
What happens if Julian Assange is tried in the US? - DyslexicAtheist
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/julian-assange-battle-save-freedom-press-181121091032429.html
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bostik
Matt Taibbi did a pretty good write-up on why the indictment is big deal.[0]

Basically, there has been a long push towards a "leaks are criminal activity"
mentality. If publishing leaked information gets classified as a crime, soon
there will be no real reporting left.

The moneyshot of the article is about third of the way in: _" Reporters
regularly publish stolen, hacked and illegally-obtained material. A case that
defined such behavior as criminal conspiracy would be devastating. It would
have every reporter in the country ripping national security sources out of
their rolodexes and tossing them in the trash."_

So whatever you may think of Assange the person, his case can have far-
reaching consequences.

0: [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-
news/taibbi-j...](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/taibbi-
julian-assange-case-wikileaks-758883/)

~~~
jpz
Matt Taibbi is a self-aggrandising conspiracy theorist and polemicist.

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Cypher
He'll be locked up in a secret prison where he wont be able to communicate
with the outside world.

[https://www.ted.com/talks/will_potter_the_secret_us_prisons_...](https://www.ted.com/talks/will_potter_the_secret_us_prisons_you_ve_never_heard_of_before)

~~~
yardie
The whole point of secret prisons are they are extrajudicial and technically
outside the realm of the US justice system.

You do that with a person as visible as Asange and the entire international
treaty system breaks down

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hncensorsme
Oh look, this post vanished off the front page. This community censors more
than Stalin. It’s a giant echo chamber and if you go against the grain you get
shadow banned. Seriously, fuck this place.

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hncensorsme
This is where hacker news pretends to be in favor of free speech and freedom
of the press while screaming for Assange to be prosecuted for exposing
Hillary.

~~~
criley2
There is where people understand that working with military intelligence
services to receive hacked materials isn't "Free speech", it's clandestine
espionage, and "journalism" isn't any more of a cover for espionage and spying
and military intelligence operations than "diplomat" is.

Actually, diplomat is a far superior protection for spying than journalism.

If Julian was smart enough to ingratiate himself to his masters earlier
instead of playing his megalomaniac NGO power-info-broker game, he might not
have voluntarily locked himself in an Embassy for half a decade. He might have
found himself with a sweet Snowden gig, a little quid pro quo here and there
and you get quite the setup in Russia.

But no American who believes in LIBERTY (not freedom. Liberty is freedom with
common sense limitations. Anarchy tempered with rules for society and
enforcement of rules) will have any problem with a spy being prosecuted for
attacking our elections on the behest of a foreign power whose military
intelligence this past month used a defense against Mueller charges in
American courts of "America is the enemy, we were committing an act of war, it
doesn't fall under civilian law"[1]. Great company, Julian!

[1] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-
security/russi...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-
security/russia-wants-dnc-election-hacking-lawsuit-
tossed/2018/11/13/d28496e8-e784-11e8-a939-9469f1166f9d_story.html?utm_term=.a0aa1b321a5a)

