WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange blackmails the entire world with cryptic "Doomsday File"
By Jeff MillsDecember 6th, 2010, 3:15 pmComments (9)
The latest salvo from that everywhere-and-nowhere, international man of mystery, Julian Assange, is a doozy. The vigilante hacker has widely circulated a cache of uncensored documents suspected of including files on everything to Afghanistan to BP and Gitmo and he warns that if anyone arrests him or removes Wikileaks from the internet, he will release the password and activate the death ray. Or, at least leak the documents — which have apparently been distributed to thousands of his supporters around the world.
The key file in his contingency plan for eluding capture (damn those pesky sexual-assault allegations) is a 1.4 gigabyte Fort Knox of damning, digital dirt-dealing. And it's impossible to hack: Nigel Smith, a Bristol University cryptology professor said, "This isn't something that can be broken with a modern computer. You need the key to open it."
Whether you root for Assange, or consider him a dangerous terrorist, you have to admit this: if he teamed up with Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg, he probably could take over the world. And then he would end up threatening to release that personal e-mail of yours where you spoke unflatteringly of the boss, if you don't send him ten dollars.
Commentarium (9 Comments)
I love how pathetic the whole backlash against him is. "Sex Crimes"? What a cliche 'government-needs-to-silence-me' charge.
He's had insurance against truped-up charges and extrajudicial measures from the beginning. This is turning into a James Bond scenario... I'm waiting to see what's in the cryptod file (100% certainty of a black eye for the U.S.). They don't seem likely to hold their wad, and then the world get the password.
@Ryan, "Sex Crimes" and now multiple espionage inquiries in countries around the world. It's not just a silencing thing, this guy has potentially committed crimes in dozens of countries for leaking classified information. The problem rests in that most governments are so slow to adapt, that they don't know how things like WikiLeaks pertains to their current espionage laws (most of which were establish pre-internet). With that said, Assange has been playing with fire for a long time, and it will come back to burn him.
While I understand the principles behind what Assange does at WikiLeaks (although I don't always agree with him), this blackmail angle is pathetic... and dangerous. Now that he's threatening to play his trump card, there are governments and companies with a lot of money, power, and reach that have an interest in this guy "disappearing" forever.
Ha, the whole world. Remember when you could only imagine this level of diabolical in Saturday morning cartoons? What-the-fuck-ever. Its nothing people already didn't speculate or realize in hindsight. Our government is always going to keep secrets from us, not much we can do about that. I'll only be surprised if its revealed 9/11 was a conspiracy in that case expect nothing short of a revolution. (If not then we really have become that fat and lazy.) Not going to count for much though if Iran or NK blows us into oblivion thrice over. (the last one is just for good measure, assuming anyone's left)
Wasn't there a little bit of a fuss about the Pentagon Papers, way back when? And then there was something that brought down a president. Nixon, wasn't it? I find it strange that in the new millennium the press is nowhere to be found, other than to be a government mouthpiece that advocates for the capture/torture/murder without due process of Mr. Assange and his retinue. How the mighty have fallen to the level of government shill. They're a never-ending source of embarrassment to anyone who believes a free press should be the exact opposite of how they're behaving.
You know, much as this is likely to bring on a global cold war, it's actually a ton of fun to watch.
I think he's about ready for the plastic surgery.
Julian assange is a very dangerous man who needs to be taken out and silenced forever. He should be made an example of. Anyone who steals classified documents deserves to be shot or to be hanged. The articles of war state clearly and categorically that the penalty for such activities is death. This has been the case since ww2. Mr Assange is an enemy of the state. He is giving succour to the enemy terrorists. He is collaborating with Bin Laden.
I think conspiracy theories are totally unproductive. They are moving this country & the world in a totally weird position. Even those guys who know the real truth have heard about the conspiracy.
That's gotta be crazy annoying when things like these allegations are brought onto another individual.
He's a guy who literally doesn't give a F***.
And I don't believe for a second that he had anything to do with sexual assault. He's a bad ass, who took it where it needed to go, and the government fucked him over.
The government is loosing it's control due to modern advances in technology.
To top it off.. I'm in the Navy, and I'm told EVERYDAY to stay away from Wiki Leaks. Why.. Why the F*** do I, as an American Citizen who serves his country, am told to stay away from this stuff. Even stuff that comes on the news about him.. I'm not suppose to get involved.
Why is this so controversial? I want to look, but I'm afraid that I have too much to catch up on, not enough time, and the personal knowledge of serious trouble from the Navy, if I were too look at it.