Saying that it was vital to stop “WikiLeaks from hiding like a coward behind a computer mainframe,” Senator John Ensign (R – NV) announced today that he intends to push forward with legislation that aims to formally criminalize WikiLeaks as well as severely curtailing the ability to release classified documents.
According to Sen. Ensign’s website the main purpose of the bill would be to amend the Espionage Act to ban releasing any information pertaining to “human intelligence.” He insists the bill doesn’t ban anyone else from publishing the leaks.
But those familiar with the content of the bill say that it will extend a broad ban on “any information that could be used to reveal the identities of classified sources, informants, or partners of any element of the intelligence community.” The bill would also formally label WikiLeaks as a “transnational threat.”
A number of officials have expressed outrage at the leaking of evidence of US war crimes, with the Pentagon insisting WikiLeaks doesn’t support the troops. The ability to criminalize the group seems questionable on a number of levels however, not the least of which is that the organization operates entirely outside of the US and its top members are not US citizens. How they will be able to claim jurisdiction over the organization is unclear at best.
Another cowardly, pathetic attempt to silence the TRUTH. Sen Ensign and his defense whore friends are afraid of the American people being able to access the truth.
Enabling laws anyone?
Am I missing something? Why does the Senate voice not voice outrage over the war crimes that were reported, and do something about them? (Ok, I know the answers.) I think the real transnational threat here is the Pentagon.
No Kidding… It's little things like this that you'd think the American People would pick up on in very short order… Our Congress is bought and paid for… Most anyhow. Why do you think that Bush made it a Law that no President or Members of Congress could be brought up on Charges of Treason? Answer is Simple… The same reason he Gave Blanket immunity to all Telecommunication and Internet Providers for helping the Government to Spy on us. Because He knows it's a Crime.
Just another incident of grandstanding with a power grab thrown in the mix. Typical pre-election mumbo-jumbo. Nothing to see here, move along.
Actually, I'm surprised its taken this long for somebody to try this stunt.
Outside the laws & jurisdiction of the US? The website was actually running from servers within the US from Friday 22nd until Wednesday 27th, at which point they removed the US mirrors following press coverage started by this blogpost: http://boxbinary.com/2010/10/why-wikileaks-warlog…
There are still Server mirrors in the US that are up and running. Probably not for long though:
Written by CADE METS
Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/25/wikileaks…
Wikileaks taunts Pentagon with Server Mirrors in the USA:
BEGIN
WikiLeaks is using US-based servers run by Amazon.com to mirror its controversial data stash, including the classified "Iraq War Logs" released on Friday afternoon, according to internet records.
Since at least Friday night, the famous whistle-blowing site has been hosting data on Amazon's AWS infrastructure cloud, both in the US and Ireland, records collected by UK research outfit NetCraft show. WikiLeaks is also mirroring servers with French service provider Octopuce, according to NetCraft.
WikiLeaks has long maintained its central servers in Sweden with "bulletproof" hosting outfit PRQ. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said that the servers are kept in Sweden because the country provides legal protection for disclosures on the site. To further guard against takedowns, PRQ keeps almost no information about its clientele and maintains few if any of its own logs.
Recently, the Swedish Pirate Party said that it's also hosting servers for WikiLeaks, and according to one report, some WikiLeaks servers are now inside a Cold War–era nuclear bunker that was carved out of a rock hill in downtown Stockholm.
But on Friday, after WikiLeaks defied warnings from the Pentagon and released nearly 400,000 classified US military documents involving the Iraq War, NetCraft showed that the site was mirroring these and other documents in the US, Ireland, and France, countries that don't offer the sort of protection provided by Sweden.
END
The blog post referenced was the source of the article you mention. There's a follow-up blogpost and article on the respective sites.
Oddly enough… the IP address, Node Name and Network addresses continue to Change daily. I must say I'm Impressed that Assange could keep this data Public as long as he has… The information is out there now… and there's no stopping it… So why bother. They simply want to silence the organization as a whole, to prevent future Leaks. And God only knows how many whistle Blowers are Flooding WikiLeaks with New sensitive Data right now.. That my Friends, is why the Government is on a Head Hunt. They don't care about what He's already made Public, as much as they Fear what He Might make public. They don't know what data he has, or is acquiring as we speak… and it is exactly what they are afraid of.
