WikiLeaks Founder Loves the Intrigue

Former hacker disdained in many quarters for rampant leaking
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 7, 2010 4:59 PM CDT
WikiLeaks Founder Loves the Intrigue
Julian Assange.   (Flickr)

With WikiLeaks back in the news with the release of a video purporting to show an American helicopter killing civilians and journalists in Iraq, Mother Jones offers a not-very-flattering profile of site founder Julian Assange. He’ll admit he’s Australian, in his 30s, and a former computer hacker and journalist—but not much else. “Why make it easy for the bastards?” he says. It's an example of how the "self-centered" Assange cultivates an image of shadowy intrigue.

While giving due credit to his whistleblower site, the article rounds up critics who think the philosophy of post-everything/censor-nothing often goes too far. One of the first people in the comment section is Assange himself. "I am Julian Assange, and the subject of this article, which is full of errors and was not shown to me, even in part, prior to publication." (More Julian Assange stories.)

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