ST official Cablegate thread

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: chicah

I think Manning did the right thing. He found something he thought people should know about, and released it. quote>

 

Is there any way that he could have actually read all of it first?

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: chicah

I think Manning did the right thing. He found something he thought people should know about, and released it. quote>

Private Manning also bragged about how easy it was to steal classified information without getting caught, which is not something that a whistleblower acting out of "the noblest of intentions" would be saying.  Manning can say all he wants about how he was trying to expose corruption, but bragging about premeditated criminal acts is a damning thing, and any military prosecutor worth his paycheck will use that to put gaping holes in any "whistleblower" defense. 

Originally posted by: Meg

 

Is there any way that he could have actually read all of it first?quote>

No, there isn't.  He basically leaked a bunch of state secrets without knowing what all was in them, which is part of what makes what he did dangerous.

Originally posted by: Barbarossa

He should be punished, but not severely. Perhaps a simple Dishonorable Discharge. He did, after all, violate the rules of his security clearance.quote>

If history is any indication, it is unlikely he will be charged with treason, and even if he is, it is unlikely he'll actually be convicted.  However, he can (and likely will) be charged under the Espionage Act, and execution is an option.

EDIT: My apologies.  It appearns that he is only being charged under UMCJ Articles 92 and 134.

[mightygoose 92]

executing whistleblowers is politically challenging though. losing that much face in the public eye for killing someone who has not killed others could be disastrous for the obama administrations less than perfect grip on opinion polls.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: mightygoose

executing whistleblowers is politically challenging though. losing that much face in the public eye for killing someone who has not killed others could be disastrous for the obama administrations less than perfect grip on opinion polls.quote>

Speaking from a hypothetical standpoint, it is easier than it might seem.  Military courts don't typically receive much press attention, and if a military prosecutor were able to successfully argue a conviction on the UMCJ articles concerning spying and espoinage (Article 106 and Article 106a, respectively), execution is a very real possibility.  (Bear in mind that for Article 106, death is the minimum sentence.)

[Easy Bakes 253]

Does anyone but me think the worst thing to come out of this is the lack of secuirty on state secrets?

that any nosy soldier can find them just lying around?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: mightygoose

executing whistleblowers is politically challenging though. losing that much face in the public eye for killing someone who has not killed others could be disastrous for the obama administrations less than perfect grip on opinion polls.quote>

Notwithstanding any wishful thinking on the part of a lot of people, this doesn't have anything to do with Obama nor his administration.  It just happened to come to light on his watch, and he probably still had Harry Truman's desk sign which said "The Buck Stops Here".  

Love it or hate it, the buck really belongs at the P-p-p-p-pentagon.  They seem to have failed to impress on their younger members the meaning of being so stupid.  The antlers on this buck should have enough points for each of the members of the joint chiefs to have one put where the sun don't shine.  They have no business passing the buck any further.  In fact, the buck probably originated in whatever office where the kid got his hands on this stuff.  Haven't they ever heard of locks, safes, or, *gasp* even burn bags?  There must be boxes and boxes of this stuff, or was it all on a DVD?  If it was on media, why was it not at least encrypted?

The kid is going to have to carry the can, but he didn't really fill it himself, did he?

[Odainsaker 2,137]

I've read bits which suggest the broader problem was a post-9/11 attempt to make information more readily available among cooperating government agencies, as much of the criticism in the 9/11 investigations was collected intelligence being isolated into bureaucratic bubbles with little agency sharing or cross analysis. Seems the trend afterward went too far in the other direction, with so much privileged data on government servers made available across numerous agencies that hundreds of thousands of the most junior-grade government employees were given access to secret files far removed from their assigned area of service, which is how Manning was able to use his own top secret clearances to gather the stuff.

Most of the stuff isn't all that shocking, as politics and diplomacy has always been likened to sausage-making even before Bismarck and Metternich refined the art of the arm-twisting meat-grinder. Spies assigned to an embassy?!?! Foreign leaders making kooky requests?!?!? Diplomats saying things behind closed doors that their leaders won't say in front of their own people publically?!?!? Mein Gott, it's worse than Blutwurst!!! Tabloid sensationalism aside (Manning is unlikely to be executed by Obama or the American Gestapo), most of it reads likes the private consultations one has with a lawyer, which can run the gamut of real and hypothetical legal machinations and which itself is kept private and protected for obvious reasons. Poor Assange...seems he is ironically upset that someone leaked information from the police investigation of his accusers. Makes me wonder if we'll see the next flood of leaks released just before the next major courtroom appearance. Wannabe martyrs and their internet fans against the Evil American World Procutorial Hegemony...yawn...

