Julian Assange Doesn't Do Irony Well: Threatens His Own Internal Leakers With $20 Million Penalty

from the that-seems-just-a-little-hypocritical dept

Fri, May 13th 2011 3:59am — Mike Masnick

It's no secret that Wikileaks' Julian Assange is a man of many contradictions, who has what appears to be a vindictive and angry streak against those who disagree with him on certain plans. However, now reports are coming out that he made his own associates sign an incredibly draconian non-disclosure agreement which threatens anyone who leaks documents from within Wikileaks with the potential for a $20 million penalty. I guess, you could argue that since he recognizes how much leaking goes on, that it makes sense to put in place extreme penalties. Of course, the alternative explanation that many seem to prefer is that he's just annoying, paranoid and, at times, more than a bit hypocritical.

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Filed Under: fines, julian assange, leaks
Companies: wikileaks

32 Comments

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The eejit (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 3:27am

The most harm to Wikileaks...
...is being done by Assange himself.
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xenomancer (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 4:04am

This sounds more like he is terrible at executing a great joke than the reality he has (accidentally?) made.
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tank, 13 May 2011 @ 4:14am

Six Principles of Global Manipulation
I offer to your attention a film about six priorities of the generalized instruments of management by countries and people of Earth.
Six Principles of Global Manipulation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fF3TQ0lJnU
and:
Anti-Qur'an Strategy of the Bible Project Wheeler-Dealers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1wXgXwj3MI
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2011 @ 5:00am

Kind of makes sense, we (US gov't) has been trying to get him and after the rape accusation i can understand his paranoia.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2011 @ 5:18am

Because letting Wikileaks' journalists publish classified information without editing, redaction, and oversight under Wikileaks' name makes perfect sense! Are you going to take your argument to its logical conclusion and argue against all NDA's or are you going to hold WL, whose employees actually deal with information that could threaten lives and safety if not properly edited, to a hypocritical and self-destructive standard like the rest of the band-wagon?
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Jeremy7600 (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 5:50am

I don't understand all the legalese, but section 5 states (paraphrased) that the value of the loss from a breach is $20m (12m pounds). Does this directly translate to a penalty?

Or does it just mean that's what the cost to Wikileaks would potentially be?

Section talks of injunction and any other order a court my impose.. would they then be given an order to repay by the court?
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Jeremy7600 (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 5:51am

Re:
Last paragraph should start "Section 8 talks..."
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Dark Helmet (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 5:58am

Re: Re:
It ultimately doesn't matter. What people have a hard time with in Western society is divorcing the worth of actions with the worth of those acting. I personally think Julian Assange is a shit stain, but Wikileaks is a force of good on the world overall. For me, I can keep those two things separate and compartmentalize them.

Most can't, however, which is why we all talk about Julian instead of Wikileaks, much to the detriment of what Wikileaks is trying to do....
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2011 @ 6:00am

Is this real? Or is it another plot against Julian Assange and Wikileaks?
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Joe-lian Assange, 13 May 2011 @ 6:19am

Re:
Why would you ask that?

Who do you work for?
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FuzzyDuck, 13 May 2011 @ 6:23am

Re:
Those were my thoughts too, anyone working on those leaked documents needs to follow the Wikileaks rules on editing and redacting sensitive information that could harm innocent people. Obviously leaking those documents unredacted is a no-no, and there should be a huge penalty for that.

It would also undermine Wikileak's claim to redact documents if someone from within the organization was releasing them unredacted.
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Bengie, 13 May 2011 @ 6:26am

My understanding
It's my understanding that he has to make sure things get leaked "correctly" and some things may require proper timing.

Even if he is all for freedom of knowledge, he probably is realistic enough to understand that certain knowledge can cost lives or he accepts certain knowledge with certain conditions.

Example. Some nut job may send him a list of SSNs with b-days, names and addresses. He may say "Don't release that info" even though someone on his team may say "but information should be free"
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Raphael (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 6:27am

You can say what you like about this NDA; the fact is that when actually requested to release information about itself, wikileaks has a history of complying:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-02/18/wikileaks-forced-to-leak-own-secret-inf o?page=all
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David (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 6:29am

Are you really surprised?
This sort of hypocrisy seems to be around a lot. In recent time I have seen articles on here about copyright supporters who infringe themselves, intelligence agencies who don't want to have their information leaked, and journalism organizations who don't want you to read their content...

It is a mad, mad, world!
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cc (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 6:39am

I don't think this is ironic: since Wikileaks isn't opposed to secrets, just secrets being used to hide government and corporate corruption, it's fair enough that they like to keep some things secret. I guess they are protecting their sources, like journalists usually do, and this document is proof they are being professional about their work.

I do think this is ironic: Wikileaks opponents scream that "Wikileaks is dumping hundreds of thousands of documents and putting people in danger!" and then the same people scream about "irony" when it turns out Wikileaks makes people handling sensitive material sign a CDA to avoid releasing unredacted documents.
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Beta (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 6:41am

So...
...if some juicy confidential Wikileaks documents show up on the Pentagon's website, will the Wikileaks supporters here accuse the Joint Chiefs of crimes against humanity and call for them to be fed to crocodiles without benefit of council?
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Jay (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 6:43am

Re: Re: Re:
Actually, look into Openleaks. I believe this is a response to the people that left for the new site.
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cc (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 6:52am

Depends. Is that City council or Floyd Council?
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 7:22am

The Answer is Obvious
We need to register wikileaksleaks.com ASAP!
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2011 @ 7:45am

I really don't see what the issue is here. The type of information being handled by WikiLeaks, as we have seen in the past, can be viewed as incredibly sensitive and the reactions the ignorant masses have when exposed to factual information can cause quite an upset.

So, when people start labeling the organization as terrorists, murderers, and the like - it makes sense to try and present their practices in a mannerism as favorable as possible. Allowing anyone in the organization to freely disperse whatever information they may have on hand could easily jeopardize those efforts, or whatever trust current & potential leakers may have.

Now if someone came forth revealing information about persons or practices of malicious intent from within WikiLeaks itself and were then sued in return for doing so, it would be incredibly hypocritical.
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Overcast (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 7:59am

I suspect he's being forced to do this.

Maybe not, but considering the jack-booted thugs have 'interrogated' him, it wouldn't at all surprise me.
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The eejit (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 8:13am

Re:
That's the sticking point, and one I don't have an answer to.

However, Assange is giving all his haters a valid reason to criticise him, and by extension, weaken Wikileaks' position.
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Matthew A. Sawtell, 13 May 2011 @ 10:24am

If you really want a good insight into Wikileaks...
... read this article:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20011106-281.html

Talks about John Young, the man who runs the CRYPTOME website, and his dealings with the "Wiki Management Team"
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MonicaCA, 13 May 2011 @ 11:38am

Streaming on-demand: WikiLeaks
Do you think Julian Assange deserves the Sydney Peace Foundation's gold medal? Check out the streaming on-demand video series, WikiLeaks: Security Threat or Media Savior? at FORA.tv (http://f4a.tv/eFjoq1)
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Michael, 13 May 2011 @ 12:28pm

It seems reasonable to me, considering that leaks from wikileaks include giving away information on sources.
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Michael, 13 May 2011 @ 12:30pm

This story has too much of an artificial-controversy taste to it, considering how politicized wikileaks is.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2011 @ 1:09pm

Re: Re:
I don't work for anyone. It's just after Anonymous exposed HBGary and friends, it just seems an appropriate thing to question.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2011 @ 2:03pm

20 million dollars or 28 cents...
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JonathanWOP, 13 May 2011 @ 5:52pm

Feh. Julian Assange is sooooo October 2010.
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Darryl, 14 May 2011 @ 4:03am

Assange is the same as the Governments he is against.
So what is assange doing that is any different at all to the Governments and business he claims to 'expose' ?
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Yeebok (profile), 16 May 2011 @ 4:56am

Re: Re:
That's my hopeful take on it, but there is potential for it to be any information based on what we have above. Much as I like what Julian stands for he does come across a bit wombatty.
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Yeebok (profile), 16 May 2011 @ 5:06am

Re: Assange is the same as the Governments he is against.
far as I know he hasn't killed any civilians yet..
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