I'm with you on the disgust for these Assange-personas, but what he did should not be illegal.

He was talking to public servants over a line owned by the state. He was specifically contacting them because of their respective roles in public departments. He was contacting them to talk about things that fall squarely into their responsibilities as public servants.

Public servants have no expectation of privacy in fulfilling their duties, why should it be different when you talk to them over the phone about said duties?

So yes, these wiretapping laws need to go.