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Odainsaker:  Thanks for the best morning belly-laugh I've had in quite a while.  "Mein Gott, it's worse than Blutwurst!!!"  Now that is the wurst, all right.

In your closing remark, did you really mean "Procutorial Hegemony" or were you thinking "Praetorian Hegemony".  These days the party machines seem like versions of the Praetorian Guard.  Wonder which one has a pilum for Obama.

[mightygoose 92]

but surely the distinguishing thing here is that previously we had all suspected such backroom machinations that could be open to ridicule existed, shall we say there has been little evidence of such conversations in public forums.

[GMT 389]

what I find rather interesting is a small article in the big and bad german "newspaper" Bild (equals what the Sun is in the UK), which claims that Anna Ardin made "trophy" pictures of Assange naked in her bed or whatever bed they came across.

Just the exact thing an alleged rape victim does. all the time. seriously. Now I know how much to trust this newspaper, but there's a truth to every lie...

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Hard to call it rape when the product is porn, eh?

[mightygoose 92]

if she took pictures during and or before & after, surely that shows motive for entrapment?

[Duke87 1,070]

You would think, but given the enormous amount of pressure to get this guy locked up, I would expect that to be conveniently ignored. Proper justice is not the goal here.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: Duke87

You would think, but given the enormous amount of pressure to get this guy locked up, I would expect that to be conveniently ignored. Proper justice is not the goal here.quote>

Quite right.  Can you say scape goat?

[morriswalters 16]

As far as I can tell the only person who has spoken of the picture is Assange.  However if it exists it is hilarious.  But in any case it's a matter for Swedish law.  But for a man so certain of persecution by world governments, he was certainly careless in his adventures.  If everybody was out to get me then I would be much more circumspect in my personal life much less allow a trophy photo to be taken.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

He is reputed to be hung like a stallion, so maybe it is a matter of pride goeth before a fall.

[mightygoose 92]

Originally posted by: A Nonny Moose

He is reputed to be hung like a stallion, so maybe it is a matter of pride goeth before a fall.

quote>

and i have heard he can shoot anti american lasers from his eyes....

[morriswalters 16]

Heck maybe he can use those laser eyes to cut the glass of that jar the the mean old British(American drones that they are) have him stuck in.  Warning for future moths, don't go to the light, and if you do wear sunglasses.[metaphor alert]

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: morriswalters

Heck maybe he can use those laser eyes to cut the glass of that jar the the mean old British(American drones that they are) have him stuck in.  Warning for future moths, don't go to the light, and if you do wear sunglasses.[metaphor alert]

quote>

Polarized, of course.{Sarcasm warning}

[mightygoose 92]

US tells Twitter to hand over WikiLeaks supporter's messages

A member of parliament in Iceland who is also a former WikiLeaks volunteer says the US justice department has ordered Twitter to hand over her private messages.

Birgitta Jonsdottir, an MP for the Movement in Iceland, said last night on Twitter that the "USA government wants to know about all my tweets and more since november 1st 2009. Do they realize I am a member of parliament in Iceland?"

She said she was starting a legal fight to stop the US getting hold of her messages, after being told by Twitter that a subpoena had been issued. She wrote: "department of justice are requesting twitter to provide the info – I got 10 days to stop it via legal process before twitter hands it over."

She said the justice department was "just sending a message and of course they are asking for a lot more than just my tweets."

Jonsdottir said she was demanding a meeting with the US ambassador to Iceland. "The justice department has gone completely over the top." She added that the US authorities had requested personal information from Twitter as well as her private messages and that she was now assessing her legal position.

"It's not just about my information. It's a warning for anyone who had anything to do with WikiLeaks. It is completely unacceptable for the US justice department to flex its muscles like this. I am lucky, I'm a representative in parliament. But what of other people? It's my duty to do whatever I can to stop this abuse."

Twitter would not comment on the case. In a statement, the company said: "We're not going to comment on specific requests, but, to help users protect their rights, it's our policy to notify users about law enforcement and governmental requests for their information, unless we are prevented by law from doing so."

Most of Twitter's messages are public, but users can also send private messages on the service.

Marc Rotenberg, president of the online watchdog the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) in Washington, said it appeared the US justice department was looking at building a case against WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, over its publication of secret US documents.

EPIC has already requested that the US authorities hand over information about their investigations into people who have donated to WikiLeaks via Mastercard, Visa or PayPal.

