News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by hammock on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:25PM (#12736027)
Wikileaks: Multiple US sources tell us John Kerry asked Ecuador to stop Assange from publishing Clinton docs during FARC peace negotiations.

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/788369924175441920

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dntrkv on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:34PM (#12736127)
Multiple US sources say Assange is pulling a PR stunt.

Multiple US sources say Trump is the anti christ.

Multiple US sources say Assange is a false flag placed by the Reptilians.

Wow, this is easy!

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:04PM (#12736498)
This isn't a very interesting criticism. If WikiLeaks says an anonymous source told them something that is a.) completely believable and b.) isn't what a onymous source would be able to say, I see no reason to doubt them. I don't have an extraordinarily high confidence in a claim based on an anonymous witness alone, but journalists (lets squint hard enough to still call Assange a journalist for a moment) do this all the time.

Do you have other evidence to bring to the table? Do you have reason to doubt a.) or b.)?

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dntrkv on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:15PM (#12737175)
On the one hand we have a reputable media company reporting quotes from reputable sources, and on the other we have WikiLeaks (with a very well documented agenda) claiming the exact opposite from an anonymous source.

The New York Times and The State Department are both putting their reputation (however much that means to you) on the line with their quotes, whereas WikiLeaks and its anonymous source, aren't putting anything on the line since a large part of their business model depends on making claims that can only be proven in their favor, but never in reverse.

Example, this claim about who is responsible for cutting Assange's internet access. Let's say the US did not cut his internet. There is absolutely nothing The State Department can say to make WikiLeaks supporters believe them. Whereas, anything WikiLeaks says about the US government will be eaten up by their supporters since the only people that can provide evidence to the contrary, WikiLeaks supporters don't trust. It's the same approach taken by Alex Jones (They want to take your guns, they want to put you in fema camps, etc...), Trump (A lot of people are saying...)

Oh and btw, I'm not saying you should just blindly believe what the government tells you, but until any actual evidence is provided to support another explanation, there is no reason to assume it is true.

Bonus hypocritical Trump tweet: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/78183870603031347...

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by freshhawk on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:48PM (#12737463)
> The New York Times and The State Department are both putting their reputation (however much that means to you) on the line with their quotes

I think the disconnect here is just how much weight you put on this statement here. For a significant number of people a lot of recent news has severely damaged the reputations of these institutions as well as shown that their reputations really wouldn't be impacted by their claims being shown to be false.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by drzaiusapelord on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:24PM (#12737255)
>anything WikiLeaks says about the US government will be eaten up by their supporters

It used to be a saying that geeks can't do politics. And now after what I've seen of years of slashdot, digg, Reddit, and HN I think its fair to say that saying is true. The problem I see is that people who think they're smart think they must automatically be immune to propaganda, bias, etc because, well, they're so smart. I find the techie personality to be unusually vulnerable to propaganda and conspiracy theories. I think this type of thinking gives simple answers and black and white thinking that are intellectually satisfying and dismiss the incredible complexity of human interactions. Its very easy to just eat up anti-US college identity politics and make the US be the devil in all things. Its simple and is emotionally satisfying. The problem is that its also incorrect, especially when your "good guys" are Russia, China, and Iran.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by ccallebs on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @03:30PM (#12737880)
I agree with you 100%. Most political talking points on sites like Reddit (and even HN) are just platitudes. The problem is they've been repeated so often that even questioning something is ground for a public tar and feathering.

We cannot have any sort of meaningful dialog when the opposition on both sides is painted into a caricature.

George W. Bush had an amazing quote during the memorial service for the fallen Dallas PD officers. Paraphrasing but: "We judge other groups by their worst and ourselves by our intentions"

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by Berobero on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:36PM (#12736838)
I don't know that there's a reason to specifically doubt a or b, but in contrast to their other major (and known valid) leaks, this one is much more tied to their organizational interests, so there's that much more reason to be healthily skeptical of it.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by unprepare on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @03:32PM (#12737896)
> that is a.) completely believable

How so?

If ecuador was going to give in to US demands, why wouldnt they just let the US extradite Asssange?

