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Julian Assange, The Espionage Act, and Sex by Surprise
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 8, 2010
Modified Dec 8, 2010
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 8, 2010
Modified Dec 8, 2010
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The legal troubles of Julian Assange and his quarter-million leaked diplomatic cables, the two narratives that now dominate the ongoing WikiLeaks story, continue apace. While Assange's legal problems are getting the most attention—and teaching the world about överraskningssex ("sex by surprise")—the leaks themselves are still infuriating the U.S. (Joe Lieberman, not amused) while possibly being suppressed by Twitter. Oh, and Assange is being accused of reneging on a promise, too.
According to the Times, the Justice Department is leaving no stone uncovered as it tries to figure out how to charge Assange and with what. Though the Espionage Act seems the obvious answer, the fact that Assange calls himself a journalist and lack of precedent may cause a problem. Not that Joe Lieberman minds. As he told Fox News yesterday: “I certainly believe that WikiLleaks has violated the Espionage Act, but then what about the news organizations—including The Times—that accepted it and distributed it? To me, The New York Times has committed at least an act of bad citizenship, and whether they have committed a crime, I think that bears a very intensive inquiry by the Justice Department.”
Meanwhile back in London, much more information about the actual charges against Assange in Sweden came out when he appeared in court. They come from two woman, a Miss A and a Miss W. Miss A claims that Assange used his bodyweight to hold her down and have sex with her and further he did so without using a condom despite her "express wish" on August 14. He is also charged with "deliberately molesting" her again on August 18. Meanwhile Miss W charges that on August 17 he "improperly exploited" the fact she was asleep to have sex with her without a condom. All of which has led to much discussion online with some claiming a conspiracy and attacking Assange's accusers (while others defend them). And how does sex by surprise fit in there? First mentioned by one of Assange's lawyers, it is a translation of a Swedish colloquialism for rape. Assange is not being charged with sex by surprise.
But those aren't the only charges Assange is up against. He's also being accused of reneging on a promise to help pay the legal costs of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, who is charged with leaking documents to the site. WikiLeaks claims, though, that the money is still coming.
Finally, there seems to be evidence that Twitter is suppressing the #wikileaks hashtag from its trending topics.
And what about the leaks themselves? Well, today we learned about the Diplomatic Security Daily from the Times and dug around a bit in the latest leaks. There are just so many of them though that we increasingly can't keep up. Have you been reading any of the leaks? Find anything good?
Tagged
espionage act
joe lieberman
julian assange
sex by surprise
wikileaks
Garth Johnston
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