"The government has the right to get information, but that has to be done in a lawful way. Is there a lawful prosecution that could be brought against WikiLeaks? It seems unlikely to me. But it's a huge question here in the US," said Rotenberg.

Jonsdottir was involved in WikiLeaks' release last year of a video which showed a US military helicopter shooting two Reuters reporters in Iraq. US authorities believe the video was leaked by Private Bradley Manning.

Adrian Lamo, the hacker who reported Manning to the authorities, indicated that Manning first contacted WikiLeaks in late November 2009 – a period covered by the request for Jonsdottir's tweet history.

In 2009 Jonsdottir invited Assange to a party at the US embassy in Reykjavik where he chatted with the ambassador to Iceland. WikiLeaks had recently published a secret report on the collapse of the country's banks.

"I said it would be a bit of a prank to take him and see if they knew who he was. I don't think they had any idea," Jonsdottir said last year.

The MP has distanced herself from Assange and WikiLeaks, saying he should take a step back to deal with an investigation in Sweden. The 39-year-old is fighting extradition to the country, where two women have accused him of sexual misconduct. He denies the allegations.

In Iceland she has championed the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative which is aimed at creating legislation to make Iceland a legal haven for journalists and media outlets.

She is not the first WikiLeaks associate to be targeted by US officials. Last July Jacob Appelbaum, one of Assange's closest colleagues, was interrogated for three hours and had his phones confiscated upon entering the country at Newark airport. Customs officials photocopied receipts and searched his laptop.

The justice department did not returns calls seeking comment last night.

so US justice department is flexing its muscles and really trying to build a case against assange... oh dear.

[Duke87 1,070]

But of course. A show of force was inevitable. Gotta do everything we can to scare people into line discourage such activity, right?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I wonder if the Justice people bothered to find out that their subject is a member of a friendly power's parliament?  I should think they would have had to clear such a thing with the state department before causing an international incident.  Sometimes people over at justice act like bulls in a China shop, especially when they have someone breathing fire on them.

[morriswalters 16]

Is she special? Did Justice go to Iceland to subpoena the data? Servers located in this country make them accessible to American justice(I sorry if that term offends anyone). Welcome to the cloud. If you have secrets, keep them secret. Else wise assume that you have shouted them to the world in Times Square. She should have known better. Most people who get subpoenaed in a criminal inquiry don't like it I would guess. By the way the unredacted cablegate files are in the wild.

[Yoman3 5]

You know this guy really has to stop complaining, if he had done this to any other government with such dirty laudry besides those in the EU and Canada he would be worrying every time he turned on his car, in fact he'd probably be dead by now, or at least dying of radiation poisoning.

[Cobraroll 138]

^Ironically, that is what WikiLeaks is for. People can (anonymously, but apparently up to a certain point) submit documents and show their country/company's dirty secrets to the world. Journalists or idealists all over China, former Soviet, Africa or Latin America are submitting, and WikiLeaks are publishing. The site kept on just like that until they started the great media stir by pissing off the US. Many people "high up there" in the WikiLeaks organization dislike Assange for giving the spectacular and controversial documents priority, instead of the documents that tells of minor scandals in the second/third world.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I think I've said this before, but the whole thing is a tempest in a tea pot (or the tabloid media if you prefer).  If anyone is suprised that the diplomatic corps is just as stupid as the rest of us, I suggest you get over it, forget it, and get on wtih something important, like what's for dinner.  I think this is a topic for Twitter, not for ST.

[mightygoose 92]

WikiLeaks: Julian Assange 'faces execution or Guantánamo detention'

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, could be at "real risk" of the death penalty or detention in Guantánamo Bay if he is extradited to Sweden on accusations of rape and sexual assault, his lawyers claim.

In a skeleton summary of their defence against attempts by the Swedish director of public prosecutions to extradite him, released today, Assange's legal team argue that there is a similar likelihood that the US would subsequently seek his extradition "and/or illegal rendition", "where there will be a real risk of him being detained at Guantánamo Bay or elsewhere".

"Indeed, if Mr Assange were rendered to the USA, without assurances that the death penalty would not be carried out, there is a real risk that he could be made subject to the death penalty. It is well known that prominent figures have implied, if not stated outright, that Mr Assange should be executed."

The 35-page skeleton argument was released by Mark Stephens, Assange's lawyer, following a brief review hearing this morning at Belmarsh magistrates court.

The WikiLeaks founder, who is on conditional bail while his extradition case is being considered, appeared for no more than 15 minutes in the dock, while supporters including Jemima Khan and Bianca Jagger looked on and waved support from the public gallery.

