know what our government is doing. He should not be under pressure of limited of his right just because governments are afraid of information being seen.

"The WikiLeaks Controversy - Hurriyet Daily News." Hürriyet Daily News Bringing  Politics, Diplomacy, Economy News, the Official Web Site of the Newspaper HDN. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. <http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=the-wikileaks-controversy-2010-11-30>.

"THE WIKILEAKS CONTROVERSY: WHAT’S THE TRUTH?…;)." Project World Awareness. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. <http://www.projectworldawareness.com/2010/08/the-wikileaks-controversy-whats-the-truth/>

"Nine Questions about Wikileaks." Rainy Day Patriots. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. <http://www.rainydaypatriots.org/profiles/blogs/nine-questions-about-wikileaks>.

Current State of Affairs

WikiLeaks may have had its "15 minutes of fame" however it is still creating attention and conflict, the reason why it was highlighted so much in the media to begin with. 

What is currently happening with WikiLeaks? 

Do we want the government pushing for censorship of what Internet media publish?

Do we want the government bullying banks, Internet service providers and social media?

Do we want politicians calling peaceful critics of the government terrorists?

…That is what the US government is doing to WikiLeaks.

Some news headlines also display what is currently happening with WikiLeaks. 

"Senator Joe Lieberman pressures Amazon to drop WikiLeaks from its servers". "Government officials, including Vice President Biden, claim WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization" "The State Department pressures companies like PayPal to stop processing payments to WikiLeaks" "The Justice Department pressures social media companies like Twitter to provide private information about associates of WikiLeaks" 

The premise of WikiLeaks and what makes it so great- is that it really cant be touched. Julian Assuage is doing something that is both Righteous and progressive and our government is trying to Meddle with it because he is making such a controversy. Regardless of how you feel about WikiLeaks, the current attacks on it threaten our fundamental rights.

"Wikileaks." Human Rights First. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. <http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/tag/wikileaks/?gclid=CITunsHq6asCFQEq7AodGX5Rpw>.

Tiku, By: Nitasha. "Today in WikiLeaks: Inherent Contradictions -- Daily Intel." New York Magazine -- NYC Guide to Restaurants, Fashion, Nightlife, Shopping, Politics, Movies. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. <http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/12/the_ironies_of_the_controversy.html>.

WikiLeaks - The forefront of Anti-Censorship

WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. It provides an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to its journalists. They publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way to reveal suppressed and censored injustices. In its nature this creates much controversy, which is why many governments including our own want to get there hands on "Julian Assange" the mastermind behind WikiLeaks. 
This is because it raises certain questions- is our nations security at risk when sensitive information is released to the public? If it is, do we still have the right to know? Should the government have the ability to censor us and what we see? 
These questions, and the controversy that makes up "WikiLeaks" i find very interesting and is why i have chosen this topic. Mr. Assange is intriguing as well. His brilliance and reputation as a ladies man makes him quite the character. By providing a "drop box" as it has been coined; Assange has opened a door for the world to get information out that needs to. In turn WikiLeaks continues to run with funding from organizations and private investors. 


http://wikileaks.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks