The Wikileaks Question

[vanlose kid]

Wikileaks volunteer detained and searched (again) by US agents
Xeni Jardin at 12:59 PM Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011


Jacob Appelbaum, a security researcher, Tor developer, and volunteer with Wikileaks, reported today on his Twitter feed that he was detained, searched, and questioned by the US Customs and Border Patrol agents at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on January 10, upon re-entering the US after a vacation in Iceland.

He experienced a similar incident last year at Newark airport.

An archive of his tweeted account from today follows.

• It's very frustrating that I have to put so much consideration into talking about the kind of harassment that I am subjected to in airports.

• I was detained, searched, and CPB did attempt to question me about the nature of my vacation upon landing in Seattle.

• The CPB specifically wanted laptops and cell phones and were visibly unhappy when they discovered nothing of the sort.

• I did however have a few USB thumb drives with a copy of the Bill of Rights encoded into the block device. They were unable to copy it.

• The forensic specialist (who was friendly) explained that EnCase and FTK, with a write-blocker inline were unable to see the Bill of Rights.

• I requested access my lawyer and was again denied. They stated I was I wasn't under arrest and so I was not able to contact my lawyer.

• The CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) agent was waiting for me at the exit gate. Remember when it was our family and loved ones?

• When I handed over my customs declaration form, the female agent was initially friendly. After pulling my record, she had a sour face.

• She attempted to trick me by putting words into my mouth. She marked my card with a large box with the number 1 inside, sent me on my way.

• While waiting for my baggage, I noticed the CBP agent watching me and of course after my bag arrived, I was "randomly" selected for search.

• Only US customs has random number generator worse than a mid-2007 Debian random number generator. Random? Hardly.

• During the search, I made it quite clear that I had no laptop and no cell phone. Only USB drives with the Bill of Rights.

• The CBP agent stated that I had posted on Twitter before my flight and that slip ended the debate about their random selection process.

• The CBP agents in Seattle were nicer than ones in Newark. None of them implied I would be raped in prison for the rest of my life this time.

• The CBP agent asked if the ACLU was really waiting. I confirmed the ACLU was waiting and they again denied me contact with legal help.

• All in all, the detainment was around thirty minutes long. They all seemed quite distressed that I had no computer and no phone.

• They were quite surprised to learn that Iceland had computers and that I didn't have to bring my own.

• There were of course the same lies and threats that I received last time. They even complemented me on work done regarding China and Iran.

• I think there's a major disconnect required to do that job and to also complement me on what they consider to be work against police states.

• While it's true that Communist China has never treated me as badly as CBP, I know this isn't true for everyone who travels to China.

• All in all, if you're going to be detained, searched, and harassed at the border in an extra-legal manner, I guess it's Seattle over Newark.

• It took a great deal of thought before I posted about my experience because it honestly appears to make things worse for me in the future.

• Even if it makes things worse for me, I refuse to be silent about state sponsored systematic detainment, searching, and harassment.

• In case it is not abundantly clear: I have not been arrested, nor charged with any crime, nor indicted in any way. Land of the free? Hardly.

• I'm only counting from the time that we opened my luggage until it was closed. The airport was basically empty when I left.

• It's funny that the forensics guy uses EnCase. As it, like CBP, apparently couldn't find a copy of the Bill of Rights I dd'ed into the disk.

• The forensics guy apparently enjoyed the photo with my homeboy Knuth and he was really quite kind. The forensics guy in Newark? Not so much.

• The CBP agent asked me for data - was I bringing data into the country? Where was all my data from the trip? Names, numbers, receipts, etc.

• The mental environment that this creates for traveling is intense. Nothing is assured, nothing is secure, and nothing provides escape.

• I resisted the temptation to give them a disk filled with /dev/random because I knew that reading them the Bill of Rights was enough hassle.

• I'm flying to Toronto, Canada for work on Sunday and back through Seattle again a few days later. Should be a joy to meet these guys again.

• All of this impacts my ability to work and takes a serious emotional toll on me. It's absolutely unacceptable.

• What happens if I take a device they can't image? They take it. What about the stuff they give back? Back doored? Who knows?

• Does it void a warranty if your government inserts a backdoor into your computer or phone? It certainly voids the trust I have in all of it.

• I dread US Customs more than I dreaded walking across the border from Turkey to Iraq in 2005. That's something worth noting.

• I will probably never feel safe about traveling internationally with a computer or phones again.

• None the less, safe or not, I won't stop working on Tor. Nor will I cease traveling. I will adapt and I will win. A hard road worth taking.