He later emerged to give a brief statement to a large number of reporters, saying: "Our work with WikiLeaks continues unabated. We are stepping up our publications for matters relating to Cablegate and other materials.

"These will shortly be available through our newspaper partners around the world – big and small newspapers and human rights organisations."

The skeleton argument outlines seven points on which Assange's lawyers will contest his extradition, which was sought by the Swedish DPP, Marianne Ny, following accusations from two women that he had sexually assaulted them in separate incidents in August.

One accusation, that Assange had sex with one of the women while she was asleep, would amount to rape under Swedish law if proven. Both women had previously had consenting sex with Assange.

The other points of argument include:

• That the European arrest warrant (EAW) is not valid, because Ny is not the authorised issuing authority, and it has been sought for an improper purpose – ie "simply in order to question him and without having yet reached a decision on whether or not to prosecute him". This, they argue, would be in contravention of a well-established principle "that mere suspicion should not found a request for extradition".

• That there has been "abuse of process" as Assange has not had full disclosure of all documents relating to the case, in particular text messages sent by one of the women, in which she allegedly said she was "half asleep" (ie not fully asleep) at the time they had sex, and messages between the two women in which they allegedly spoke of "revenge".

• That the "conduct" of the Swedish prosecutor amounts to abuse of process. Assange's lawyers cite the fact that the rape allegations were initially dismissed and then reopened by a second prosecutor, that the prosecutor has refused Assange's offers of interview, and that it has not made documents available to Assange in English. They also cite the leak of part of the prosecution case to the Guardian as "a breach of Mr Assange's fair trial and privacy rights".

• That the alleged offences would not be considered crimes in the UK, and therefore, they argue, an EAW between the two countries would not be valid.

• That the extradition attempt is politically motivated, and that his trial would be prejudiced because of his political opinions or because, they argue, of his gender.

Assange's team will make their case on 7 and 8 February, when Assange will return to court for the full extradition hearing. The case for his extradition is being argued by the Crown Prosecution Service on behalf of the Swedish prosecutor; the full prosecution case is not expected to be released before that date.

District Judge Nicholas Evans agreed at this morning's hearing to ease the terms of his bail conditions, which require Assange to wear an electronic tag and report daily to a police station close to the stately home on the Suffolk/Norfolk border where he is staying. For the nights of 6 and 7 February Assange will be permitted to stay in London.

Twitter’s Response to WikiLeaks Subpoena Should Be the Industry Standard

ANALYSIS: Twitter introduced a new feature last month without telling anyone about it, and the rest of the tech world should take note and come up with its own version of it

Twitter beta-tested a spine.

On Friday, it emerged that the U.S. government recently got a court order demanding that Twitter turn over information about a number of people connected to WikiLeaks, including founder Julian Assange, accused leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, former WikiLeaks spokeswoman Birgitta Jonsdottir and WikiLeaks activist Jacob Appelbaum.

The request was approved by a magistrate judge in Alexandria, Virginia, where a federal grand jury is looking into charges against WikiLeaks related to its acquisition and publishing of U.S.-government classified information.

The court order came with a gag order that prevented Twitter from telling anyone, especially the targets, about the request’s existence.

To Twitter’s credit, the company didn’t just open up its database, find the information the feds were seeking (such as the IP and e-mail addresses used by the targets) and quietly continue on with building new features. Instead the company successfully challenged the gag order in court, and then told the targets their data was being requested, giving them time to try and quash the order themselves.

Twitter and other companies, notably Google, have a policy of notifying a user before responding to a subpoena, or a similar request for records. That gives the user a fair chance to go to court and try and quash the subpoena. That’s a great policy. But it has one fatal flaw. If the records request comes with a gag order, the company can’t notify anyone. And it’s quite routine for law enforcement to staple a gag order to a records request.

That’s what makes Twitter’s move so important. It briefly carried the torch for its users during that crucial period when, because of the gag order, its users couldn’t carry it themselves. The company’s action in asking for the gag order to be overturned sets a new precedent that we can only hope that other companies begin to follow.

The decision would be laudable in almost any situation, and may even be unprecendented by a massive tech firm. The only other gag orders I can think of that were challenged in court were those served on the Internet Archive, on a small library and on Nicholas Merrill, the president of the small New York City ISP Calyx Internet Access, who spent years resisting a National Security Letter order seeking information about one of his clients.

