Re:Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., all...
by EnergyAmy on Tuesday June 25, 2024 @05:24PM
(#40793795)
There's a pretty big difference in breaking the law to get hot goss vs breaking the law to expose corruption at the highest levels of government.
There's limits of course, but whistleblowers should be afforded a lot of leeway, particularly because quite often doing things the "right way" is engineered to accomplish nothing.
Re:Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., all...
by ben_w on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @05:03AM
(#40797916)
Sure, but that protection (that doesn't fully exist in practice but should) would still go to Manning rather than Assange.
Assange is to Manning as Glenn Greenwald is to Snowden. (Except for all the differences which make the legal issues in this case a thing in the first place).
Re:Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., all...
by DiogenesKynikos on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @03:19PM
(#40803510)
> without having to solicit for it
Countless journalists solicit classified information all the time. They don't just sit there hoping a story falls into their lap. They make connections in government and actively seek out information, including classified information. This has been completely standard in American journalism for decades.
Not really, though I am frustrated as it does feel like he's only popular because he's an underdog sticking it to The Man.
Even in isolation and ignoring the preceding case — for which he fled to the embassy in order to not risk the very outcome he's now facing (c.f. going to the USA, "Assange would appear in court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S.-controlled territory north of Guam", even though that wasn't even on the cards at the time he fled) — many other journalists manage to publish damning evidence that seriously upsets their governments without having to solicit for it (AFAICT, no journalists have gotten into trouble for publishing Snowden's leaks, just Snowden himself), while some other journalists who broke the law to get their scoops also faced court for breaking the law to get their scoops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_arrested_in_the...