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Assange says he plans to release amazing, controversial, perception shattering documents, yes? Well, I plan to make a fortune in screenwriting and music, buy a

• flexie 10y ago
  He may be in need of attention but his organisation performs a task that is - sadly - critical to our democracy. They have leaked information that mass media would otherwise not have been anywhere close to exposing. I too doubt that they have anything that significant for the election but I will give them the benefit of the doubt based on their prior important work. I also understand that they release information bit by bit. If it was released all at once, mass media would not have a chance to report on all of it.
  • bdhess 10y ago
    > They have leaked information that mass media would otherwise not have been anywhere close to exposing. Is there a specific case you're thinking of? For instance, with the DNC leaks, or with Chelsea Manning's leaks, I believe that the information relevant to the public interest would have been disclosed by any reputable major news outlet (NYT, WashPo, ...) that received it, so long as its authenticity could be verified. I prefer that leakers go to traditional journalists (à la Snowden) rather than WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks has a track record of creating collateral damage with its disclosures; for example, exposing SSNs and credit card numbers of people who happened to be donors to the DNC and who were otherwise uninvolved with the shenanigans going on. A responsible, ethical journalist would take care to exclude personal information that is tangential to the actual public interest.
    • mattlevan 10y ago
      To be fair, Assange doesn't seem to release personally identifying information because of malice, but rather his stated fear of the leaks being thrown out in court due to WikiLeaks tampering. He purposefully releases documents in full to prevent evidence-related loopholes closed in court.
      • vkou 10y ago
        If intentions were horses, beggars would be eating steak. Impact matters - magical thinking does not. What was the actual, observable impact of unabridged Wikileaks documents in court cases?
        • douche 10y ago
          I believe the expression is wish in one hand, and shit in the other; see which one fills up first
  • 6stringmerc 10y ago
    Perhaps, but it is also tainted with, to me, inexplicable craving for attention using methods that aren't aligned with the espoused higher calling of Wikileaks - as in the Sony hack content. That, to me, significantly damaged the remaining credibility of the organization. It may not resonate the same way for everyone, that's fine, I just sincerely disliked that situation.
    • DominikR 10y ago
      > That, to me, significantly damaged the remaining credibility of the organization. WikiLeaks is a media organisation so it will crave for attention as all media does. But please name one single case in which data released by WikiLeaks was bogus. On the other hand I could bring up hundreds of cases where main stream media has released fake information. So how exactly do you decide who has credibility and who does not?
    • mattlevan 10y ago
      WikiLeaks maintains credibility by being solely and entirely funded by individual contributions from the public.
      • bdhess 10y ago
        I don't even understand how you can claim that. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704554104575436231926853198 http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527487045541045754362...
• belorn 10y ago
  When the DNC leaked happened, no news paper talked about it. It was just politics and that is not news. The odds that political intrigues is talked about is about equal to the odds that a movie of a cat will be watched online. Such content is neither earth shattering or interesting, and public opinion on the two US candidates is already so low that it can't possible go down more. Even if they released video recording of one of the candidates ordering an assassination, the odds is fairly low that even a single vote will change.
  • MollyR 10y ago
    The DNC Leaks made wikileaks a huge part of the counter culture. I was in Phildelphia when the DNC protests happened. I couldn't believe how many Bernie supports said "wikileaks" at least once.
• deadmik3 10y ago
  I think you two have different interpretations of the meaning of the word "plan"
  • 6stringmerc 10y ago
    That's the joke. I might actually take steps to ensure mine is achieved as advertised.
• colordrops 10y ago
  It always blows my mind how much people like Assange and Snowden and Musk get attacked for trying to make the world better while the countless number of corrupt cowards that are in power come off relatively unscathed by these types of criticisms, at least on Hacker News. Why? Why would you attack someone who is trying to democratize power and uncover corruption? Even if the person in question has character flaws, that is by far low on the priority list for reasons to go after someone.
  • the_watcher 10y ago
    Assange is pretty demonstrably worse than the other two you lump him in with.
  • deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  • crystaln 10y ago
    Can you really look at the circus Assange is creating, and the way he plans to dribble out documents starting a month before an election, and conclude he is acting ethically and altruistically? No. Yes wikileaks has done very good things for the world. No, Assange is not the moral actor he claims to be.
    • hood_syntax 10y ago
      I agree wholeheartedly with this. IMO, while Wikileaks is certainly not on some untouchable moral high ground, they do good things and that's worth it for the bs Assange etc pull from time to time.
    • eikenberry 10y ago
      Why would the timing indicate him not acting ethically? He might just realize that information leaks are time sensitive, that when you release them is almost as important as what they contain.
      • kbenson 10y ago
• DominikR 10y ago
  > Assange says he plans to release amazing, controversial, perception shattering documents, yes? ... the seeming pathological need for attention by its founder. Didn't he already do this? And not just once, but many times. In fact his releases have been so controversial that he has the "privilege" to live in an embassy while hearing via media politicians (mostly Democrats) calling for his death or even "droning" him. (Hillary suggested that) Could it be that you are just a Hillary supporter that is afraid he could release something damaging about her?
  • dragonwriter 10y ago
    > In fact his releases have been so controversial that he has the "privilege" to live in an embassy That seems to have more to do with his refusal to face the music on rape charges than his releases. > while hearing via media politicians (mostly Democrats) calling for his death For most of the time since WikiLeaks involvement in the publishing the Manning docs, the calls for his punishment, including by the most drastic means, have been bipartisan but stronger on the Republican side. The Republicans changed their tune after Assange participated in the release of the DNC hack recently, but its somewhat revisionist to pretend that history started just a few weeks ago.
    • DominikR 10y ago
      > That seems to have more to do with his refusal to face the music on rape charges than his releases. Assange surely is a conspiracy theorist to hide in the embassy when politicians publicly call for his death and his main informant Manning was placed into 24/7 solitary confinement which could only be described as torture. > the calls for his punishment, including by the most drastic means, have been bipartisan but stronger on the Republican side Okay, then please name a Republican that has called for killing Assange.
      • dragonwriter 10y ago
        Mike Huckabee called for Assange's execution, and said that execution was "too kind a penalty" for Manning for actually leaking the information published by WikiLeaks. Sara Palin called Assange an "anti-American operative with blood on his hands" who should "pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders". Rep. Peter King (R-NY) called for Assange to be tried for espionage and for WikiLeaks to be designated, treated, and combatted as a terrorist organization. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) described Assange as a "high-tech terrorist" Newt Gingrich declared that "Julian Assange is engaged in warfare. [...] And Julian Assange is engaged in terrorism." and that "He should be treated as an enemy combatant and WikiLeaks should be closed down permanently and decisively."
• kbenson 10y ago
  > buy a white Lamborghini Countach Entirely off-topic, but I find it interesting and amusing that we can fairly squarely date ourselves with references like this. I grew up with a Lamborghini Countach picture on the wall by my bed. I suspect later generations of children (mostly boys, to be sure) had Diablos, Gallardos, Aventadors, etc, or some representative equivalent (Lamborghinis just make it easier with defined names for model types).
  • mcjon77 10y ago
    Child of the '80s? My personal favorite was the Ferrari Testarossa.
    • kbenson 10y ago
      Yep. While I liked the Ferraris, I wasn't particular to them. The Lamborghini caught my attention (asI'm sure it did so many others') because of its unique appearance. I was also a large fan of Mustangs, and my first car was a classic Mustang (if in horrible condition). A lot of this was influenced by my older brother, and his taste in cars, and the large coffee book about the history of the Mustang we had around the house. Tastes are so malleable at that age.
      • douche 10y ago
        I dunno. I suspect that the classic 70s muscle cars are objectively beautiful, or at least as close to objectively as is possible in something like this. Just look at a 69 GTO, or a 70s Charger or Challenger or Camaro.
        • kbenson 10y ago
          Oh, I won't object to them being beautiful, I'm just noting that as vehicles, adult me is less than enamored with them. While I like how classic Mustangs look, I have zero desire to ever own one again. I still own a 240z though, and while it's been mothballed for a decade, I still dream of getting that back on the road. That's a wonderfully fun car to drive.