On the 'software pirate' sites, there are 'insurance' files being shared and passed around all over the world. This info is 'out', and no matter how embarrassing it is to the generals who ordered these war crimes, it ain't going back into the bottle.
We're damned to hell no matter who gets elected… If it's democrat thugs then we lose all our freedoms and get taxed to hell… If it's republican thugs we lose all our freedoms and end up in debt to our eyeballs. They all want to keep the military juggernaut rolling for various reasons and whoever stands in the way must be steamrolled! I am personally outraged that I am forced at the point of a gun to finance these thugs who would execute a sovereign individual because he's making the politicians look bad. This whole system needs to go up in flames.
Hi five Libertarian type guy from a hard left type guy. 🙂 Starve the beast and lets start fresh, we can argue about that start amidst the ashes of empire. 🙂
The U.S. Has no Jurisdiction over WikiLeaks, Except for it's US Based Server Mirrors, which they have every right to shut down.
This Article is sheer nonsense… The Powers that be would Snuff out Julian Assange w/o any remorse, just as they Snuffed out Kennedy. God forbid the secrets of the Elite come to light. Weather it be our own Elite, or that of Foreign Government or Private Corporations or Banks. Julian Assange has certainly created a difficult situation for our Government, the full ramifications of which, are yet to be known, and will come to light in the near future. However… Assange and his team have made the effort to Protect individuals involved, and have even tried to work closely with the Pentagon to minimize the impact of their latest release.
What they are most afraid of, is the possible future release of Documents concerning Enron, The FED, our Congress and possibly Agencies such as the FBI, CIA or Secret Service. Most of the Documents concerning Enron, and it's investigation, were destroyed in the Demolition of WTC Building 7, Which was a Crime. What better way to destroy evidence, AND use it as a pretext to war?
Let's face it… If the People of this Country were to get wind of Treasonous acts perpetrated by members of our Government or certain Agencies, or it's current Administration, It would most assuredly cause them to lose their Current control over the general thinking of the American People. Assange was neither irresponsible, nor unwarranted in his actions. He is simply shedding some small but powerful Truth regarding the War. The People of America have the right to know what it's Children are fighting and Dying for. If you can't understand that… Then you are nothing in my eyes, but one of the Sheeple, Who buy into all the Government Disinformation regarding the deaths of our Soldiers (Like Pat Tillman) and Many others. Or… You're on someones Payroll to help spread that Disinformation. Either way… We, the American Public, have every right to know how many Civilians we've killed while in that particular Theater of operations… And Congress has the Power, Authority and Duty, to stop the War once it is clear that we have done more harm than good by being there… And by the way… The way this war has unfolded… It wouldn't surprise me to have some kind of war brought straight to our Home Land Soil, due to the mistakes of the last 3-4 Presidential Administrations. God Forbid… Though Once Loved, we are a Hated Nation now because of those mistakes… And it isn't due to the Actions of American Civilians, who have been lied to time and time again, and deceived purposefully, in order to go to war. Case in point… The gulf of Tonkin… And the Bay of Pigs. In Conclusion… I would say that sending Assange to Gitmo for the purpose of Torture, humiliation and ultimate Death… Are exactly the kind of sentiments that got us into this situation in the first place… And are exactly the kind of People who tell our Soldiers to turn a Blind eye to the Torture they See on the Battlefield. People who say as much about Julian Assange or Dan Ellsberg (that they should be sent to Gitmo)… Are the same kind of People within the Iraqi Police, who ARE doing the torturing in the first place. You are one and the same. Evil People with an Agenda of your own.
What other secrets does assange have? Will he take them to his Grave at the Hands of our Leaders? Or will good Honest People Protect Him from such an end. Presidents and Founding Fathers have warned us Time and Time again, about the Dangers of Secret Government. When… Will we listen?
