Cyberattack Against WikiLeaks Was Weak

[E.A.B.]

It's a globalized world and no one gives a f*ck about being 'un-American'. No one gives a damn about a stretch of land.

Actually, they do. I'm English. I don't want to be anything else. Certainly not a part of some lifeless, bland wider world.

This globalist bullsh*t has got to stop. It's like we can't even be proud of where we come from. If our nationalism is measured, sane and not veering towards extremism, then who is harmed?

I give a sh*t about my country and I don't like being made to feel like a dinosaur because of it.

I'm sure you echoed similar sentiments in a thread before.

 

I think it had to do with Muslims or something.

 

Either way; I'm not saying that having pride in being English or, f*ck, even white in general is a bad thing. Not at all, it's only natural.

 

What I AM saying is that f*ckhead F. f*ckhead thinks it means ANYTHING to revoke an Australians 'American' card. Patriotism and whatnot are fine. But don't think it actually means anything if you call someone un-_____. Being a global citizen, quite frankly, comes first.

 

But good on you. The english have some finely trained guards whom never seem to move

[[SM]CJZera]

That's why I love the internet... As long as governments can't control it, it's going to be the ultimate and most awesome example of freedom of speech...

 

I'm surprised at how many people say Assagne is a terrorist yet they fail to acknowledge the people that sent them in pointless wars as the terrorists themselves...

[Robinski]

It's quite noticeable that among all the politicians that are commenting on the leaks (as evidenced in Typhus' post) one man has remained silent (as far as I know) thus far: Obama. Could it be something to do with the promises on his own election campaign website?

 

 

Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud and abuse of power in government

 

Maybe he should have simply taken credit for allowing the whole thing to go ahead and giving America the transparency in government it deserves .

 

Anyway, in Assange news, the man has been granted bail provided £240,000 in cash can be raised to act as surety. The cash shouldn't be a problem, many high profile people from different walks of the high life have pledged money to help him. He will also be detained for the next two days thoug even when the cash is presented, as the Swedish prosecutors are readying an appeal against the bail granting and he will not be allowed to leave custody until the appeal has been heard. Source.

[PHCharls]

Iceland may ban Mastercard and Visa due to Wikileak

 

Credit card companies that prevented card-holders from donating money to the secrets outlet WikiLeaks could have their operating licenses taken away in Iceland, according to members of the Icelandic Parliamentary General Committee.

 

Representatives from Mastercard and Visa were called before the committee Sunday to discuss their refusal to process donations to the website, reports Reykjavik Grapevine.

 

"People wanted to know on what legal grounds the ban was taken, but no one could answer it," Robert Marshall, the chairman of the committee, said. "They said this decision was taken by foreign sources."

 

The committee is seeking additional information from the credit card companies for proof that there was legal grounds for blocking the donations.

 

Marshall said the committee would seriously review the operating licenses of Visa and Mastercard in Iceland.

 

WikiLeaks' payment processor, the Icelandic company DataCell ehf, said it would take immediate legal action against the companies to make donations possible again.

 

"DataCell who facilitates those payments towards Wikileaks has decided to take up immediate legal actions to make donations possible again," DataCell CEO Andreas Fink said last week. "We can not believe WikiLeaks would even create scratch at the brand name of Visa."

 

"It will probably hurt their brand much much more to block payments towards WikiLeaks than to have them occur," Fink added.

 

After news that the companies had stopped processing donations to the secrets outlet, those participating in an online campaign known as "Operation Payback" temporarily knocked the websites of Visa and Mastercard offline.

 

"This does clearly create massive financial losses to WikiLeaks which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension," Fink continued. "This is not about the brand of Visa, this is about politics and Visa should not be involved in this."

 

Neither company has offered a detailed explanation of why they stopped processing payments to WikiLeaks. MasterCard said only that WikiLeaks had acted in an "illegal" manner, in violation of the company's terms.

 

The companies still process payments to The Guardian and the New York Times, which have published leaked US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

 

"I can use Visa and Mastercard to pay for porn and support anti-abortion fanatics, Prop 8 homophobic bigots, and the Ku Klux Klan," Jeff Javis noted at The Huffington Post. "But I can't use them or PayPal to support Wikileaks, transparency, the First Amendment, and true government reform. Just saying."

 

Last week, the Swiss bank Postfinance closed the account of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because he gave "false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process." Swiss authorities are investigating if the bank violated secrecy rules by publicly announcing that it had closed his account.