Clearly the US doesnt have the type of pull with Ecuador to force their hand, why would you think this is any different?

you believe that john kerry alone was able to convince them to cut the internet, but the fact that 3 separate countries want him arrested is meaningless to them?

Doesnt sound believable to me at all. so yes, i have reason to doubt a)

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @03:39PM (#12737951)
Because they're willing to do one thing but not the other?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by TazeTSchnitzel on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:06PM (#12736519)
Irrelevant to your point, but I hadn't heard “onymous” as the antonym of “anonymous” before, thank you for that.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:09PM (#12736550)
It isn't a real word I'm afraid, but an FBI invention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Onymous

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by Etzos on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:23PM (#12736709)
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:28PM (#12736766)
Thanks, learned something new.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by zem on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:35PM (#12736824)
interesting, I've always used "nonymous" for that, but "onymous" is etymologically sounder
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by jcranmer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:52PM (#12736973)
Yeah, I was going to say "nonymous" was etymologically superior, but then I looked up the etymology for anonymous before hitting send.

Given that the English (/Germanic) is "name" and the French is "nom", I would have expected the PIE for name to be some sort of "nVm"-ish thing, whence I expected the Greek to render it is some sort of "non"-ish thing. The actual Greek is ónoma, with the PIE being something like *hnómn. (So my PIE guess was right-ish, but the transition to Hellenic was wrong).

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by antman on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:15PM (#12737168)
This is Ancient Greek and the antonym is "eponymous". Unfortunately it has a double meaning, used more often as "named after". So we got 'onymous' which has no meaning as an old root.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by untog on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:58PM (#12737026)
If the quote is about Wikileaks then I certainly see reason to doubt them. They have obvious motivations.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by revelation on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:37PM (#12736843)
Ascribing government propaganda to anonymous sources is basically 70% of the New York Times "reporting".
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:43PM (#12736892)
But what seems to be in question here is if WikiLeaks said "US officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that enhanced interrogation was vital to finding Osama Bin Laden," did WikiLeaks actually talk to those officials and did they really say that? Or are they promoting their brand as a marginalized alternative news source that the government is trying to fight?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by gjolund on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @04:44PM (#12738496)
So do you think he just forgot to pay his bill?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by untog on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:41PM (#12736224)
You know the wikileaks Twitter account is Assange, right? I'm going to wait for a reliable third party report on this one.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by arkitaip on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:54PM (#12736378)
Is Assange the only one using the wikileaks twitter account? Because it's batshit crazy at times https://heatst.com/politics/wikileaks-posts-and-deletes-anti...
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by snovv_crash on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:26PM (#12736739)
If anything, that website you linked is batshit crazy. At least Wikileaks had the sense to delete the tweets.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by neves on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:26PM (#12736742)
The guy is locked with Ecuadorian TV and English food. It is completely plausible that he goes batshit crazy at times. :-)
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:28PM (#12736762)
While I agree that Assange has been under an incomprehensible amount of stress for such a long time, he is getting increasingly radical and less journalistic, such as his (edit: alleged) vendetta against Clinton.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by imron on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:36PM (#12736842)
He has repeatedly stated that he would happily release information on Trump and the Republicans if someone would leak it to him.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:38PM (#12736861)
I'm sure he would, that doesn't make it appropriate to use leaked information to carry out a vendetta.

edit: getting source

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by imron on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:43PM (#12736893)
Is it really a vendetta though (genuine question, I'd be happy to see a source), or is it just that the people leaking information to him are doing it at this time, and he's releasing it for 'maximum impact' which has been what Wikileaks always tries to do?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:49PM (#12736949)
Wikileaks should not serve the agenda of it's sources in reporting information, but of the citizens of the world who need more transparency that they claim to represent.

Here you are:

https://theintercept.com/2016/08/06/accusing-wikileaks-bias-...

People talk a lot about how Putin is an opportunist. I think he saw how bitter Assange was becoming and understood if he gave him the documents, he could step back and let him carry out his vengeance against a woman who had a huge role in forcing him to ground in the embassy ("can't we just drone this guy?"). I'm told this is a Rule of Power. But that is speculation.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by imron on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:04PM (#12737083)
Note the key phrase from that article 'led to speculation that...'

