I walked right into this yesterday afternoon. Everyone that went to see Oprah probably walked up the street to see the gathering of “more than 1,000 people” for the Wikileaks protest. I watched as people spoke and sang songs about free speech in support for their fellow Australian. In the crowd, you could spot people representing the Anonymous group, others with Rageguy signs, all because Julian Assange has been jailed over rape allegations in Sweden. Now, with Wikileaks being the point of “attack” on the US, people are quick to bite the conspiracy bullet between the two events. What Assange COULD be accused of is HUMINT asset recruiting, an espionage technique where an US Army officer, with access to sensitive domestic information, provided it to those responsible for Wikileaks. According to the US Act, it is a crime to receive national defence information if it is known to have been obtained illegally and could be used ’to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation’. The problem exists in determining how that information was handled and whether or not publishing it was a threat. With the recent wars, the US must have some high priority information that would be of interest to any of the public. The Anonymous group, in support of Assange, has begun “Operation Payback” – starting with DOS attacks on companies that withdrew service ties from Wikileaks, including Mastercard, Paypal, Visa, and Amazon. The US is going to have to face the UN for this matter, but nonetheless, there are many hurdles to jump before he can even be extradited.
Wikileaks
