4 ms·

He has First Amendment protections. That doesn't apply to what he's being charged with, which is conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to US military systems.

cphoover 8y ago
As far as I understood WikiLeaks was purely a publishing platform. Not sure if this is the case back then but they have had claimed anonymity through the submission process (via proxies, and encryption)... to protect both themselves and whistle blowers. If all they were doing was publishing... that should be protected by first amendment. If Assange conspired with manning that would be a different story, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have a lot of issues with Assange, particularly as it pertains to Wikileaks handling of the DNC leaks, and Assange's collaboration with nationalist parties around the world... but despite my distaste for the guy...in this case I don't think he committed a crime.
- amanaplanacanal 8y ago
  > If Assange conspired with manning that would be a different story, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I'm guessing that they have evidence that yes, he did conspire.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > If Assange conspired with manning that would be a different story, but it doesn't seem to be the case. That's literally the exactly what he is charged with.
luxuryballs 8y ago
I agree with Greenwald: “The DOJ says part of what Assange did to justify his prosecution - beyond allegedly helping Manning get the documents - is he encouraged Manning to get more docs for him to publish. Journalists do this with sources constantly: it's the criminalization of journalism”
- roguecoder 8y ago
  Other journalists disagree: “I don’t know that journalists do “do this constantly”—I was always told that you get into legally questionable territory when you start asking for documents instead of just accepting them when offered.” https://twitter.com/yaelwrites/status/1116343757278892037?s=21 https://twitter.com/yaelwrites/status/1116343757278892037?s=... I would not be surprised to hear that Greenwald had done it, but that does not imply that it is actually common, nor legal.

cphoover 8y ago

As far as I understood WikiLeaks was purely a publishing platform. Not sure if this is the case back then but they have had claimed anonymity through the submission process (via proxies, and encryption)... to protect both themselves and whistle blowers. If all they were doing was publishing... that should be protected by first amendment. If Assange conspired with manning that would be a different story, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have a lot of issues with Assange, particularly as it pertains to Wikileaks handling of the DNC leaks, and Assange's collaboration with nationalist parties around the world... but despite my distaste for the guy...in this case I don't think he committed a crime.

amanaplanacanal 8y ago
> If Assange conspired with manning that would be a different story, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I'm guessing that they have evidence that yes, he did conspire.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> If Assange conspired with manning that would be a different story, but it doesn't seem to be the case. That's literally the exactly what he is charged with.

luxuryballs 8y ago

I agree with Greenwald: “The DOJ says part of what Assange did to justify his prosecution - beyond allegedly helping Manning get the documents - is he encouraged Manning to get more docs for him to publish. Journalists do this with sources constantly: it's the criminalization of journalism”

roguecoder 8y ago
Other journalists disagree: “I don’t know that journalists do “do this constantly”—I was always told that you get into legally questionable territory when you start asking for documents instead of just accepting them when offered.” https://twitter.com/yaelwrites/status/1116343757278892037?s=21 https://twitter.com/yaelwrites/status/1116343757278892037?s=... I would not be surprised to hear that Greenwald had done it, but that does not imply that it is actually common, nor legal.