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<H1>Julian Assange Rails Against NSA surveillance, Preparing New WikiLeaks
Release</H1></DIV>
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<DIV class=cat-date-line><SPAN class=cat-date-line2><A
title="View all posts in Educate!"
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/category/educate/"
rel="category tag">Educate!</A></SPAN> <SPAN class=cat-date-line3><A
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/edward-snowden/" rel=tag>Edward
Snowden</A>, <A href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/glenn-greenwald/"
rel=tag>Glenn Greenwald</A>, <A
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/assange/" rel=tag>Julian Assange</A>,
<A href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/nsa/" rel=tag>NSA</A>
</SPAN><BR><SPAN class=cat-date-line4>By Martin Bryant, <A
href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/03/08/julian-assange-rails-nsa-surveillance-plans-important-new-wikileaks-release/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29#%21y58pZ"
target=_blank>www.thenextweb.com</A><BR>March 9th, 2014</SPAN><BR></DIV>
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<P>At <A
href="http://thenextweb.com/event/sxsw/#%21yZ1jO">SXSW</A> today, <A
href="http://wikileaks.org/">WikiLeaks</A> founder Julian Assange
Skyped in from the Ecuadorian embassy in London to take part in an
hour-long Q&A session. While the main topic of the discussion –
government surveillance of the<A id=FALINK_3_0_2
href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/03/08/julian-assange-rails-nsa-surveillance-plans-important-new-wikileaks-release/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29#">Internet</A> –
and his opposition to it, was unsurprising, Assange had some interesting
points worth sharing.</P>
<P>He said that the most important transition of the past decade has
been the politicization of the Internet, as demonstrated by the likes of
WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald. He noted that Greenwald and
other national security reporters have had to leave the US for
countries that are more amenable to them to avoid the fear of being <A
id=FALINK_2_0_1
href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/03/08/julian-assange-rails-nsa-surveillance-plans-important-new-wikileaks-release/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29#">arrested</A> at
any time due to the “growing militarism in the USA and UK.” However, he pointed
out that this allows them to do work that is even more powerful than they did in
the US.</P>
<P>Assange referred to Internet surveillance as “the penetration of
our human society,” stating “now that human society and the Internet have merged
– the laws of the Internet become the laws of human society.”</P>
<P>On his enforced exile in the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid
deportation to Sweden where he faces sexual assault charges, Assange
described his situation as “a bit like a prison,” although “arguably prisoners
have it worse due to the restrictions on visitors (at the embassy)… I operate in
a situation that’s any security reporter’s dream,” he said, as he’s free of
subpoenas and police interference.</P>
<P><A id=_GPLITA_0 title="Click to Continue > by CoolSaleCoupon"
href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/03/08/julian-assange-rails-nsa-surveillance-plans-important-new-wikileaks-release/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29#">Indeed</A>,
Assange said a new WikiLeaks release of “important” material was in the works
although he didn’t want to offer a timeframe for its publication as he
didn’t want to tip-off “alleged perpetrators.”</P>
<P>He criticized the standard journalistic practice of approaching subjects
of stories for comment ahead of publication, as it simply gave them time to
spin acounter-argument to the allegations. While this may annoy many
journalists, it will come as no surprise to anyone who followed the <A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak">unredacted
release</A> of the US diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011.</P>
<P>While the content of the session wasn’t Earth-shattering, it amused us to
note the irony that Assange was criticizing NSA surveillance while his head was
being displayed next to
a Skype logo.</P></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>