Some of you would even send me to Gitmo, for simply expressing my opinion on the subject. It is you People who believe that others should not have a right to think for themselves… Who cause these kinds of issues, by thinking you can actually Eradicate Free Speech or Free Press… And Who think the whole Country should have their Thoughts and Beliefs Shoved down their throats for them.
Those People are truly the Number one Disease this Country and its People, should Vaccinate against.
Thank you for your time.
If you want to fund your tax cuts for the wealthy, then end the war in Afghanistan. It is that simple. Tax cuts do not pay for themselves without cutting costs.
In addition, these people do not want admit that they support an illegal war and admit they wasted American taxpayer resource on the war and they killed innocent Iraqis because of their actions. And ask the Iraqi people how to make amends for their actions.
It's not that Wikileaks doesn't support the troops. Wikileaks doesn't support lies and misinformation given out by government entities. As the saying goes, "Don't just talk about it; be about it." If the United States wants to boast about their great human rights efforts, wants to say they wish to bring peace to every country they bomb, then at the very least when and if corruption is found, it should be addressed. I think the Pentagon is making itself look horrible in the eyes of its own citizens and those of other nations due to how much they have focused on "shooting the messenger". I've heard too little, if anything, about dealing with these issues of corruption and taking accountability. It's basically, "deny and divert". And we would have never known about these issues of corruption, save for the people in Iraq and Afghanistan actually seeing it for themselves daily, had Wikileaks not brought this to the forefront. So thank you Wikileaks. When lies are being told by respected government entities, you should WANT to know as you are not so far removed from the realities as you think.
The Pentagon should be grateful that this is being brought to the light, as any person or nation willing to better his or herself or itself need to address corruption head on and not let offenders get off easy. Trying to silence WIkileaks is at best just a tactic to divert us from the real issue here: we have been told several lies, some laws have been broken, and when offenses WERE SUPPOSED TO BE investigated, they either were not or people got slaps on the wrist at best.
I think the Pentagon is doing the US a great disservice in the eyes of the international community with this constant diverting of attention away from the actual content of the logs that would suggest corruption. We need to hear some accountability, because other nations and other peoples from these nations shall hold the US accountable. The international community is watching the States very closely.
The U.S. Has no Jurisdiction over WikiLeaks, Except for it's US Based Server Mirrors, which they have every right to shut down. Bottom line is they're worried about what might be uncovered about them! The Powers that be would Snuff out Julian Assange w/o any remorse, just as they Snuffed out Kennedy. God forbid the secrets of the Elite come to light. Weather it be our own Elite, or that of Foreign Government or Private Corporations or Banks. Julian Assange has certainly created a difficult situation for our Government, the full ramifications of which, are yet to be known, and will come to light in the near future. However… Assange and his team have made the effort to Protect individuals involved, and have even tried to work closely with the Pentagon to minimize the impact of their latest release.
What they are most afraid of, is the possible future release of Documents concerning Enron, The FED, our Congress and possibly Agencies such as the FBI, CIA or Secret Service. Most of the Documents concerning Enron, and it's investigation, were destroyed in the Demolition of WTC Building 7, Which was a Crime. What better way to destroy evidence, AND use it as a pretext to war?
Let's face it… If the People of this Country were to get wind of Treasonous acts perpetrated by members of our Government or certain Agencies, or it's current Administration, It would most assuredly cause them to lose their Current control over the general thinking of the American People. Assange was neither irresponsible, nor unwarranted in his actions. He is simply shedding some small but powerful Truth regarding the War. The People of America have the right to know what it's Children are fighting and Dying for. If you can't understand that… Then you are nothing in my eyes, but one of the Sheeple, Who buy into all the Government Disinformation regarding the deaths of our Soldiers (Like Pat Tillman) and Many others. Or… You're on someones Payroll to help spread that Disinformation. Either way… We, the American Public, have every right to know how many Civilians we've killed while in that particular Theater of operations… And Congress has the Power, Authority and Duty, to stop the War once it is clear that we have done more harm than good by being there… And by the way… The way this war has unfolded… It wouldn't surprise me to have some kind of war brought straight to our Home Land Soil, due to the mistakes of the last 3-4 Presidential Administrations. God Forbid… Though Once Loved, we are a Hated Nation now because of those mistakes… And it isn't due to the Actions of American Civilians, who have been lied to time and time again, and deceived purposefully, in order to go to war. Case in point… The gulf of Tonkin… And the Bay of Pigs. In Conclusion… I would say that sending Assange to Gitmo for the purpose of Torture, humiliation and ultimate Death… Are exactly the kind of sentiments that got us into this situation in the first place… And are exactly the kind of People who tell our Soldiers to turn a Blind eye to the Torture they See on the Battlefield. People who say as much about Julian Assange or Dan Ellsberg (that they should be sent to Gitmo)… Are the same kind of People within the Iraqi Police, who ARE doing the torturing in the first place. You are one and the same. Evil People with an Agenda of your own.
