Assange: WikiLeaks Played "Inside the Rules"

After the release of the State Department cables, Attorney General Eric Holder condemned WikiLeaks for putting national security at risk. "There's a real basis. There is a predicate for us to believe that crimes have been committed here," Holder said at a press conference.

Holder announced that the Justice Department and the Pentagon were conducting a criminal investigation. They are reportedly looking at the Espionage Act of 1917 and other statutes to find a way to prosecute the Web site's founder and publisher, Julian Assange, and extradite him to the U.S.

But Assange told "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft that this is "completely outrageous."

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Julian Assange: The "60 Minutes" Interview
Watching at home, it might seem simple to assemble the interviews and produce the pieces that you see on "60 Minutes" every Sunday night. Well, there was nothing "simple" about getting Julian Assange to sit down for his first major TV interview.

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The Man Behind WikiLeaks
Poll: What's your take on WikiLeaks?
Segment: Julian Assange, Part 1
Segment: Julian Assange, Part 2
Extra: Assange Stays on the Move
Extra: Assange's Defense & Daniel Ellsberg

"It is the worst form of censorship we have seen by the United States since the 1950s, since the McCarthy Era," Assange argued.

And he told Kroft he was surprised by the government's reaction.

"But you were screwing with the forces of nature. You have made some of the most powerful people in the world your enemies. You had to expect that they might retaliate," Kroft pointed out. "You took, you gathered, you stored all sorts of classified cables and documents. And then released them to the world on the Internet. They see that as a threat."

"They see it as highly embarrassing. I think what it's really about is keeping the illusion of control," Assange said. "I'm not surprised about that. I am surprised at how the sort of flagrant disregard for U.S. traditions. That is what I'm surprised about."

"You're shocked? Someone in the Australian Government said that, 'Look, if you play outside the rules you can't expect to be protected by the rules.' And you played outside the rules. You've played outside the United States' rules," Kroft said.

"No. We've actually played inside the rules. We didn't go out to get the material. We operated just like any U.S. publisher operates. We didn't play outside the rules. We played inside the rules."

When Kroft pointed out there's a special set of rules in the U.S. for disclosing classified information, Assange replied, "There's a special set of rules for soldiers, for members of the State Department, who are disclosing classified information. There's not a special set of rules for publishers to disclose classified information. There is the First Amendment. It covers the case. And there's been no precedent that I'm aware of in the past 50 years of prosecuting a publisher for espionage. It is just not done. Those are the rules. You do not do it."


Produced by Howard L. Rosenberg and Tanya Simon

[vkmo]

Revelations prove that US is not engaging in war or military attack on countries. Assange has mental problems and needs to be punished. Turkey just initiated chemical treatments for rapists and Assange is accused of that in Sweden. Lorena Bobbitt can do the same without chemicals.

[Rjuth]

I was offended by Steve Kroft's hostile, confrontational interview. It was terrifically biased. I also resent his attempting to encapsulate what "Americans think" of Mr. Assange as mysterious, cultlike, et al. What right does Steve Kroft have to portray what I as an American think. Basically he was very simplistic and ugly in his attack.

[cbsrefdiate]

First, Mr. Assange needs to realize that our constitutional rights apply to US citizens.

Mr. Assange is not a US citizen.

Next, he needs to realize that our system of government is set up to protect and enhance the lives of the citizens of our country - peon farmers, journalists, employees of our government, owners and employees of small businesses, schoolteachers.

He simply does not understand how damaging his release of stolen classified documents will prove to be in the long run.

Mr. Assange is not a journalist, he is merely a "wannabe" who has earned some short term fame (and probably a few shameful book deals which will see him into a comfortable retirement) on the backs of many hard-working people - some of whom he has put in harm's way.

A journalist reports news; Assange creates news by facilitating malcontents to divulge classified or proprietary information which he has no legitimate access to.

Let's take WikiLeaks a bit farther - like to your own house and your own life.

How would you feel if your personal records - every late payment, every speeding ticket, every minor transgression - were published by being hand-fed to those newspapers and online news organs which make their money by fore-fronting the latest "dirty laundry" ?

Rather than providing a "much needed level of transparency," WikiLeaks is simply one geek's attempt at preparing all of us for even more intrusion and far less privacy.

One must wonder at Assange's true motive - he has shown no respect for anyone's privacy so far.

And one must wonder about the legitimacy of a "movement" which relies upon using the internet, which is free and uncensored, in ways which make the general population wish for some sort of control.

I'm speaking of the attacks on banking and credit card systems.

Is it really legitimate when anonymous hackers attack our financial systems and threaten to "bring them down" because parts of that system decide to not accept [potentially laundered] funds for a rogue operation?

If you don't like a system, you change it from within by using the rules which were created to allow that.

In this overheated political theatre, Julian Assange is yet another "Sarah Palin" voice screaming out to enlist the ignorant and the those who think in only the shortest of terms; like every other pre-ejaculate revolutionary, he is merely something to overcome, something which must be worked around, and will not be a part of the solution.

Assange's actions will only make governments increase their layers of security, and increase the amount spent on security.

Cheers!

[debtee88]

Are you dense? He is not hacking into places and divulging secret information! WHISTLEBLOWERS have sent information of abuses of power, you dingdong!

Going after Julian Assange is like putting ANY whistleblowers into jail; which of course HAS been done because people who abuse power don't like others to know about it.

If you like to pretend our system is perfect, keep right on thinking the way you do. I - and fortunately, MANY others - want to know what illegal/immoral/greedy things certain people do that they should NOT be doing when they are in positions of power.