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2010 by PHCharls

[Ari Gold]

All this shows is just how many countries actually have American hands up their asses, nothing more.

[860]

It seems like Time has completely ignored the voting and named Mark Zucherwhat 2010 person of the year.

 

He was 10th in the voting.

[Robinski]

 

It seems like Time has completely ignored the voting and named Mark Zucherwhat 2010 person of the year.

 

He was 10th in the voting.

You don't understand. The new person of the year set up one of the most popular websites of all time in 2004, since then he's helped revolutionise social media and how non-nerds (people on message boards being nerds) communicate using the network. This is of utmost importance to all of us, we must know what Jenny down the street thinks of X Factor! Thanks to his actions six years ago this is all reality. He even had a movie made about him.

 

Then you've got this Assange fellow, all he's done this year is head up an organisation that's acted as a whistleblower set out to make those people who commit conspiracy and atrocity around the world accountable for their actions.

 

Seriously, Zuckerberg is a pretty cool guy and does great work (now, not just six years ago). But he really isn't a more important figure than Assange. At the moment I don't think anyone this year is/has been. Time f*cked up.

[D- Ice]

 

All this shows is just how many countries actually have American hands up their asses, nothing more.

Trust me mate, it beats having Iran's hand up your county's ass.

An old saying goes there are three type of people - those that move others, those who are moved by others, and those who aren't moved. With countries and poltics, the last unfortunately doesn't exist.

 

OT: Am I the only one quite surprised why the US and West seems so pissed of at those leaks? They can easily be used for their own geopolitical agendas, by a bit of spin if not directly. Especially all those documents highlighting the sheer extent of Iranian influence in Arab Countries, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as their Ethno-Religious propoganda campaigns to get people on side.

The embassy cables I read seem to highlight just as much, if not more, Iranian offenses as US ones.

 

Also the bogus charges against Julian Assange and the shamefully overt attempts at silencing/discreditting him are all shockingly disgusting. I seriously can't believe the West with it's pillars of free speech and freedoms of information and press can stoop down to this level.

I must admitt I am no legal or political expert, and to be fair it could just be an unfortunate coincidence, but the timings of all the corporate attacks (which IMO would never happen except for political reasons) and rape charges, just as wikileaks steps up it's game, seem awfully suspicious.

 

In either case, I really hopes WikiLeaks continues to publish it's documents, and this whole thing is only increasing public interest in those documents. Even most people loathsome of everything WikiLeaks has done and stand for are now scampering to get access to all those leaks, if for nothing else, out of sheer curiousity thanks to the controversy.

Edited December 16, 2010 by D- Ice

[MindCorrupt]

 

Thought this comment summed up my position on this, thought it was extremely well written.

 

 

 

As a conservative and a Republican, I have been disheartened by the responses of leaders I admire, like Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee, which amount to nothing less than death-threats against a foreign journalist for doing what journalists are supposed to do, a mission which is recognized in our Constitution as a sacred right, crucial to the preservation of democracy. We rightfully condemn Islamic radicals for advocating 'Jihad' against people like Theo van Gogh (who produced a film exposing the abuses of women which are not only tolerated, but widely condoned by some Muslims), and as a direct consequence of that film, was murdered in the streets of Amsterdam by an Islamic terrorist. Now, by attempting to hunt down and execute Mr. Assange, we demonstrate our contempt for the very same unalienable human rights accorded to Mr. van Gogh, which are explicitly protected in our First Amendment.

 

Attempting to construct sophistry which rationalizes the disregard of our own principles, does nothing to legitimize that purpose. In fact, it does great damage to our moral standing as the defender of last-resort of democracy and human rights on this planet, a point which was made quite successfully by Russia's former head-of-state, Vladimir Putin. His views are widely echoed by an overwhelming majority of those in foreign countries who are commenting on this subject on-line. Whether we know it or not, we have disgraced ourselves as hypocrites in the eyes of many around the world.

 

Worse, by overreaching in the extreme to legitimize our attempts to label Mr. Assange a criminal guilty of espionage, we reveal a troubling double-standard on the part of those who hold power in this country. There is a long list of people who have engaged in espionage and treason against this country (American citizens), who have with malice aforethought, taken money in return for divulging state secrets, acts which led directly to the deaths of numerous intelligence personnel (by execution or assassination by our enemies), and the exposure of secrets including the design specifications of some of our nuclear weapons to China. (People like Aldrich Ames and Harold Nicholson for example).

