The WikiLeaks website is fast gaining credibility as a whistleblowing site for political secrets, but one of the people behind it, Australian Julian Assange, remains an international man of mystery. His biggest coup so far has been obtaining classified video of Iraqi civilians and Reuters staff being gunned down by a US military helicopter, dubbed Collateral Murder, which has been watched over six million times. The site also released what it claimed was the list of websites to be banned under the Australian Governments proposed internet filter, before parts of WikiLeaks itself were blacklisted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. But Julian Assange does all this with no home or office, constantly travelling the world, so Mark Davis tracked him down to Norway, followed him to Sweden, where many of WikiLeaks servers are based, then to Iceland, where he was advising politicians on turning the country into a safe haven for whistleblowers, and finally to Australia, where he was told his passport would be cancelled amid WikiLeaks being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.
This was wonderful! Thanks for uploading it.
He’s the most important Australian of this dacade… we’ll see about later when later arrives.
I wonder what drives him to do this? Is it wealth, ego or truth and compassion?
I’m inclined to think the latter. Why would you risk jail and being hunted for ego or cash. No, I’m sure this guy is a serious man with a moral core.
@hobatu don’t forget about the people who risk their lives and jobs leaking documents
@fleshhunt I know, he’s more of a public face. But symbolism is important, and you have to make the spokesman for your cause to be as prominent as possible. It’s of massive importance.
@cleverfeller Can’t be money – he’s not making any through this venture.
@cleverfeller Have you ever met him? If you want to, visit large hacker-festivals/conventions (like HAR2009, where I last spoke to him). I can assure you that your conclusion is correct.
This man is gold.