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A comment on Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues. Parent comment

Re:Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amend... by kelnos on Thursday May 23, 2019 @06:38PM (#19996716)
> There is an argument to be made that we don't want to make it okay for every individual person to make their own judgement call about what classified information should be kept secret and what should not.

I would argue that we do want this to be okay, at least on a case-by-case basis. Unfortunately this means that it's incredibly subjective as to whether an unauthorized release of classified information was justified or not.

We currently live in a world where unethical (and often illegal) activities continue, secretly and silently, likely because people who do have some shred of a conscience are too afraid of the consequences of stepping forward and speaking out. We tighten that status quo only to our detriment and the continued erosion of our civil rights.

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Re:Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amend... by rootusrootus on Thursday May 23, 2019 @06:57PM (#19996852)
Ideally, the courts exist to make judgement calls on this case-by-case basis. That does mean going on trial, though, which has consequences even if you are ultimately exonerated.

It's a tough call. I don't have a good answer.

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Re:Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amend... by kelnos on Thursday May 23, 2019 @08:04PM (#19997246)
That's a good point, and I guess I still can't blame Snowden for deciding he doesn't trust the courts to do what's IMO the right thing.
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Re:Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amend... by droithomme on Friday May 24, 2019 @09:18AM (#20001106)
The courts don't need to interrogate journalists and leakers to investigate the claims in their leaks when their leaks have been published and analyzed by multiple news organizations.
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Re:Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amend... by teh_klev on Thursday May 23, 2019 @08:11PM (#19997289)
> We currently live in a world where unethical (and often illegal) activities continue, secretly and silently,

Cought, ahem, but also overtly - Venezuela, Iran. Sure, not ideal world citizens, but at least Venezuela still has an independent privately owned press, though funded by some pretty unpleasant rich folks.

Iran - not a big fan but I kinda think I'd rather live there (at a push) than Saudi or most of the other UAE, Oman etc type regimes who are US client states for civilian oppression.

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