Even more remarkable, Twitter’s move comes as a litany of companies, including PayPal, Mastercard, VISA and Bank of America, follow the political winds away from the First Amendment, banning donations to WikiLeaks. And Amazon.com voluntarily threw the site off its hosting platform, even though there’s nothing illegal in publishing classified documents.

By standing up for its users, Twitter showed guts and principles. Much of it is likely attributable to Twitter’s general counsel Alexander Macgillivray. As security and privacy blogger Christopher Soghoian notes, Macgillivray was one of the first law students at Harvards’ Berkman internet law center and at in his previous job at Google “played a major role in getting the company to contribute takedown requests to chillingeffects.org.”

Macgillivray declined to comment to Wired.com through Twitter’s spokeswoman.

Of course, it’s not the first time tech companies have stood up to requests for user data. Google beat back a government order to turn over search logs in 2006, after AOL and Microsoft quietly acquiesced. We’ve seen ISPs stand up for their users when movie studios try to force ISPs turn over user information in mass peer-to-peer lawsuits. And just last year, Yahoo successfully resisted the Justice Department’s argument that it didn’t need a warrant to read a user’s e-mails once the user had read them.

But there’s not yet a culture of companies standing up for users when governments and companies come knocking with subpoenas looking for user data or to unmask an anonymous commenter who says mean things about a company or the local sheriff.

In the WikiLeaks probe, it’s not yet clear whether the feds dropped the same order on other companies.

Regardless, Twitter deserves recognition for its principled upholding of the spirit of the First Amendment. It’s a shame that PayPal, Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America and the U.S. government all failed — and continue to to fail — at their own versions of that test.

2011-01-06 Censorship in 2011

 

If we look at other censorship initiatives happening now, there is little room for optimism in 2011. Without a significant rise in global activism against censorship, it is poised to become worse in 2011.

The first day of 2011 was the day Hungary took over the presidency of the EU and also the first day of Hungary's new

media law

. This week has seen multiple media personalities

disappear

off the air as the effects of that new law are being felt.

The first week of 2011 Tunisia has been

fighting

to be heard over a mass censorship of protests, triggered by the December 17 self immolation of a 26 year old man who reportedly

died

on January 5. One of the best known Tunisian bloggers was apparently

arrested

today, adding to weeks of government

crackdown

on the use of social media in Tunisia and counter attacks on the Tunisian government by Anonymous (hilariously credited for a picture in the Al Jazeera article).

Three more Tibetan writers were

sentenced

to jail in China.

Saudi Arabia welcomed the new year by

announcing

their new internet regulation law which regulates electronic press, forums and blogging. The thirteen forms of internet publishing include websites, electronic ads, mobile phone or other broadcasts, email groups, electronic archives, room dialogues, and "any form of electronic publishing the ministry wishes to add". There are ten terms required to obtain a license, including good conduct and behaviour.

Belarus has at least 20 journalists jailed and have used beatings and raids of journalist homes in their

intimidation

this week.

The Swedish parliament has

passed

a

law

that requires new TV and radio services to be approved by the Swedish government before launching.

The Obama administration

announced

its fifth prosecution for unauthorized disclosures of classified information.

A regional council in France has

suspended

an employee for setting up a website called Wikileaks 13 looking to publish evidence of malpractice in the region. After uploading audio of a council commission meeting he was suspended

"for having failed to respect his duty of loyalty as an employee"

.

2010 was the worst year in 14 years for imprisonment of journalists according to statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists. 145 journalists were jailed worldwide, with Iran and China (34 apiece), Eritrea, Burma, and Uzbekistan among most oppressive nations. 14 years ago the number was inflated by Turkey's imprisonment of 78 journalists, and in 2010 the number was decreased by Cuba's release of 17 journalists from jail into Spanish exile. If those numbers were ignored, the 1996 number would be 107 to 2010's 162. Almost half of the jailed journalists worked primarily online. By far the majority were jailed for criticizing the state.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I should think that outfits like Twitter would seek a domicile for itself other than the United States where such orders are so prevalent.  First amendment rights are trampled so often with the resulting litigation that the only beneficiaries are the lawyers.

[mightygoose 92]

i totally agree, and it seems its going to get worse, the chair of the house commitee for homeland security has expressed wishes for assange to be added to the Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List

this is normally reserved for terrorists and dictators.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Originally posted by: mightygoose

i totally agree, and it seems its going to get worse, the chair of the house commitee for homeland security has expressed wishes for assange to be added to the Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List

this is normally reserved for terrorists and dictators.

quote>

The American knee must be a real jerk.