Counting Down To Julian Assange’s Potentially Dangerous Snowden Revelation
As we reported Tuesday morning, Wikileaks’ Julian Assange threatened on Monday at around 6:35 p.m. eastern to reveal within 72 hours the name of a country which Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept chose to redact in an article about a pair of NSA programs called MYSTIC and SOMALGET. These programs are tasked with helping to thwart human and narco-trafficking via the collection of cellphone conversations in the Bahamas, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines and, of course, the publicly unknown country that was redacted.
The Intercept‘s redaction was intended to prevent violence and perhaps deaths in the unnamed nation, likely to be workers at a small company which supports NSA’s surveillance program there.
In the interim, Wikileaks has yet to reveal the name of the country, and as of the posting of this article there are t-minus eight-and-a-half hours until the 72 hour window closed at 6:35 p.m. eastern.
WILL THEY DO IT?
–Unclear. Wikileaks, and specifically Assange, aren’t the most centered group of people in the world. But that’s what makes them unpredictable.
–If they don’t reveal the name, they’ll look feckless — marketing in empty threats on Twitter.
–There’s an extremely vocal faction of hackers who want no redactions whatsoever, along with a complete document dump of all of the Snowden files. There is not insignificant pressure on Greenwald to do so, and Wikileaks is one of the organizations pressuring him. Likewise, hackers are pressuring Wikileaks to pressure Greenwald.
–Clearly, Wikileaks is unconcerned with endangering the lives of actual human beings as a radical means to an end. We’ll come back to this topic presently.
DOES WIKILEAKS REALLY HAVE SNOWDEN FILES?
–There’s a chance Assange could be bluffing in order to force The Intercept to reveal the name of the country first, otherwise why offer a three day window?
–There’s also a chance that Wikileaks has copies of at least some of the files. The documents could’ve been acquired via Wikileaks’ side-man Jacob Appelbaum, who’s been working with Laura Poitras on Snowden article for Der Spiegel in Germany.
–Another alternative is… READ MORE
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By: Bob Cesca
Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go
4 responses to Counting Down To Julian Assange’s Potentially Dangerous Snowden Revelation
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Tom Ward May 22nd, 2014 at 11:52
More transparency is almost always a good thing.
Tom Ward May 22nd, 2014 at 11:52
More transparency is almost always a good thing.
Justin H. May 23rd, 2014 at 14:47
This is exactly why what Snowden did was so wrong. Just blindly releasing that information will put people in harms way and allow the human traffickers the ability to get away with their crimes. I just wish we would have been listening in Nigeria when those poor girls were stolen from their school and forced into horrible marriages and a hateful religion. Maybe we could have prevented it.
What I don’t get is what the big deal is anyway. I have always known since the internet was created that we were being watched. You would have to be stupid to think that those internet companies aren’t tracking everything you do. Why do you think you get ads on your facebook feed that are exactly what you have searched for in the past. Just recently I was on the Home Depot website looking at paving stones. After I closed that window and opened up facebook, Bamn there was the exact paving stone I was looking at being advertised to me over facebook.
If you are doing nothing illegal, or immoral then you should have no problem with the general surveillance that is going on by the government. And I am saying that being a technical lawbreaker.
The online world is a social thing and as such should be held to the same rules of behavior that people are expected to employ in their daily lives, and as such needs to be able to be policed for illegal activities. Just because you are online doesn’t give you the right to do whatever you want. Actions have consequences even those taken online.
Justin H. May 23rd, 2014 at 14:47
This is exactly why what Snowden did was so wrong. Just blindly releasing that information will put people in harms way and allow the human traffickers the ability to get away with their crimes. I just wish we would have been listening in Nigeria when those poor girls were stolen from their school and forced into horrible marriages and a hateful religion. Maybe we could have prevented it.
What I don’t get is what the big deal is anyway. I have always known since the internet was created that we were being watched. You would have to be stupid to think that those internet companies aren’t tracking everything you do. Why do you think you get ads on your facebook feed that are exactly what you have searched for in the past. Just recently I was on the Home Depot website looking at paving stones. After I closed that window and opened up facebook, Bamn there was the exact paving stone I was looking at being advertised to me over facebook.
If you are doing nothing illegal, or immoral then you should have no problem with the general surveillance that is going on by the government. And I am saying that being a technical lawbreaker.
The online world is a social thing and as such should be held to the same rules of behavior that people are expected to employ in their daily lives, and as such needs to be able to be policed for illegal activities. Just because you are online doesn’t give you the right to do whatever you want. Actions have consequences even those taken online.