(December 8, 2010 at 3:25 am)padraic Wrote: In my country there are two laws covering Mr Assages' actions (relating to Australian information) (1)The Crimes Act and (2) The Official Secrets Act. Both severely restrict what government information may be legally made public and under what circumstances. Information need not even be classified . I've assumed other countries, such as the UK,US and Russia have similar laws.
The force behind harassing Julian Assange is the United States. Not Australia. The US.
The sources on Wikipedia are very thorough for all WikiLeaks related leaks - there is ample evidence that points to US senators "advising" companies to not do business with WikiLeaks, the Obama Administration making formal requests that to other countries to bring criminal charges against WikiLeaks, etc,.
Of course, I'd like to point out that Australia has a terrible history considering censorship and abuse of power through state secrets, if one is to argue seriously for their side. The Internet Blacklist is one example, where analysis of the leaked lists revealed that there were numerous "legitimate businesses and Web sites [that] have been banned including two bus companies, online poker sites, multiple Wikipedia entries, Google and Yahoo group pages, a dental surgery and a tour operator."
Why yes, tell me all about Australia and it's system of laws and their excellent case for state secrets.
In any case, the US has no right to be doing what it is doing - asking for criminal sanctions on a foreign citizen when by the laws of its [the US] own declare such publishing of leaks to be legal as a first amendment right.
Put simply, I cannot demand you be punished for something that you did to me when I am fully free to take the same action myself and be protected.
Certainly Australia has a right to prosecute it's own, however unfair or unsuccessful their efforts are. But due to influence by the US, as evidence released by WikiLeaks (diplomatic cables) proves that it (the US) will unduly influence other countries to get it's way, I make the point that the entire investigation and potential charges that are brought against Assange in an Australian court are noticeably tainted.
In a US court, such a case would immediately follow a similar path to that of the Pentagon papers (the government also unduly attempted to influence key witnesses and experts) - in the favor of the free press.
