YAWLT: If you were US government, what would you do to/with Assange?

[Infohawk]

Initially I thought Assange was a waste of time. Revealing videos of vague and inherently complicated combat situations wasn't that interesting. The diplomatic cables were a nuisance. They didn't really reveal anything except that a lot of cooperates goes on even with countries like China.

The latest disclosure of key infrastructure sites crossed the line. There's really no utility to that except to harm the US and its allies. Maybe you want to reform the US and stop corruption, but this doesn't do that.

IMO Assange and his organization should be jailed under the law. Some people sound like they'd like him dead but that would just make him into martyr for d-bag wannabe-anarchists. What do you think?

 

[Munky]

Nothing.

 

[PeshakJang]

I'd tap his phones, open his mail, and put cameras in his home... then put up a website for everyone in the world to see/hear his every action.

Also, post the locations of every member of his family.

It's the only admirable thing to do.

 

[Infohawk]

I'd tap his phones, open his mail, and put cameras in his home... then put up a website for everyone in the world to see/hear his every action.

Also, post the locations of every member of his family.

It's the only admirable thing to do.

I like that idea... except only reveal information about people who support him...

 

[PeshakJang]

I like that idea... except only reveal information about people who support him...

Hmm...

I like that.

Post the NY payroll, employee by employee. Post their distributors' names and addresses. Post the private investments of every single employee. Post the voting history of every single employee, board member, and reader.

This is about truth.

 

[ichy]

Nothing.

Yup. With modern technology the idea that you can stop information from spreading once its leaked out is laughable. What the US needs to do is to get better at protecting classified information. Shooting the messenger is futile even is Assange is a douchebag of the highest order.

 

[Martin]

I'd leak more information to him so the internet brownshirts can have another convulsion.

 

[Craig234]

Yes, 'the government' that represents all of us and has great power, and 'citizens who support transparency' deserve the same amount of scrutiny and sunlight.

One minutes these people are screaming not to give the government any power on behalf of the people, and the next they're screaming to protect excessive classification.

 

[Infohawk]

I'd leak more information to him so the internet brownshirts can have another convulsion.

So assuming you are a US citizen, you're a traitor. Might sound nice to reveal information about corruption but revealing classified infrastructure locations that can only be used to destabilize the world is nothing more than an attack on the US...

 

[nageov3t]

prosecute under existing law, and don't allow him to see the light of day or use a technological device more advanced than an abacus for the rest of his life.

 

[sandorski]

Prosecute according to the Law, if he has broken any. The Leaker(s) are likely the only ones who have actually broken US Laws though.

 

[nageov3t]

Yes, 'the government' that represents all of us and has great power, and 'citizens who support transparency' deserve the same amount of scrutiny and sunlight.

One minutes these people are screaming not to give the government any power on behalf of the people, and the next they're screaming to protect excessive classification.

most reasonable people, yourself not included apparently, understand and accept that there are limits to what should and should not be transparent.

 

[Infohawk]

most reasonable people, yourself not included apparently, understand and accept that there are limits to what should and should not be transparent.

Craig should post his SSN and credit card info (don't forget the code on the back) for all of us. He doesn't need to keep any secrets from us.

 

[PJABBER]

Assange is just one of the founders and the most publicly recognizable of a number of staff coordinating the release of as much damaging information as possible.

Is it a crime to be against democracy, against capitalism, against human rights? If so, perhaps he should be brought to justice for crimes against humanity. But who will judge him for this and in what court of law?

He is not an American citizen, but he conducts information warfare against this country and others like it and others quite different, but allied. Each country he releases information on, each time he violates a national secrecy law, each time he attempts to damage the targets of his hatred, he puts himself and his fellow conspirators at risk of prosecution under the laws of those states. But as he is most intent on releasing information held confidential by the United States, it is primarily the responsibility of the United States to respond.

We don't know if his warfare has been with a bomb, but we do know that he has declared a personal jihad against this country and the principles that it represents and now he has acted and will continue to act to cause as much damage as he is capable of unless and until he is stopped.

Based on his statements and the recent releases he and his group have chosen to make in an attempt to disrupt negotiations of alliances and compromises for peaceful outcomes, he is as likely to release full plans for nuclear and biological weapons as he is to release the notes of a confidential meeting between heads of state. Such is the mindset of anarchy and nihilism.

He acts from afar, he doesn't step into United States, so an American prosecution will require his arrest overseas and then a rendition here for trial as an enemy combatant.

I think he would be right at home at Guantanamo while he awaits trial. His fellow conspirators would also be welcome. Maybe Saudi Arabia can take the overflow.

 

[CanOWorms]

So assuming you are a US citizen, you're a traitor. Might sound nice to reveal information about corruption but revealing classified infrastructure locations that can only be used to destabilize the world is nothing more than an attack on the US...

He's a Canadian who used to support Canada's restrictive media access and control laws. I wonder if he still does post-Assange.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Better questions should be what should we do with the US Government

 

[Infohawk]

He's a Canadian who used to support Canada's restrictive media access and control laws. I wonder if he still does post-Assange.

Good question.

It's still make him a traitor to Canada. As much as many Canadians like to deny it they are allies with the USA and I'm sure Canadian treason laws would cover him.

 

[Martin]

Good question.

It's still make him a traitor to Canada. As much as many Canadians like to deny it they are allies with the USA and I'm sure Canadian treason laws would cover him.

I take it as a compliment to be called a traitor by your kind

 

[Infohawk]

I take it as a compliment to be called a traitor by your kind

Yes, because since I think Wikileaks has crossed the line I must be a fascist... You can tell yourself that but it's not the case.

And I'd be interested in hearing your response to COW's post.

 

[cubby1223]

Yes, 'the government' that represents all of us and has great power, and 'citizens who support transparency' deserve the same amount of scrutiny and sunlight.

One minutes these people are screaming not to give the government any power on behalf of the people, and the next they're screaming to protect excessive classification.

Wow, your critical thinking skills really do border on the non-existent.

 

[PJABBER]

I take it as a compliment to be called a traitor by your kind

Perhaps you should define yourself and your political beliefs before comparing yourself with anyone else. To what or whom are you loyal, if anything at all?

Are you an anarchist, a nihilist, a disenchanted "progressive," a member of a "Pirate" Party? You know, all of those who identify so closely with the destructive goals and actions of Assange and friends.

 

[yllus]

AFAIK I don't think Assange can be touched under the law. To be vindictive you could make life really hard for him, though: No-fly list, make any loan he ever tries to take again near impossible to get, stuff like that.

The person you can prosecute, the PFC, make a severe example out of him. Not death, but close. What did the Pentagon Papers guy get?

 

[Ajay]

Well, with the 'arrest me and all the data goes out uncensored and unencrypted' threat, it appears he's decided he'd like to be a martyr. I mean seriously, he hates all the bastages who think they are above the law so he puts himself in the same club.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I would send whoever leaked the info to him to a military tribunal for treason.

As for Assange, prosecute him fairly under existing laws for any laws he might have broken.

 

[SP33Demon]

It's the internet, so nothing. The Leakers could have leaked through bit torrent or any other website/newspaper, they chose Wikileaks on their own. May as well prosecute newspapers for leaking info, such as Robert Novak of the Washington Post leaking the info he received about CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The only reason Wikileaks is in the news is because they received a motherload of info in one fell swoop by that Army PFC douchebag. That PFC would have leaked it in another way since he was determined to "expose" the Iraqi coverup killings of civilians... most likely to a newspaper or some other website anonymously.