Hacker News Reader

Comment by figmert | Hacker News Reader

> If we allow this to happen, where do we go from here?

But we've already allowed it to happen. He's been in jail for years now. For something he may or may not have done. He's on the verge of being deported to the US, where he will most likely be imprisoned for journalism. Something he shouldn't have had to think about. If we wouldn't have allowed this to happen in the first place, he could have stand trial for the other things he's been accused of.

So it's already happened. It's why Snowden is in Russia, instead of living his life in the US.

View on HN

> So it's already happened. It's why Snowden is in Russia, instead of living his life in the US.

As i remember from American movies: _You have a right_: to remain silent.

Except Snowden leaked to mature and well respected media outlets, whom released things without political bias and made sure any information that could put people at risk of harm was redacted.

Assange does no such thing and leaks for political reasons.

It's still selective singling out by the US;

     “I would only add that the attempt to punish Assange for exposing the truth is an attack on journalism itself.

    I notice that none of those mainstream collaborators who published his material – the New York Times, the Guardian, and Der Spiegel – are being pursued, which demonstrates that a generational bias against internet-based journalism is at the heart of the case ...

    If Julian goes to the US, Britain will have failed to protect one of the first principles of democracy.”

Do you support the US charging journalists from the NYT and seeking extradition for others from the UK and Germany, or is it only Assange?

What are respected media outlets? Your personal favourites? That's a nonsensical category, considering most media conglomerates are in bed with their respective governments.

Everyone leaks for political reasons and the entire "Assange has blood on his hands" narrative doesn't hold any merit and it never did.

The US put more people at risk by their sudden exit out of Afghanistan than Assange and WikiLeaks did.

I actually think Snowden is much more problematic as a case than Assange is.

Snowden released some information which was within the realm of reasonable activities for the organisations he worked with, an he was in fact American, so was not quite loyal.

Meanwhile, everything Assange did was appropriate. He has no duties to the US, not being a US citizen or permanent resident, and political bias is very common with journalists. Maybe there is one or two unbiased journalist in all of America, probably people with very extreme pro-truth and consequences-can't-be-allowed-to-matter mindsets, but there's not going to be many of them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com