Julian Assange: The Man Behind WikiLeaks
Julian Assange: The Man Behind WikiLeaks
Few individuals in modern times have been as controversial and polarizing as Julian Assange. As the founder and public face of WikiLeaks, the organization that published secret and classified government...
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Julian Assange: The Man Behind WikiLeaks
Few individuals in modern times have been as controversial and
polarizing as Julian Assange. As the founder and public face of
WikiLeaks, the organization that published secret and classified
government documents, Assange introduced the world to a new era of
radical transparency through technology.
To his supporters, Assange is a courageous whistleblower and
defender of free speech. To his critics, he is a reckless
cyberterrorist with little regard for the consequences of his
actions. Regardless of one's personal views, Assange's story is an
extraordinary tale of technology, journalism, international
intrigue and the fierce debate over privacy versus security in the
digital age.
Early Life and Hacking Beginnings
Julian Assange was born in 1971 in Townsville, Australia. As a
teenager, he displayed an aptitude for computers and mathematics.
Drawn to emerging cyberculture, Assange soon became involved in
hacking activities under the online alias “Mendax.” He gained
unauthorized access to various systems including those of NASA, the
Pentagon and foreign governments.
In the early 1990s, Australian authorities caught up with Assange
for his hacking exploits. He was charged with 31 counts of
cybercrime to which he pleaded guilty to 25, resulting in probation
and a fine. The experience changed Assange's perspective, seeing
firsthand the serious legal risks of unbridled hacking. He grew to
believe ethical transparency required institutional change, not
wanton technological disruption alone.
Founding of WikiLeaks
After his conviction, Assange turned his focus towards journalism
and free speech activism. He co-invented an early prototype for an
encrypted Wiki system in the mid-1990s. A decade later in 2006,
Assange founded WikiLeaks alongside like-minded technologists and
dissidents. The site's servers were based in Sweden, benefiting
from the country's journalist protection laws.
WikiLeaks was devised as an uncensorable system for anonymous
whistleblowers to securely submit sensitive documents for
publication. While traditional journalists also relied on insider
material, WikiLeaks technology allowed sources to cryptographically
send information without revealing their identity even to the
site's editors. This unprecedented technical anonymity empowered
whistleblowers to confidentially share risks about government or
corporate activities like never before.
Early WikiLeaks Publications
Initially, WikiLeaks mostly revealed material about authoritarian
regimes in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. An early high-profile
publication in 2007 exposed political assassinations in Somalia,
quickly making WikiLeaks a thorn for repressive ruling parties
globally.
In 2009-2010, the site published documentation about extrajudicial
killings in Kenya, toxic dumping in Africa, and the inner workings
of Scientology. These releases enhanced WikiLeaks' prestige as a
rising force against corruption and human rights abuses. However,
an even bigger bombshell was still to come that would make
WikiLeaks a permanent fixture in global politics.
The Chelsea Manning Files
In early 2010, the site received anonymous encrypted files from an
American Army soldier that included damaging secrets about US
military and diplomatic operations. The source was Chelsea Manning,
who had collated the files from access granted through her
intelligence role.
WikiLeaks partnered with traditional news organizations like The
Guardian to filter through the immense trove carefully. Over
several months, scandalous revelations about the Iraq and
Afghanistan Wars, Guantanamo Bay prison and State Department cables
were methodically published for maximum impact.
The files confirmed numerous government cover-ups, civilian deaths
and underreported facts about the War on Terror. Chelsea Manning
was ultimately discovered as the leaker and sentenced to 35 years
in prison for espionage. But the controversy propelled Julian
Assange to worldwide fame as WikiLeaks entered public consciousness
for exposing uncomfortable military and geopolitical
realities.
Rape Allegations and Asylum
With his meteoric rise to prominence after 2010, both Assange's
supporters and enemies multiplied rapidly. He was hailed as a free
information hero by many for bringing institutional transparency.
But intelligence agencies painted him as a dangerous
cyber-anarchist out to destroy government authority.
In August 2010, shortly after WikiLeaks' landmark publications,
Assange traveled to Sweden to establish a site server there. Soon
after his arrival, two women accused Assange of sexual assault and
molestation. Assange denied the allegations, claiming they were a
smear effort in retaliation for WikiLeaks even as formal charges
were filed by Swedish prosecutors.
With pressure from authorities building, Assange left Sweden in
September 2010. He took refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London
in 2012 after losing court appeals against his extradition to
Sweden for questioning. Ecuador granted Assange asylum status,
allowing him sanctuary from prosecution as long as he remained in
the embassy.
Continued Work and Arrest Even holed up in the embassy, Assange
managed WikiLeaks remotely while also hosting a political
commentary show for Russia Today television. WikiLeaks continued to
release noteworthy material, including emails from the Democratic
National Committee that were damaging to Hillary Clinton's 2016
presidential campaign.
In April 2019, Ecuador withdrew its diplomatic asylum under new
political leadership. British police immediately arrested Assange
at the embassy on charges of breaching bail conditions. A judge
soon sentenced him to 50 weeks in jail. Meanwhile, the United
States filed separate criminal charges against Assange related to
soliciting and publishing classified US documents. His long legal
battle continues with the threat of US extradition still
looming.
Legacy and Controversy Over a decade since its founding, WikiLeaks'
influence is still immense even as critiques of Julian Assange's
methods and motivations abound. There is no denying the site's
publications exposed government and corporate malfeasance that
deserved public scrutiny. Yet Assange also oft showed little care
for the fallout, with leaked data frequently containing unredacted
sensitive details putting lives at risk.
To advocates, Assange is a visionary who empowered the public with
truth against institutional overreach, though his personality has
alienated some former allies. To critics, he is a chaotic ideologue
who eluded accountability for obtaining his information through
morally ambiguous means. The reality likely lies somewhere in
between. Regardless, the history books will long remember Julian
Assange as the instigator of profound upheaval in modern
international relations and journalism through his unprecedented
application of technology.
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