23 September 2010

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Julian Assange Persecution

It has been two weeks since the Swedish Prosecution Authority published allegations [screenshot below] against Julian Assange on its website. No further information has been provided by the Authority to substantiate the allegations.

Without substantiation the allegations are persecution of Assange by continued publication on a website.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority undermines its reputation and credibility by this action. The action raises the suspicion that the Authority is deliberately punishing Assange without justification.

Other possibilities which have arisen from similar circumstances (note):

1. The Authority is deliberately breeding public suspicion of Assange and Wikileaks.

2. The Authority has been coerced into political persecution of Assange to counter Wikileaks' release of US Government documents.

3. The allegations have been found to be substantiated and the Authority is preparing for indictment and trial.

4. The allegations have been found to be without merit and the Authority is devising a response to excuse how the case has been handled.

5. The Authority has discovered that the allegations have been orchestrated by Wikileaks opponents and means must be devised to keep this confidential.

6. Assange is being investigated for more than, or different from, the published allegations.

7. Assange is being investigated for allegations involving national security which must remain secret.

8. Assange has been coerced to accept a plea bargain with confidential conditions.

9. Assange has been coerced to provide information about Wikileaks and its supporters.

10. Assange has been coerced to provide information about Wikileaks in the future as a confidential informant.

11. Assange has been discovered to be a confidential informant and means must be devised to keep this secret.

12. Others associated with Wikileaks have been discovered to be confidential informants and means must be devised to keep this secret.

Note: Several of these possibilities were described by the HOPE panel on hacker snitches, New York City, July 18, 2010. Panelists included Emmanuel Goldstein, Kevin Mitnick, Bernie X, Fiber Optic and Adrian Lamo. Lamo snitched on Bradley Manning; Bernie X and Fiber Optic were imprisoned as a consequence of other hackers snitching as part of plea deals; Goldstein said he snitched to save an innocent person from being blamed. Goldstein said a common perception is that up to 25% of hackers are snitches -- for pay and under plea deals. Hackers and security experts are often recruited to snitch on each other and customers -- defense, justice, spies and commercial firms among others do the hiring. All the possibilities are regular procedures among prosecutors.