In any case, here's Assange himself discussing this exact thing recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6mARUrPtXk&feature=youtu.be...

Doesn't seem like much of a vendetta according to him.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:51PM (#12737485)
It'd been a while since I'd read the article, and you're right, I oversimplified in my memory. I appreciate the counterpoint (though I can't watch it at the moment).
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by imron on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @03:04PM (#12737633)
Here's part of his answer:

"There’s been a lot of misquoting of me and WikiLeaks publications. In this particular case, the misquoting has to do with that we intend, or I intend, to harm Hillary Clinton or that I don’t like Hillary Clinton. All those are false. They come about as a result it seems of this campaign and those who are trying to personalize our publications."

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by FireBeyond on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:42PM (#12737419)
If you want to be seen as neutral, release information when you receive it.

Not "for maximum impact", or if threatened, or "if something happens to me", or any other variation.

If nothing else, it frees (or minimizes) accusations of you being bribed, blackmailed, extorted, having an agenda beyond "releasing information".

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:53PM (#12737502)
I could learn to see past an insurance file for WikiLeaks and still regard them as journalists, the idealized WikiLeaks is struggling in an asymmetric conflict with nation states and could probably use some insurance.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by pessimizer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:55PM (#12736997)
It was pretty clear that the account was referring to the trend of Twitter users surrounding their own names with parens as a protest.

"Not only the denigration of the ((())) symbol but also the use of the term ‘tribalist’ to imply Jews is, of course, base racism, a particular racism that Putin shares."

The idea that the "denigration" of an anti-semitic symbol is itself "base racism" is bizarre. Saying that he's using the word "tribalist" to refer to Jews is just incorrect, because the vast majority of the people who surround their names with parens are not Jewish, just doing it in sympathy. Using this accusation to associate him with Putin is just propaganda.

I think the tweet was a bit of pointless adhominem after noticing that a lot of their prominent critics seem to be a monoculture of very similar types of people. It annoys me when Wikileaks tries to act cute and smartassy (which is often), and this tweet bit them in the ass. It was this same hubris that made Assange think he had suddenly become a hot guy when he was in Sweden. Watching the video of him dancing, you can see a guy who thinks that he's finally turned into a butterfly.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by notahacker on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:43PM (#12737427)
Sneering at people who make public gestures of opposition to anti-Semitic tropes as "establishment climbers" sounds like pandering to a particular form of base racism to me, assuming you do so intentionally. I'll concede that it's possible that Assange or whoever tweeted that was unaware of what the parantheses symbolised in a way that someone tweeting "Tribalist symbols for establishment climbing? Most of our critics have pink triangles in their avatar" or worse "Tribalist symbols for establishment climbing? Most of the our critics have yellow stars in their avatar" really couldn't claim (I bet most people not involved with political Twitter are clueless about the parantheses' meaning). But conflating a Jewish symbol with the age old conspiracy theory that the "establishment" is run by people that suck up to Jewish interests by accident is certainly unfortunate....

And it gets even harder to defend the @Wikileaks Twitter account from pandering to anti-Semitism after looking at several of the other tweets unearthed by this search... https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Awikileaks%20jewish&src=t...

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by undersuit on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @03:35PM (#12737919)
>And it gets even harder to defend the @Wikileaks Twitter account from pandering to anti-Semitism

Oh yeah they are just rabid anti-semites. http://www.twitlonger.com/show/92hpnj

Your link shows completely normal use of the word "Jewish".

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:26PM (#12736744)
At the risk of sounding naive, what do the brackets and sunglassses (edit: they're just glasses) mean and how is it anti-semetic?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by paulmd on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:31PM (#12736795)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_parentheses

No idea on the glasses. Maybe a reference to the stereotypical g-man? i.e. he was trying to say that Jews control the government?

Regardless, the parentheses are pretty straightforward.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:36PM (#12736835)
I misread the tweet, they said "black-rimmed glasses" rather than "sunglasses".

So it seems to boil down to, "It seems like most of our critics are those upwardly-mobile Jews." Another sad chapter in the descent of WikiLeaks from a journalistic organization that was a reason to hope for humanity into a the Daily Mail for the Kremlin instead of GCHQ.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by ryanlol on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:54PM (#12736989)
>Regardless, the parentheses are pretty straightforward.

