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Comment by criley2 | Hacker News Reader

The histrionics, conspiracy theories and outright lies in this thread are outrageous. The US justice system is not the same as despotic countries like Russia or China.

Reality Winner will be released from prison soon. Chelsea Manning, who leaked the info to him, the actual whistleblower who broke the laws, is a free woman. (Could you imagine if Chelsea tried to transition to a woman in Russia or China or other nations that are coming up in this thread in comparison? Just goes to show how fundamentally different these societies are, that she could transition to a woman while incarcerated!)

If Assange hadn't played his games avoiding the court for the better part of a decade, the dude would probably already have done his time and be free.

Although it's entertaining to read the astronomically terrible takes in this thread, I did hope to see a little more intelligence in this community.

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Reality Winner and Manning are American citizens. Assange is not.

What "games" would YOU play to get out of being extradited to a foreign country for crimes of publishing factual information? Your consolation is that it's only a decade or so of his life in a cage unjustly, no big deal?

You think it is the definition of intelligence to submit to that?

>"What "games" would YOU play to get out of being extradited to a foreign country for crimes of publishing factual information?"

The crime he is charged with has nothing to do with publication of anything, it's a charge stemming from his help attempting to crack a password hash of military computer accounts to help gain unauthorized access to military systems.

Are foreigners allowed to hack military networks in your country?

> You think it is the definition of intelligence to submit to that?

Considering that you're giving me an emotional tale of "CRIME OF PUBLISHING" which is completely contrary to the facts, I would say that the definition of intelligence at the very least includes setting your emotions aside and learning the basic information of a situation before coming to a conclusion

So will USA extradite let's say Israeli hackers to Iran? If not they are purely hypocritical.

Did those people commit a crime under US law? Does the US have an extradition treaty with Iran?

Since the answer to both of these questions is no, what does it have to do with Assange's situation?

The US does not have an extradition treaty with Iran, so no, they will not extradite folks there.

I do hope the US files charges against Israeli hackers who have targeted American organizations though. No country should get a free pass.

> Are foreigners allowed to hack military networks in your country?

Yes, it happens all day every day. Assange didn't even "hack" anything, he allegedly helped educate Manning, no different than a text file or a 2600 article. Manning committed the crime, she was the one bound by US laws, not Assange. We could hand over every journo who has aided classified foreign information being published in US media, it's the same thing.

The crime of publishing is the truth, not an emotional tale, regardless of the official charges, unless your definition of intelligence is believing the charging documents of the American government as truth.

Assange received a hashed password and said he passed it onto his "LM guy"

He later asks for the status on the hash.

Do reporters usually help people break the law?

> Do reporters usually help people break the law?

Truthfully that question is hard to answer, you must be specific - do you mean reporters helping people jaywalk? Source the law that this Australian citizen ran afoul of. Greenwald provided protection and services to Snowden where the case for espionage is much stronger, we do not consider him a criminal however.

Why would he do any time at all? Because the people who actually should be doing time are the people in power so they are somehow immune?

Also, Chelsea could transition to a woman without prison too. The fact that they ended/will end in prison while people who actually committed crimes that these two (and Snowden) exposed speaks volumes about how fundamentally different USA is.

Is this the kind of thing you'd call a conspiracy theory?

https://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-assassination-and-a-london...

So it's okay to murder people as long as you're woke?

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