Anonymous Declares "Infowar" on Wikileaks Opponents

[Rubashov]

Treason is "a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state."

As Assange is Australian he has made no allegiance to the U.S.

Even if he were American I would argue that if a state is defined by the people, he has done those people a service by exposing the abuses of those in power who claim to be trust-worthy.

My obvious lack of properly used semantics aside, you really think it's going to solve said problem? You don't like or trust your parents, so in retaliation you have someone handout flyers with the exact dimensions of their keys and the codes for their home security system?

Eh? That's a weird example. The relationship between a state and its citizens is not analogous to the relationship between parents and children. The state exists at the whim of its citizens.

 

[TheScarecrow]

Their goddamn hackers who fancy themselves as heroes of the digital age. When really their fat, lonely men who just want "to stick it to the man". Assange is no hero, he's just being a fucking asshole releasing top secret information

Let me ask you something, if you were running a highly covert operations, would you like people knowing about it? Kind of undermines the whole notion of "covert operations". And yes, I'm very fucking sure I don't want to know about certain things if other people have access to the information who could use it for destructive purposes.

And you don't think people can get hurt? Here's something from Wikipedia:

"In 2010, Amnesty International joined several other human rights groups criticizing WikiLeaks for not adequately redacting the names of Afghan civilians working as U.S. military informants from files they had released. Julian Assange responded by offering Amnesty International staff the opportunity to assist in the document vetting process. When Amnesty International appeared to express reservations in accepting the offer, Assange dismissed the group as "people who prefer to do nothing but cover their asses." "

That was on Wall Street Journal.

So stay all curled up by your computer praising some jackass with a couple of servers and some classified all you want, you're just praising a man who's going to get people killed

They fight for free speech and against censorship and exploitation. I'm not entirely sure where you're getting the idea that a person who is, at this point, risking being imprisoned for releasing the truth is a bad man.

So you're saying that if your country's Government sactioned a covert operation that involved say, killing members of an organisation protesting peacefully for the cause of freedom then you wouldn't want to know it.
You're kinda defeating your own argument. Yes, covert operations are supposed to be covert by their nature. But if they necessitate being hidden away from public knowledge because they could damage the opinion of the Government then they're probably bad.

The quote you cited points out that Assange offered Amnesty the chanceto help prevent those situations from occuring again but they backed down. Ask yourself, why did they back down?

Okay, yes, I will gladly praise a man who wants to reveal the truth and expose all the lies and bad shit that's going on. It's certaintly more appealing to me than defending a government that is perpatrating bad shit.

Edit:
Also thi; http://sowhyiswikileaksagoodthingagain.com/
posted by one of the other Escapists.

 

[KiKiweaky]

If you were a terrorist you'd already know these things. The heads of these groups aren't stupid. If there's a pipeline, it's probably important; blow it up. If it's big, it's important and so is a target. Hell, I wasn't at all surprised by the targets on the list, and most of them are quite obvious-- ports, factories, supply lines-- all the first port of call for someone wanting to economically damage someone else.

For the record, you realize we're talking about people who try to bring down airliners by blowing up their underwear, right?

In short, the average terrorist is undereducated, deluded, and not terribly bright. Some of the people working with them are reasonably competent, but the majority are rather dim.

The irony is that Wikileaks has been tearing itself apart for a while now. Internal strife basically revolving around Assange himself, and the growing cult of personality he's been trying to build.

I appreciate the core concept of Wikileaks, that of a place where would-be whistleblowers can blow their whistles with a fair amount of anonymity, but their vetting process could be improved, for one, and more importantly I lost a lot of respect for them when they started editorializing their content.

You be surprised, what if i told you Ross Kemp met a suicide bomber in Gaza that had just graduated from college with a law degree?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sya2hlQ0lYk&feature=related

I dont know about you but the fact that something like that can happen is :/ worrying to say the least. If the video doesnt work let me know and I can have a look for another 1.

 

[Undeadpool]

2) He puts most of his time and effort into leaking stuff about the US, which also means that, like any other political activist, he has an agenda of his own. I too would love to live in a world where people didn't have to do bad things in the shadows, but until everyone gets to that point, asking one country to suspend their black ops division is completely irresponsible.

I don't know about the first point, but this is just ridiculous. He targets the US once, therefore he has an agenda?

Could it not be that the US is just doing the most bad stuff at the moment? You need only look through the archives of leaks to see that he doesn't have a preference for targeting any specific country.