They really aren't, as the tweets hint they've recently been some sort of an anti-anti-semitism symbol, with lots of jewish people on twitter putting them around their names.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by thingexplainer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:06PM (#12736518)
It is possible (if not the norm for branded accounts) for multiple people to use a single account.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by snovv_crash on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:19PM (#12736670)
You think Wikileaks is a 1-person operation?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:41PM (#12736876)
Wikileaks != the Wikileaks Twitter account. It is perfectly possible for Wikileaks to be multiple people, and also for the Twitter account to be only one.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by snovv_crash on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:54PM (#12736993)
Sorry, given that the Wikileaks account is posting that Assange has had his internet cut off this conclusion makes no sense whatsoever.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dogma1138 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:37PM (#12736176)
And why is that a bad thing? you can't leak stuff during negotiations it blows everything up.

The FARC deal is now dead as it seems since the referendum has failed but if there was anything in those emails that could have jeopardized the deal it should not have been released.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by cmdrfred on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:39PM (#12736190)
If the truth blows up your negotiations, you are a cheat.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dogma1138 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:42PM (#12736232)
You don't know how negotiations work do you?

Everyone comes to the table with points that would make the other side walk away, and everyone has their initial redlines.

These change during the negotiations, premature release of information backs one or both parties into a corner in which further negotiations are no longer possible.

This is the real world, not some fairy tale.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by toomuchtodo on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:47PM (#12736288)
> This is the real world, not some fairy tale.

Indeed. And in this world now, information asymmetry is greatly reduced. Politicians can live with it.

The fairy tale is you can hide your dirty laundry until you've fleeced your negotiating opponent.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dogma1138 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:53PM (#12736376)
It's not dirty laundry its negotiations the deal would become public.

Look at how many deals with Iran and N. Korea blew up early own because one side leaked (usually intentionally to tank the negotiations) some information that meant no further negotiations would be possible.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by oldmanjay on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:06PM (#12736517)
Your point seems to be that because these people want to play a game using us as pieces, we should accept that they should get what they want. You never really get to why, though. You just leave it there, like a religious belief. Care to expand the reasoning?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dogma1138 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:20PM (#12736672)
Have you ever fought with your loved one? do you tell them everything? do you tell everyone everything all the time? If so we have a name for that, but you can't really hold a relationship if you act like that. We don't go and broadcast everything that was said to us in confidence, we don't share every thought we have.

If say there was an email from hilary saying that "The US would back X amount of billions in guaranteed loans to provide funding for infrastructure informer FARC controlled zones" one party now knows exactly how much to ask for, one party now knows a limit, one party now has more power... Or here is another example say on day 2 of the negotiations there would be some preliminary agreement on how many and what type of sentences would be commuted that's just one small point of the negotiation it hasn't been finalized but if leaked it can blow up the entire deal. FARC can say it's too little, the Colombian government/people can say it's too much, and all over something that haven't been finalized or agreed upon, on something that is likely to change 50 times over during the negotiations. You seem to think for some reason that leaking things prematurely isn't using you as pieces, it is you are a puppet of your emotions and feeding you specifically tuned information is effectively playing you like a string.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by nitrogen on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @04:15PM (#12738236)
So release more information that allows the people to make rational choices. The people are irrational because they are treated as pawns and manipulated with controlled information. If two countries are negotiating in ways that would upset their own citizens, then those countries' leaders should only blame themselves for the way they have conditioned their citizens to behave.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dogma1138 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @04:22PM (#12738292)
More often than not there isn't more information to release, because that information isn't there yet.

People are irrational because they are irrational.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by nitrogen on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @04:38PM (#12738441)
People are irrational because they are irrational.

So let's fix that first instead of continuing to manipulate the flow of information; the rest will follow.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by jospoortvliet on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @03:50AM (#12741885)
Right. Replace people with computers perhaps?

Because our few pounds of gray matter will never be rational. Us techies tend to think we are, which is exactly why we're even more prone to act irrational in some situations!

