

The secret life of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange - nkurz
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-secret-life-of-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-20100521-w1um.html

======
tptacek
_Wikileaks appeared on the internet three years ago. It acts as an electronic
dead drop for highly sensitive or secret information: the pure stuff, in other
words, published straight from the secret files to the world. No filters, no
rewriting, no spin._

No spin? So here's an article about Assange and Wikileaks that doesn't
actually even know much about Wikileaks.

Incidentally, if Julian Assange isn't his real name (unlike "proff", his #hack
handle from back-when), it has been his not-real name since the early '90s,
long before Wikileaks.

~~~
steve19
It was "no spin" only a few months ago.

~~~
tptacek
That we know of. Other possibility: they simply went way over the line this
time.

~~~
steve19
Good point. The raw data published by them may have been cherry picked.

------
adrianwaj
Expanded re-write: [http://www.theage.com.au/national/keeper-of-
secrets-20100521...](http://www.theage.com.au/national/keeper-of-
secrets-20100521-w230.html)

I really admire this guy, and I'd be looking for justice too if my hair went
white at 15.

~~~
nkurz
Yes, that's a somewhat better article. I would have submitted that one had I
seen it first.

Moderator --- perhaps you could switch to it?

[Interesting, apparently there's no way to flag your own comment to grab a
moderator's attention. Probably not a common desire! Perhaps someone could
flag this comment for this purpose?]

------
gruseom
Given this guy's pattern of turning everything into an episode of Spy vs. Spy,
I'd say odds are that some minor Australian official did in fact confiscate
his passport simply because it was tattered. If they mail him a new copy in a
few weeks, will that get reported?

~~~
jstevens85
As an Australian, it's been incredibly frustrating to see how incredibly
distorted the commentary has been on reddit and occasionaly here on
news.ycombinator.

Assange's passport was confiscated for 15 minutes while customs officials
examined it because of wear and tear. This is a common procedure. It was then
returned to him, and he was told that it may be cancelled (because of damage).
If that's the case, he simply has to reapply for another passport.

[http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-
news/australian-...](http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-
news/australian-wikileak-founders-passport-confiscated-20100516-v6dw.html)

>(At the time of writing, his passport status was apparently back to normal
after immigration officials at Melbourne Airport said that his passport was
going to be cancelled on the grounds that it was too tatty).

>''It has been in a couple of rivers,'' Assange allows, of the state of his
passport. The first time, as he recalls, in December, 2006, when he was
crossing a swollen river during heavy rain, in southern Tasmania, and was
swept out to sea. He swam back in.

[http://www.theage.com.au/national/keeper-of-
secrets-20100521...](http://www.theage.com.au/national/keeper-of-
secrets-20100521-w230.html)

~~~
mahmud
I concur that Aussie cops and immigration officers are the most civil of the
30+ countries I have been to.

I know the government can be pressured by "allies" to act int nefarious ways,
but I will always defer to good judgment and kind heart of Aussies to do the
_right thing_.

It's an unassuming, proletariat country, where even the usual government goons
are suspicious of bureaucracy. I felt the first whiff of their professionalism
when computer ate my online electronic visa application, and the consulate in
D.C. gave me a hand-signed "Pass" into Australia few hours before my flight.
Second time was when I was renewing my visa, the clerk found out I had 3 days
left, of which 2 were weekend days; she escorted me out of the line into an
express booth and everything was sorted out. Can't wait to return here in 2
months and for my immigration papers to get approved. I am eager to call it
home, what not with an aussie mrs.

FWIW, fellow yanks should google Australian "COPS" type shows, where they show
police arresting criminals, etc. It's a laughable joke! I have seen drunks and
thieves abuse, spit and attack police officers. In the U.S. that would mean a
one way ticket to the operating room, and if you're lucky to make it out
alive, a prison cell.

~~~
rdouble
Even though she was engaged to be married to an Aussie, a Melbourne
immigration official kicked my sister out of the country for a year because he
was having a bad day, so YMMV.

~~~
mahmud
I think Aussies just want to make sure you can take care of yourself. When I
was renewing my visa, I made it clear to the officer that if necessary, I
could fly to NZ that night and reapply from there.

My suggestion is, until you have your TR/PR visa, be lightweight and be
mobile. Always have your bank statements and few grands in cash to show you're
not a burden and you're not moonlighting illegally in the country.

However, there is always the possibility of someone having a bad day to mess
up your plans.

~~~
rdouble
She was employed by the state of Victoria as well as enrolled part time at
unimelb. The immigration official made it clear he didn't like Americans. What
I found interesting was that although Australia touts its algorithmic "points
based" immigration system, the end decision is arbitrarily made by a human,
just like any other country's immigration system.

------
lionhearted
Anything interesting in there? I read the first half of the article and
Assange seems to talk himself up as dark and mysterious, but I didn't really
see anything particularly insightful or interesting. Does the rest of the
piece have anything more substantial?

~~~
adrianwaj
I thought there were some dynamite quotes, real insights from an edgy
experience.

~~~
metamemetics
"How is it that a team of five people has managed to release to the public
more suppressed information, at that level, than the rest of the world press
combined? It's disgraceful."

------
korch
He's playing smart PR by building up this cyberpunk persona of Julian Assange.
Considering Wikileaks has gone from zero to CNN front page in under a year,
this is the critical period of time when Wikileaks establishes itself as a
media "brand."

It's a smart move to make all coverage about Wikileaks and the mission, and
not like some celebrity fluff piece about the founder. No matter how much the
MSM tries to TMZ-ify everything it touches, information is power, and the
stakes are very real here.

In a counter-intelligence sense, the dominant strategy is to hold your cards &
remain a blank slate as long as possible. Let everybody fill in the blanks
themselves on an empty canvas, introducing their own wrong biases, rather than
tell them what to think.

It's informative to flip through history books, and see what has happened to
the guy telling the King's secrets.

In almost every instance, that guy ends up dead. (The usual method being
suicide via two gunshots in the back of the head.)

With that in mind, it makes perfect sense to publicly reveal as little as
possible about one's personal life, just in case pissed off Mossad agents seek
vengeance decades later, for example.

------
jlcgull
He appears to "care deeply" about whatever he does. That itself is worthy of
respect in my book. Props to him.

