
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was secretly indicted by federal prosecutors in the U.S., according to an email from private intelligence company Stratfor obtained by the hacking group Anonymous and published by Wikileaks this week.
"Not for Pub -- We have a sealed indictment on Assange. Pls protect," Stratfor official Fred Burton wrote in a Jan. 26, 2011 email to colleagues at the company. It was one of over 5 million emails obtained from Stratfor's servers. It was sent in reply to an email message from another Stratfor official linking to a CBS article about Assange.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The apparently cash-strapped Wikileaks is auctioning a number of would-be collectors items on eBay, including a packet of coffee smuggled out of prison by Julian Assange, tickets to a Vivenne Westwood fashion show, and signed photos and posters of Assange himself.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Wikileaks is blaming the British newspaper The Guardianfor a security breach that resulted in the release of over 251,000 unredacted diplomatic cables, calling it "the guardian's hacking scandal."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Five men in their teens and 20s were arrested in the United Kingdom on Thursday in raids coordinated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which executed more than 40 search warrants throughout the United States.
The men ranged in age from 15 to 26, and were arrested for alleged violations of the Computer Misuse Act, the Telegraph reported.
They were taken to police stations in the West Midlands, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey and London, according to the newspaper. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and the equivalent of a $7968.50 fine.
After getting attention for calling Julian Assange a "bad journalist" this weekend on Fox News, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller sent an email to The Cutline defending her point.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who was much criticized for her reporting on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction capabilities in the build-up to war, offered some pretty ironic criticisms of Julian Assange on Fox News this weekend.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is writing an autobiography that he expects to fetch $1.3 million -- funds he will use to fuel his legal defense.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Saturday Night Live has released yet another tape of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, this time commenting on Time magazine's selection of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as "Person of the Year."
"Time magazine, always on the cutting edge, discovering Facebook only weeks after your grandmother," said Bill Hader, playing Assange, after interrupting a message from Zuckerberg.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday's "Meet the Press" that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is closer to a terrorist than a journalist.
From the transcript:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was released on bail today, and said in a press conference afterward: "If justice is not always an outcome, at least it is not dead yet."
Assange surrendered to London police over a sex crimes charge in Sweden that was unrelated to Wikileaks' release of State Department cables.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A British court has granted bail to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, potentially releasing him until his next court appearance Jan. 11.
Reuters, the Guardian and others are reporting that Assange was granted bail after several wealthy supporters, including restaurant designer Sarah Saunders and filmmaker Michael Moore, promised to put up the money.
Assange is fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault charges.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Saturday Night Live this weekend continued its lampooning of Wikileaks, this time "releasing" grainy footage of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in prison.
"How did I get a camera into a British prison? Maybe you weren't listening, I'm Julian Assange," said SNL's Bill Hader, playing Assange.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Jon Stewart last night debated whether Wikileaks found Julian Assange is a villain or super hero, saying "he seems to combine the technical expertise of a Steve Jobs, with the cunning of a Lex Luthor, the aggressive free-speech passions of a Larry Flint and the hair of a Martina Navratilova."
But since Assange recently turned himself in to the police, Stewart said he can't really be a villain. And Assange's legions of supporters around the world make him out to be a hero. Ultimately, Stewart was stumped on how to frame his coverage.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Mastercard and Visa have announced they will stop processing payments to Wikileaks, following similar moves by Amazon.com, PayPal and other businesses who are cutting ties to the organization.
Mastercard Worldwide "is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products," a spokesman told CNET late yesterday.
"MasterCard rules prohibit customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal," the spokesman said.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is reportedly soliciting donations through the Swiss postal service after PayPal closed his account.
According to the Associated Press, Assange is also using "a Swiss-Icelandic credit card processing center and other accounts in Iceland and Germany." Iceland is a Wikileaks-friendly country, where politicians have proposed making the country a "journalism haven" for outlets like Wikileaks.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Politicians have not shied away from expressing their outrage over WikiLeaks' release of secret State Department cables -- from the call to treat Julian Assange as an enemy combatant to the suggested execution of the leak's source. According to a newly released Rasmussen poll, the majority of Americans also have negative feelings on the massive leak -- 51% of respondents answered affirmatively when asked if the leak was an act of treason.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Yesterday, The Daily Beast reported that the National Security Agency is aware that the FSB -- the post-Soviet KGB -- is closely monitoring Wikileaks, though the U.S. has no "direct evidence" that the Russians are behind the days-long denial-of-service attacks that have brought down the Wikileaks website over and over again.
But why would the Russians care that much? In part, because Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has said that between the leaked cables and other information he got separately, high-level corrupt Russian officials should be worried. And some observers think that Assange's efforts to expose corruption in Russia could be more harmful to his site and himself than exposing America's secrets have been. One law enforcement source told The Daily Beast, "The Russians play by different rules," adding that they would be "ruthless" in their attempts to stop him.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Jon Stewart last night opened his program by focusing on the ongoing coverage of WikiLeaks' release of secret State Department cables, and addressed Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) call for WikiLeaks to be declared a terrorist organization.
Clearly, Jon Stewart said, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is "Osama bin Laden, crossed with Magneto, and the albino from the matrix with more than a scootch of the Dyson vacuum guy."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Yesterday, Wikileaks released a selection of more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables dating from the mid-sixties to the present day -- widely presumed to have been provided to them by the currently-incarcerated Private Bradley Manning -- accessed through the military's SPIRNET system that was intended to reduce the bureaucratic "siloing" on information deemed partially responsible for the intelligence failures in a pre-9/11 world. Those cables were provided earlier under embargo to five international media outlets: the New York Times, The Guardian, El Pais, La Monde and Der Spiegel. For most readers, it made for a dizzying array of information: the cables themselves incorporated both banal gossip and important intelligence, and each media outlet attempted to give as much context to their release (and the reactions to their release) as to the nuggets of information found therein.
But for all the Administration's condemnations and the muted international response to date, there were five astonishing revelations uncovered by the 120 reporters given early access to the documents.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A top Swedish prosecutor on Wednesday reopened an investigation into allegations that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange raped two women, the Associated Press reports.
Assange has denied the allegations against him.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Julian Assange, founder of the website Wikileaks, was charged with rape in Sweden over the weekend. Then, a few hours later, he wasn't.
Prosecutors are still considering one warrant for the lesser charge of molestation, and a decision is apparently expected this week.
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