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by nitrogen on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @05:59AM (#12742443)
Defeatism ensures defeat. Instead of thinking of reasons not to try, why not try to come up with solutions?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by jsprogrammer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:41PM (#12736879)
It's not possible to tell everyone everything all the time. Further, everyone would be so spammed by everyone else, it's likely no one would be able to know what was going on.

It has become (and assuming we are still here in the future, it will become even moreso) easier to broadcast more. The primary reason people don't go around broadcasting everything is because they can't. Most people have been capable of broadcasting very little.

Consider what you are arguing (or at least, appear to be): "Yeah, we fucked you over in the past (and we may do so again in the future) and we didn't want to tell you about it (and tried not to [and will try to not tell you about it in the future]), but just play nice and give us this stuff we want, please?"

I see this argument continuing to be rejected wholesale.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by fixermark on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:37PM (#12736847)
The condensed version is "There are some issues so contentious that negotiation by committee does not work."

Imagine trying to end WWII if every citizen of every nation in that war were sitting at the negotiating table.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by dogma1138 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:52PM (#12736974)
WWII ended with unconditional surrender IIRC.

A good modern example would be the middle east peace process, every time there are negotiations and a deal is on the table it blows up more often than not because of premature and selective release of information.

The selective part doesn't have to be intentionally i.e. in one side only releasing part of the information but simply because the other points were not settled upon yet.

Negotiations are like trying to balance an egg on a point of a needle, if they aren't they are often one sided.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by cmdrfred on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:48PM (#12736307)
If it was so important, why the casual nature of infosec here then? Email is not secure. The real reason here is the Clinton/Goldman leaks and everyone knows it.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by raverbashing on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:45PM (#12736263)
Sure, next time you go to buy a car or a house just show them your bank account balance/mortgage values
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by maxerickson on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:47PM (#12736291)
That's pretty much what you do to buy a mortgage. Err, "negotiate" a mortgage.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by jdmichal on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:27PM (#12737276)
A mortgage is generally not a negotiation because most people have no leverage against the bank. When the options are get a mortgage or you don't get a house, the bank gets to dictate the terms. A millionaire who wants to finance a house that they could buy outright for reasons has leverage. They can and do have actual negotiations.

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Mark-Zuckerberg-s-mor...

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by FireBeyond on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:46PM (#12737448)
I have to say I have a fairly decent moral objection to this:

"When you can borrow at a rate below inflation, you're borrowing for free," McBride said. "This is the concept of using other people's money and it preserves financial flexibility for the borrower."

If you're borrowing at under market rates, we, the market are effectively subsidizing you. Does Zuckerberg need subsidies in order to have a mortgage?

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by jdmichal on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @03:28PM (#12737858)
Almost guaranteed that this was not a subsidy. Even for the extremely wealthy, banks are not in the business of giving away money for nothing.

The mortgage was likely only one piece of the deal negotiated. It costs the bank nothing to write an at-cost mortgage, but gives Zuckerberg value though additional liquidity. Items that cost nothing yet provide value to the other side are excellent things to throw on the table during negotiations to help seal the deal. One example: The bank may have the adjustable rate tied to the balance in an asset management account -- if Zuckerberg takes his money elsewhere, the mortgage also becomes profitable.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by raverbashing on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:48PM (#12736308)
A mortgage yes, but not the house
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by maxerickson on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:35PM (#12736832)
Right, I was pointing out that there are negotiations where one side expects the other to lay their cards on the table and has the leverage/position to make it happen (underwriters don't care a whole lot about individual mortgages).
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by cmdrfred on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:14PM (#12736607)
Commodities have prices set by supply and demand. We know how much a publicly traded company makes due to quarterly reports, this has no effect on its price buying a barrel of oil. Nor did my income play a role in buying my house. What I make has nothing to do with what my house is worth. Unless you are a cheat.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by fixermark on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:39PM (#12736865)
Inconveniently, that's not actually how economics works. Values aren't set in stone; they're negotiations between seller and buyer, where information asymmetry moves the price point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by cmdrfred on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:29PM (#12737296)
How exactly does that work for commodities? What prevents the buyer from moving on to a seller that simply refues to engage in that practice?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by fixermark on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @03:00PM (#12737590)
For commodities, in general, buyers do move on to a seller who doesn't price-negotiate---commodities are interchangeable enough that a buyer has the liberty of saying no because there are alternatives the buyer values equivalently. Until sellers find a way to incentivize price negotiation again by making the buyer believe they are getting a special deal that applies only to them or people like them.