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/12/wi ... eer-1.html

*

[wintler2]

Thankyou Slavoj Žižek, and VK for posting. The distintegration of appearances is well past due, and our shame (for tolerating such power over us) demands to be publicised.

[matrixdutch]

Zizek...more please

[Plutonia]

The Personal Democracy Forum has some more events coming up:

PdF Presents: Symposium on WikiLeaks and Internet Freedom II, January 24th, New York City

PdF Presents: WikiLeaks and Online Civil Disobedience, February 9th, New York City

Originally it was announced that Hillary, Julian and Eric Holder would be participating, but I see they're not on the list at this point.

[8bitagent]

I have a newfound respect for Wikileaks and Assange after seeing this brand new documentary, "Wikirebels"
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6032469 ... (Wikileaks)_by_SvT_play

Who knows, maybe Assange and Wikileaks were the fly that got through the ointment and not a "controlled limited hangout to create a pretext for clamping down on the internet"
Sure, the guy became an asshat and egotist who even his closest people at the end, but think how much he's done expose the horrors of war in such a short time compared to
others whom nobody has taken much notice of in the MSM(Chomsky, Zinn, Pilger, etc) The wiki release of the helicopter attack massacre in Iraq is particularly upsetting

Zizek...more please

I love the documentaries featuring him on Netflix, he's always so entertaining. Especially when its him mosying around New York going off about things

[8bitagent]

The Personal Democracy Forum has some more events coming up:

PdF Presents: Symposium on WikiLeaks and Internet Freedom II, January 24th, New York City

PdF Presents: WikiLeaks and Online Civil Disobedience, February 9th, New York City

Originally it was announced that Hillary, Julian and Eric Holder would be participating, but I see they're not on the list at this point.

Was that a joke announcement? Thats like having Rumsfeld and Cheney at an anti war symposium

[Plutonia]

The Personal Democracy Forum has some more events coming up:

PdF Presents: Symposium on WikiLeaks and Internet Freedom II, January 24th, New York City

PdF Presents: WikiLeaks and Online Civil Disobedience, February 9th, New York City

Originally it was announced that Hillary, Julian and Eric Holder would be participating, but I see they're not on the list at this point.

Was that a joke announcement? Thats like having Rumsfeld and Cheney at an anti war symposium

No joke. It was announced at the end of PDF's last symposium in December.

One thing to keep in mind about PDF is they seem to operate within the reality tunnel that the US has a functional democracy. Makes them seem crazy.

Also, the last symposium was webcast live with chat and the panel took questions from Twitter.

[Plutonia]

Frontline Club: On the Media: WikiLeaks - Holding up a mirror to journalism?

[video or podcast options]

For the first On the Media discussion of the year we are going to be putting the spotlight on the media and asking what the WikiLeaks operation and the media coverage of it tells us about the press.

How have journalists responded to this new kid on the block? The future will no doubt see the emergence of similar organisations, but what impact will this have on the culture of journalism? How will the media adapt and how will this currently uncomfortable relationship develop?

Chaired by Richard Gizbert, presenter of The Listening Post on Al Jazeera English.

David Aaronovitch, writer, broadcaster, commentator and regular columnist for The Times;

Mark Stephens, media lawyer with Finers Stephens Innocent and Julian Assange's solicitor;

Ian Katz, deputy editor of the Guardian;

Gavin MacFayden, director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Very interesting self-analysis - press guys speaking amongst themselves and all that.

Keep an eye on David Aaronovitch, though, and remember - DON'T FEED THE TROLL!

[The Consul]

.

Little Miss Murder's site is down as of 1pm EST Tuesday and I don't think that's a coincidence.

http://melissaclouthier.com/

.

She's the one on the left:

Begs question of contents of entire note and a fuller description of the husband and wife's mental state. Doubtless now worry on the right will expand to the inevitable family massacres by atheists who have no reason not to and liberals who leave their families homeless rather than step on snail darters.
They will push Global Warming is not a climatological event, but a mental disorder and many mentally disordered will believe.
How long before they start shooting scientists outside of their labs?

[Nordic]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118030590?refCatId=13

Assange declassified: biopic in works

EXCLUSIVE: Josephson Entertainment, Michelle Krumm Prods option rights
By DAVE MCNARY


A biopic on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, billed by producers as a suspenseful drama "thriller," is heading for the bigscreen.

Josephson Entertainment and Michelle Krumm Prods. have jointly optioned feature rights to Australian reporter Andrew Fowler's upcoming biography "The Most Dangerous Man in the World."