 

And yet the reactions of our political leaders was far more moderate in those cases, than in the case of Mr. Assange. (Neither men were ever in serious danger of execution by our DOJ, and instead are serving sentences today in Federal Prisons.) It appears that those who hold power in our own country, feel less threatened by the disclosure of classified information to foreign governments, than they do by it's disclosure to us, the citizens of the United States.

 

After having reviewed the horrific video released by Wikileaks of the killing of clearly unarmed and innocent civilians in Iraq by an Apache Helicopter crew (including two reporters for the Reuters New Agency), I have to wonder who benefits and who is harmed by it's publication on the Internet? Our enemies in Iraq, and those in the ranks of terrorists, already knew of this incident, and are (presumably) well aware of many more like it. The only ones to whom this video may have been a revelation of sorts, are those of us here at home, who may prefer to believe that our side is never guilty of atrocities against innocents, some of which may (in hindsight) appear to have been unnecessary.

 

I happen to be a supporter of the principle that it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein, and that the initiative in Iraq was justified (albeit handled with incompetence, and questionable timing). I also believe the war in Afgahnistan is an imperfect but necessary military initiative for this country and it's coalition partners. But I also believe that we as Americans must be informed as to the nature of these conflicts, and weigh their value based on a full understanding of their potential consequences. I would rather that video had not been classified in the first place, and now that Wikileaks has published it, I'm glad they did.

 

Now, I question the motives and the judgment of those inside our military intelligence community, in their apparent desire to keep American citizens completely in the dark as to the details of how we are prosecuting these two wars. It is not much different than the suppression of truth I experienced during my educational years, when I was led to believe that native Americans were evil savages, guilty of criminal atrocities against Americans as they expanded westward in the 19th century. Today, upon examination of the record, I find that my own country was guilty of what amounts to a campaign of genocide against the rightful occupants of North America, who were attempting to protect their lands from usurpation by immigrants from Europe.

 

I believe this country has a sacred obligation to lead by example, and in order to do that, we must be the first to protect and apply our founding principles in everything we do. The lure of compromising those principles on some subjective theory that "the end justifies the means", is a slippery slope that ends in the destruction of our moral authority amongst nations.

 

Nothing in recent memory (that I am aware of), has done more to degrade that authority than this "American Jihad" against Julian Assange. We have a long history of failing to live up to our principles, punctuated by a few sterling examples of heroic efforts by Americans to defend them. If we strive to be Patriotic Americans, I believe we must, first and foremost, be committed to protecting the principles upon which this country was founded, even when the near term consequences of doing so may be difficult, and not to our liking. To do any less, undermines our future as a nation, and with it, the future of our civilization.

 

 

[PHCharls]

FBI Tracks Hackers in Wikileaks

U.S. intelligence agencies, the FBI, has asked all countries work together to jointly support track hackers who managed to paralyze the site Wikileaks ‘enemy’ Wikileaks. Reported by Yahoo News from the Smoking Gun website on Saturday (01.01.2011), FBI showed detailed written statement about the operation pro-Wikileaks tracking hackers. This operation will involve U.S. federal investigators in Europe, Canada and the U.S. alone. Along with the discovery of the evidence, the pro-Wikileaks hackers launched its action through the servers in those countries. Cyber attacks were launched from this month, along with the start of the launch of the CableGate documents on the site Wikileaks.

 

This attack is only targeting sites that break with Wikileaks like PayPal, Visa and Mastercard. Mid-December, the FBI track the IP address of the hacker who is in Canada, and later the FBI also found a virtual server in Callifornia. At the same time, a separate investigation by German police show if attacks Denial of Service (DoS) to the PayPal site come from the existing server IP address in Texas. The company partners decided Wikileaks working relationship after the site spread information considered state secrets. Starting from Amazon, PayPal, Visa to MasterCard to break and eventually became the moon-monthly hackers Wikileaks supporters.

[[SM]CJZera]

The FBI tracking anonymous? I can tell this one's not going to end up good...

[PHCharls]

CJZera' date='Jan 3 2011, 00:04'] The FBI tracking anonymous? I can tell this one's not going to end up good...

yeah the FBI will trak those hackers.But i think the hackers are good for escaping