Stores in the US generally don't price negotiate at the register, but they do have coupons that discriminate shoppers into loyal shoppers (those that take the time to track down the coupons or join the store's particular flavor of loyalty program) and ordinary shoppers.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by cmdrfred on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @04:48PM (#12738550)
>For commodities, in general, buyers do move on to a seller who doesn't price-negotiate---commodities are interchangeable enough that a buyer has the liberty of saying no because there are alternatives the buyer values equivalently.

So how does your income play into house prices? We had many houses on offer when I bought last year. We spoke with experts and offered slightly below market. If they countered above market, we would have walked.

> Stores in the US generally don't price negotiate at the register, but they do have coupons that discriminate shoppers into loyal shoppers (those that take the time to track down the coupons or join the store's particular flavor of loyalty program) and ordinary shoppers.

Isn't that more to do with advertising than income discrimination? I know wealthy housewives who have the time to clip coupons, my working class wife and I do not.

I'm not denying these practices exist, but its always sleazy businesses that engage in them and most consumers end up moving on once they catch wise. Grocery store vs. Amazon for example.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by fixermark on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @05:58PM (#12748074)
> So how does your income play into house prices? We had many houses on offer when I bought last year. We spoke with experts and offered slightly below market. If they countered above market, we would have walked.

If the seller knows you are making a million a year, it's a fact that balances against their desire to sell. While their desire to sell could be greater and they might capitulate anyway, they may very well hold faster to their asking price because they know you're able to afford it.

If Warren Buffet makes an offer on my house and tries to negotiate me down on price, I'll hold out and even sell to someone else who also negotiates down on price, but isn't him; all things being equal, I'd rather feel like I helped someone out than was taken advantage of. This is among the reasons people with wealth will often use intermediaries to close deals.

> I'm not denying these practices exist, but its always sleazy businesses that engage in them and most consumers end up moving on once they catch wise. Grocery store vs. Amazon for example.

Amazon owns woot.com, which allows them precisely to engage in price discrimination and the benefits of time-scoped deals while simultaneously offering a more "supercenter" experience on their main site. They capture both sides of the market---people who like to feel they are getting a special deal, and people who prefer the simplicity of one price.

(Besides, since Amazon brokers trades between buyers and sellers who are selling at different prices, they don't even practice "one product, one price" on their main site, really. And they have Amazon Prime, which is a loyalty program).

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by neaden on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:42PM (#12737417)
Are you opposed to the recent Cuba/US negotiations that certainly would have failed if they were conducted in the open?
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by JohnStrange on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:53PM (#12736371)
If that was true, how would Clinton docs affect FARC negotiations? Is Clinton habitually buying cocaine from Colombia or what would be the reason?

I would understand if Kerry asked Ecuador to stop Assange from publishing Clinton docs until she has been elected or until after the next presidential debate. That would make a lot of sense. But this FARC <--> Clinton doc connection doesn't.

Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by Sebguer on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:23PM (#12736705)
You're misunderstanding, the claim is that it was 'during', not 'because'. Kerry was there as part of the negotiations, and supposedly had a private meeting where he made the request. Not that I particularly believe this, just clarifying for you!
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by empath75 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:01PM (#12736475)
The state department probably asks ecuador to turn over assange every single time they talk to someone in ecuador.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by mc32 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @12:34PM (#12736123)
Whelp, he was being used. And I'm sure he knows that, but now that EC has other things on their minds more important than being a thorn to American politics, it's back to Realpolitik and Assange releasing info which may further embarrass their horse in the American political race would counter their political cause, so it becomes a casualty.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @01:44PM (#12736907)
However, we only have one source for the claim of multiple sources. When Wikileaks dumps a bunch of documents, I trust that those are real documents. But I'm not sure that I trust Wikileaks when they release publicity for themselves.
Re:Ecuador Says It Still Backs Assange, but WikiLeaks Says I... by ww520 on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @02:11PM (#12737141)
That sounds like state sponsored censorship.