Tome, to be published later this year by Melbourne U. Publishing Ltd., is an in-depth look at Assange from his childhood to the current day with the anti-secrecy Wiki-Leaks "revolution."

Fowler first interviewed Assange last May. Michelle Krumm will produce along with Barry Josephson ("Enchanted," Fox's "Bones"). L.H. Adonis will co-produce.

Assange founded the Wiki-Leaks site in 2006 and has published secret U.S. diplomatic cables about American involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and materials about toxic waste dumping in Africa and Guantanamo Bay procedures plus Church of Scientology manuals.

"As soon as I met Andrew and read a few chapters of his profound book, I knew that -- with his incredibly extensive depth of knowledge -- it would enable us to bring a thought-provoking thriller to the screen," Krumm said.

Josephson said, "Like 'All the President's Men' in its day, 'The Most Dangerous Man in the World' is this generation's suspenseful drama with global impact."

Krumm launched her production banner in 2009 after serving as exec VP and head of acquisitions and co-production at the Weinstein Co.

She exec produced "All Good Things" and "Bobby."

Josephson's other producing credits include "Hide and Seek" and "Life as We Know It."

Doesn't mean the movie will ever get made. And it doesn't preclude someone else making a movie on the same subject, using different source material.

[Plutonia]

PDF Symposium on Wikileaks live streaming now - I've just tuned in, don't know yet who's on the panel:

http://www.livestream.com/pdfleaks

Edit: Oops! Missed it. They are re-broadcasting the December symposium ATM.

[Plutonia]

From the video thread:http://rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?p=379196#p379196

This 1:48 panel discussion from Silicon Valley's Churchill Club features Daniel Ellsberg, Clay Shirky, Peter Thiel, Jonathan Zittrain and Neville Roy Singham on the topic of "WikiLeaks: Why it Matters. Why it Doesn't."

http://fora.tv/2011/01/19/WikiLeaks_Why ... _It_Doesnt

Most cogent Wikileaks discussion yet - not a single spin-cycle talking-point raised.

I'll see your Tech President and raise you a Geek-a-logue.

Thanks M Dutch

[Joe Hillshoist]

I rarely watch those vids, usually get distracted. The last one I watched all the way thru with as much interest as that was when wombat linked to Paul Stammets TED talk about mushrooms saving the world.

Thanks to both of you, that was the most intelligent discussion I've heard about the whole thing.

(Edit:) I can't stress that enough. I thought "there is no way those guys are gonna keep my attention for that long." But they did. It probably helped that the Aust'n abc screened the Ellesberg movie the other night.

Thanks both of you.

[Bruce Dazzling]

Bipartisanship pop quiz
By Glenn Greenwald
Wednesday, Jan 26, 2011 11:27 ET

One of the most striking aspects of the WikiLeaks debate from the start has been the identical mindset of political and media figures and the full consensus among them in condemning that group; in almost every debate I did on television, radio and everywhere else, it was impossible to distinguish between the views on these leaks from politicians and journalists, as they read from the same anti-WikiLeaks script. With a few exceptions, exactly the same has been true of Democrats and Republicans: there has been full-scale bipartisan consensus such that it's impossible to distinguish between the "two sides" on this issue.

Yesterday, MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan hosted a segment on the extreme, prolonged isolation in which Bradley Manning has been kept for eight months now, despite having been convicted of nothing. He had on his panel a "Democratic strategist," a "Republican strategist," and "a Washington insider." Ratigan tried without any success to get them to understand why putting someone in a cage by themselves for 23 hours a day under extremely repressive conditions was unjust and intolerable. Begin at the 1:20 mark -- right after Ratigan introduces his panel -- and see if you can identify who the Republican is, who the Democrat is, and who the "Washington insider" is; I'd submit it's impossible. Once your guesses are in, go back and watch the beginning of the segment and grade yourself -- on the honor system. It's the Joys of Bipartisanship:

[justdrew]

anyone following Dave Emory's somewhat bizarre take on wikileaks?

his whole basis seems to be that some neo-nazi owned a server farm where wikileaks was/is hosted.

Now having, before Dave went off on this, done a little research myself into who owns what, I can only say Dave is presenting as clear, cut and dried, something that is very ambiguous based on what I saw. It's not at all clear that the person/private-company that at one point bought PRQ still have it, nor is it clear that The Pirate Party is a neo-nazi stalking horse, etc.

Kinda disappointed, I gave him a fair amount of respect over the years but he's really seemed to go off track lately.