Wikileaks founder, notable Australian, and super-hacker Julian Assange has lost his appeal against extradition to Sweden, and will now have to face the Swedish court over allegations of sexual assault and rape. The celebrated/vilified/creepy Assange garnered international fame in 2010 when Wikileaks made thousands of classified documents public, becoming a hero to anti-censorship champions.
But then he went and (allegedly) had sort-of-to-not-really-at-all consensual sex with a couple of ladies in Sweden and got in trouble for it. Since then, he's been living under strict bail conditions in what The Christian Science Monitor calls "the country mansion of a wealthy supporter in eastern England," which has all sorts of Downton Abbey connotations and seems completely fitting. He also made an appearance on The Simpsons. And had a talk show on Russia Today. He's been keeping busy.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Britian's highest court rejected Assange's argument that the European arrest warrant was invalid. However, Assange's lawyers still have two weeks to contest the ruling. He has a couple of legal options, but his lawyers are confident that if extradition does happen, he will eventually be cleared of all charges. Which kind of makes you wonder why he's trying so hard to not be extradited.
Don't worry, hackers: it ain't over yet! Personally, I can't wait until Matthew Lillard is tapped to play Assange in a gritty biopic.
