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Assange needs to be released immediately. He is a journalist imprisoned for exposing American war crimes, and every day he spends in prison is another stain in

by epups 3y ago

Assange needs to be released immediately. He is a journalist imprisoned for exposing American war crimes, and every day he spends in prison is another stain in the West's claim of moral superiority to authoritarian regimes.

bloppe 3y ago
The only way he could be released in a way that's not hypocritical is if we scrap all notion of government secret classification. Is that what you're advocating?
- Georgelemental 3y ago
  Secret classification (in civilized nations that respect free expression) only binds people who agree beforehand not to divulge the information as a condition of gaining access to it, for example in the course of their employment. Journalists or other people who gain access to the info secondhand didn't agree to anything, and therefore commit no crime by republishing the classified info.
  - NoPicklez 3y ago
    I think it depends, if the information was classified appropriately the person who ends up with it will see that the information was not intended for them and that it obviously contains information of potential national significance blah blah A court may we able to argue that you knowingly distributed information that you were not authorised to see and in doing so was malicious. I agree with you, I'm just thinking of the optics.
  - vel0city 3y ago
    The indictment alleges Assange was more involved in the exfiltration than just getting some documents handed to him. It alleges he assisted in at least cracking passwords and requesting more documents after the initial contact. Both of these things would be entering a criminal conspiracy if true.
- epups 3y ago
  It's not a crime to expose state secrets that have been leaked by someone else - a person who, by the way, has already been released from prison. Furthermore, these exposed secrets were heinous, they were crimes against humanity. Which crime do you believe Julian Assange has committed?

by epups 3y ago

bloppe 3y ago

The only way he could be released in a way that's not hypocritical is if we scrap all notion of government secret classification. Is that what you're advocating?

Georgelemental 3y ago
Secret classification (in civilized nations that respect free expression) only binds people who agree beforehand not to divulge the information as a condition of gaining access to it, for example in the course of their employment. Journalists or other people who gain access to the info secondhand didn't agree to anything, and therefore commit no crime by republishing the classified info.
- NoPicklez 3y ago
  I think it depends, if the information was classified appropriately the person who ends up with it will see that the information was not intended for them and that it obviously contains information of potential national significance blah blah A court may we able to argue that you knowingly distributed information that you were not authorised to see and in doing so was malicious. I agree with you, I'm just thinking of the optics.
- vel0city 3y ago
  The indictment alleges Assange was more involved in the exfiltration than just getting some documents handed to him. It alleges he assisted in at least cracking passwords and requesting more documents after the initial contact. Both of these things would be entering a criminal conspiracy if true.
epups 3y ago
It's not a crime to expose state secrets that have been leaked by someone else - a person who, by the way, has already been released from prison. Furthermore, these exposed secrets were heinous, they were crimes against humanity. Which crime do you believe Julian Assange has committed?