He doesn't leak the files anyway, just distribute them.

It could be the last glimmer of my failing patriotism (right now my favorite American icon is Captain America), but I have incredibly sincere doubts that the US is doing the most dirt out there.
As to the first point, I may not have as much of a command over this issue as I first thought, so rather than potentially make an ass of myself, I'll just cede the point for now and do a little research.

 

[The Random One]

Oh God they're TAKING DOWN THEIR WEBSITES

This is just too much


On a more serious note, I don't really support Wikileaks, but I can't be against a guy who's essentially out to screw the government with his own notes. Guys like that balance out the book burners.

 

[Rubashov]

Treason is "a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state."

As Assange is Australian he has made no allegiance to the U.S.

Even if he were American I would argue that if a state is defined by the people, he has done those people a service by exposing the abuses of those in power who claim to be trust-worthy.

My obvious lack of properly used semantics aside, you really think it's going to solve said problem? You don't like or trust your parents, so in retaliation you have someone handout flyers with the exact dimensions of their keys and the codes for their home security system?

Eh? That's a weird example. The relationship between a state and its citizens is not analogous to the relationship between parents and children. The state exists at the whim of its citizens.

 

[Bailoroc]

I liked 4chan better when they were more about memes and catching pedofiles and less about politics...

 

[thethingthatlurks]

We are Anonymous. We are Legion. Etc and so forth...

Who in their right mind would oppose the release of such information? "It reveals national security targets"...yeah buddy, you probably need help dressing yourself. Any government which which uses the guise of national importance to prohibit its citizens from learning anything they wish (the power of the national government arises from the citizens after all) is inherently corrupt. I am willing to make the following exceptions: 1) the personal lives of government officials, provided they do not interfere with their duties. 2) Current military operation details. By current I mean very imminent or presently ongoing, as those could endanger the lives of soldiers and civilians. The first point is moot in the release of the documents. What diplomats write over cables is very much the business of the public, as we pay their fucking salaries! Furthermore, if people can get fired for writing negative things regarding their work on facebook, said diplomats ought to be as well. Now number 2...well, that's a bit more complicated. On the one hand, reports vis-a-vis civilian casualties should be released post-haste, as should be anything involving the misconduct of US forces. On the other hand, something like the inventory list of supply trucks might not be something that the public needs to know about until a bit after the conflict has ended...

Anyway, to summarize (and to make sweeping generalizations): if you oppose wikileaks, you are either 1) a colossal retard, 2) 14, 3) have never paid taxes. Go Anon!

 

[felixader]

Sorrry wronged post.

 

[AlexWinter]

I love how in forum arguments it only seems like one side actually knows what they are talking about, while the other simply throws around buzzwords like "terrorist", "rapist", and "treason" without really looking into the matter.

Absolutely what I was thinking as I read some of these posts.

While an interesting thread, that I have been waiting for someone to make for a while (Yay Laziness), after reading the posts it kind of seems like making it was redundant because anyone of intelligence agrees that Assange is a hero.


Hero - Someone that puts their life on the line for the greater good.

 

[felixader]

You've got it wrong, what Assange did was hand out flyers and leaflets detailing proof that the parents had no alibis for beating the hell out of the family living on the next block, no proof that the attack was justified and were, as it turns out, pretty horrible people to begin with.

I didn't really point this case out for the case of that they had no justification.

I meantioned this cause they new they could get away with it anyway and so didn't even care for the better solutions and thus just did it anyway. ^_^

 

[zHellas]

I don't get the whole anti-government deal. Every country has it's corruption. Every country has it's dirty laundry. Yeah the US is screwy, but that's no secret. If the goal is Anarchy, that's an even worse outcome than where we already are.

As long as governments are led by people, there will always be secret agendas, either by the ones on top and by anybody below him.

As for the "freedom of speech/press/religion" First Amendment, people need to realize it's not absolute. It's not a catch-all to say whatever the hell you want. Going into a crowed place and yelling "FIRE" to cause panic is not covered by the First Amendment.

And while I'm here, if Anon IS causing sites to crash or whatever, they're cyberterrorists, and criminals.

...You pretty much said everything I wanted to say.

The precarious situation that the WORLD is in just now is ENTIRELY caused my the American...I'm NOT Americans.

The American administrations have been meddling with and destabilizing the world for their own greedy benefit for DECADES and HAVE to be stopped, By Whatever Means Neccessary.