What other secrets does assange have? Will he take them to his Grave at the Hands of our Leaders? Or will good Honest People Protect Him from such an end. Presidents and Founding Fathers have warned us Time and Time again, about the Dangers of Secret Government. When… Will we listen?
Some of you would even send me to Gitmo, for simply expressing my opinion on the subject. It is you People who believe that others should not have a right to think for themselves… Who cause these kinds of issues, by thinking you can actually Eradicate Free Speech or Free Press… And Who think the whole Country should have their Thoughts and Beliefs Shoved down their throats for them.
Those People are truly the Number one Disease this Country and its People, should Vaccinate against.
Thank you for your time.
Clueless. Really just clueless. Exactly the way elites are when the empire collapses.
God bless Julian Assange! He alone is making the tyrants afraid! Something bombs and guns couldn't do.
"….with the Pentagon insisting WikiLeaks doesn’t support the troops." I fail to understand why anyone would believe that WikiLeaks should be supporting our troops, NATO troops, or anyone elses troops.
Here is a thought. Don't commit war crimes!!!???!!!???
Funny how they can monitor everything we do, but no one is allowed to point out what they are doing apparently.
So, now we are about to get another data point on just exactly how much the Senate values 'freedom' and 'democracy'.
We are told every day that we as taxpayers have to hand over billions of our hard-earned dollars in taxes so the US government can go all around the world killing and torturering in the names of these concepts of 'freedom' and 'democracy'. Yet, now we'll see just how much value the Senate places on these concepts.
Is the Senate willing to defend 'freedom'? A 'NO' vote on this resolution is a vote for 'freedom'. A 'YES' vote is a vote in favor of military and police power quashing freedom as best it can.
In my vote next week, I'm lucky enough to have a Green on the ballot who would most certainly vote to defend Wikileaks, and thus vote to defend 'freedom'. Its a close race here, and of course the Democrats are running around saying how bad things will be if the Repubs win. But, both the Democrat and the Republican are sure 'yes' votes for such a bill that attacks 'freedom'. On my ballot, the Green is the vote to defend 'freedom'.
If you don't like this, there are 33 Senators up for re-election this year. Don't send any of them back unless you are sure that they are a vote for 'freedom' and a vote against 'military' and 'police' power extending around the world crushing anyone who dares to disagree with them.
Mr. Levens
Remember, the 'tax cuts for the wealthy' require a large police and military to defend them against everyone else who has to pay the higher taxes in order to cover for the money that the wealthy won't pay.
A government that favors the wealthy always must have massive police and military to keep it going. Because there are many more 'not-wealthy' than 'wealthy', and in a free election where everyone could really see where everyone stands, the 'wealthy' would be lucky to get 20% of the vote. Therefore, rule that favors the 'wealthy' can not be democratic and it can not be free and it always must be supported by raw force in the form of massive military and police that keep it in power.
The state of American freedom in 2010 is now revealed.
Documents showing that there have been war crimes committed, torture and abuse officially condoned, and many, many more civilians killed than dies on 9-11, and the US Senate does nothing to investigate and correct these wrongs. Instead, the US Senate lashes out at the dastardly people who exposed these crimes.
The ghosts of Hitler's Reichstag must be so very proud that they've won in the long run.
I support WL and I give no fuck what anyone says.