ANYONE who has a hand in uncovering their dirty tactics, lies and crimes are HEROES..

And about the leaks... I WANT TO KNOW what crimes the governments are responsible for, only then can we do something about it... If people get hurt, then TOUGH SHIT.. they should take more resposibility for the actions they allow theselves to be caught up in.

Well, I DON'T know much ABOUT WHAT this GUY WAS TRYING to do by CAPITALIZING nearly every single WORD in his POSTS.

And I mean GUY as in GENERAL PERSON, and NOT instantly ASSUMING you're a MALE.

(I apologize if I offended you, but I just found that you putting every other word in all-caps as being kinda weird and silly.

If you do it because of some mental condition or habit(like one you can't help), then I deeply apologize.

Again, I didn't mean to offend you, I just found it odd.)

 

[airrazor7]

I'm just waiting to see how much worse this is going to become. I'm not a conspiracy or paranoia nut but I get the feeling this is going to steam roll into something a lot bigger and equally as awful.

 

[Fatal-X]

The internet is such a jungle...

Wikileaks think that they do something good, but in fact they aren't. Seriously, what big conspiracy those last secret documents uncovered? None. The only result is crippling US diplomats, because now, no one will want to talk to them honest for some time.

I would like to see Wikileaks shut down. So no support from me to Anon on this one.

 

[Fatal-X]

double post

delete it please

 

[AgentBJ09]

-Referenced-

So, if I ran a business that at one time supported WikiLeaks, then didn't after they published military information that I felt crossed a line, that makes me an enemy in the eyes of Anonymous? Why?

We can support anyone we wish in this world, and Anonymous isn't helping by doing this.

 

[MrJoyless]

I'm amazed how the unabashed proliferation of a nation's sensitive info is no longer defined as 'treason'.

its only treason if the person is from that country, he is Austrian not american so its not treason. it would probably fall into the same category as spying or releasing stolen info etc.

plus the american that handed this info over to wikileaks is very much in jail at the moment.

overall i think this leak has opened the eyes of a few americans who took the time to read most of the info, the fact that the president of Afghanistan was busted with a 50 million dollar bribe from the United Arab Emirates and that we did nothing about it says a great deal about our progress in Afghanistan....

it was nice to see that many of the heads of state in other countries have similar worries that we do as is the case in the middle east.

meh. im glad it was done but if you arent willing to take the heat dont jump in the fire...

 

[Fuselage]

I love how in forum arguments it only seems like one side actually knows what they are talking about, while the other simply throws around buzzwords like "terrorist", "rapist", and "treason" without really looking into the matter.

Absolutely what I was thinking as I read some of these posts.

While an interesting thread, that I have been waiting for someone to make for a while (Yay Laziness), after reading the posts it kind of seems like making it was redundant because anyone of intelligence agrees that Assange is a hero.


Hero - Someone that puts their life on the line for the greater good.

He is also an Internet martyr, He is most likely going to be killed but has a 1.4 GB file on various peoples that he has the usb key to, since he is a master hacker, he made a supposedly impossible to break encryption, If he is in danger of any kind he is to release this "Insurance", It is either 1.4 gb's of bluff or 1.4gb's of important files that show everything.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The precarious situation that the WORLD is in just now is ENTIRELY caused my the American...I'm NOT Americans.

The American administrations have been meddling with and destabilizing the world for their own greedy benefit for DECADES and HAVE to be stopped, By Whatever Means Neccessary.

ANYONE who has a hand in uncovering their dirty tactics, lies and crimes are HEROES..

And about the leaks... I WANT TO KNOW what crimes the governments are responsible for, only then can we do something about it... If people get hurt, then TOUGH SHIT.. they should take more resposibility for the actions they allow theselves to be caught up in.

Well, I DON'T know much ABOUT WHAT this GUY WAS TRYING to do by CAPITALIZING nearly every single WORD in his POSTS.

And I mean GUY as in GENERAL PERSON, and NOT instantly ASSUMING you're a MALE.

(I apologize if I offended you, but I just found that you putting every other word in all-caps as being kinda weird and silly.

If you do it because of some mental condition or habit(like one you can't help), then I deeply apologize.

Again, I didn't mean to offend you, I just found it odd.)

Maybe he's William Shatner in disguise...

"We've TRAVELED back in TIME to uncover the MYSTERY behind wikiLEAKS."