Wikileaks Leaks More

It appears Julian Assange has been arrested by the London police after Interpol had issued a search warrant. Perhaps he'll be brought to Sweden for questioning in the rape case (the article says he'll appear in court in London). His assets have been frozen. This might give him protection from US persecution for a while, perhaps, if he's guarded well.

---------- Post added at 02:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------

In the linked-above thread, a Slashdot member posted a link to an article explaining the nature of the rape allegations.

They're not "rape," everyone agrees (at least as of a few days ago)--because the sex was consensual. They also aren't unspecified "molestation."

What they appear to be is a violation of a Swedish law against "having sex without a condom."

Interestingly, even that charge doesn't appear to precisely apply in this case.

A condom was apparently used--initially. But it broke. So the dispute is about whether it broke "accidentally" (he said) or it broke "on purpose" (she said).

That DEFINITELY sounds like a job for Interpol.
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Looks like WikiLeaks found a new way to get funded.

WikiLeaks, which publishes anonymous leaks of secret material (most recently 250,000 previously secret US embassy cables) still has a trick up its sleeve. In the last few days its sources of funding have been gradually cut off. MasterCard, PayPal and now Visa have all suspended payments to the organsation and founder Julian Assange has been remanded in custody in London without bail (so far).

However there remains one source of funding so far untouched, and that is a small startup, Flattr, created by Peter Sunde, co-founder of torrent site Pirate Bay, who has been reminding Twitter users today via his personal Twitter account that it’s still possible to “help” Wikileaks.

http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/12/08/wikileaks-continues-to-fund-itself-via-tech-startup-flattr/
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The Sunshine Policy
The United States has quietly asked allies like Yemen and Pakistan for some extraordinary favors in its war on terrorism. Is it really so terrible if WikiLeaks forces them to explain those demands?
 
"For a number of days the websites of MasterCard, Visa, PayPal and others are attacked by a group of WikiLeaks supporters (hacktivists). Although the group calls itself 'Anonymous,' researchers at the DACS group of the University of Twente (UT), the Netherlands, discovered that these hacktivists are easy traceable (PDF), and therefore anything but anonymous. The LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon) software, which is used by the hacktivists, was analyzed by UT researchers, who concluded that the attacks generated by this tool are relatively simple and unveil the identity of the attacker. If hacktivists use this tool directly from their own machines, instead of via anonymization networks such as Tor, the Internet address of the attacker is included in every Internet message being transmitted. In the tools no sophisticated techniques are used, such as IP-spoofing, in which the source address of others is used, or reflected attacks, in which attacks go via third party systems.
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you would think if someone was trying to attack CC companies, they would do a better job of covering their tracks..
 
Brandon said:
you would think if someone was trying to attack CC companies, they would do a better job of covering their tracks..
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Yeah, but even if they'd use anonymizers, the traffic could be traced back to the origin ... all it takes is someone w/ access to the anonymization computers.

People who think they're anonymous on the internet have no idea how TCP/IP works, and how easily it can be traced.

Someone in that thread said something to the effect of: "Oh, if I'm behind 7 proxies, they couldn't catch me". Wrong. All of the proxies keep transaction logs and every single packet can be traced back to the origin.

Even better, most countries have laws in place that force ISPs to keep a record of all TCP/IP traffic for a defined amount of time. Plus, access points to that data for intelligence agencies.

---------- Post added at 10:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 PM ----------

Even with encrypted traffic, most people are unaware that in order to make a connection to another entity, keys have to be transmitted somehow. Even multi-key encryption is potentially unsafe if the keys aren't transmitted separately from the internet connection. All you need to do is listen in to the protocol and do packet inspection (aka deep packet inspection).

My current job is indirectly involved with law enforcement. I'm writing deep packet inspection software. Before, I didn't know how easy it was, but now I know. It's pretty impressive what you can do with the right piece of software.
 
News from the Wikileaks front:

Another day, another dozen WikiLeaks stories, several of which revolve around money. PayPal has given in to pressure to release WikiLeaks funds, though they still won't do further transactions. Mobile payment firm Xipwire is attempting to take PayPal's place. "We do think people should be able to make their own decisions as to who they donate to." PCWorld wonders if the WikiLeaks' money woes could lead to great adoption of Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer currency system we've discussed in the past. Meanwhile, Representative Ron Paul spoke in defense of WikiLeaks on the House floor Thursday, asking a number of questions, including, "Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on WikiLeaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy of empire than it is about national security?" The current uproar over WikiLeaks has prompted Paul Vixie to call for an end to the DDoS attacks and Vladimir Putin to break out a metaphor involving cows and hockey pucks.
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New DDoS attacks from WikiLeaks supporters on fax machines:

"Anonymous has claimed responsibility for distributed denial of service attacks against several anti-WikiLeaks websites this month. In a novel twist to the campaign, Mission Leakflood has started a new DDoS attack against fax numbers belonging to Amazon, MasterCard, Moneybookers, PayPal, Visa and Tableau Software. Some numbers have already stopped responding, and Twitter and PostFinance have since been added to the target list."
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The New WikiLeaks Documentary: View It Here [Video]

The Swedish network STV has just come out with a timely documentary about WikiLeaks, entitled "Wikileaks: Med Läckan Som Vapen," which translates loosely to "WikiRebels," the English title. The in-depth report has original sit-down interviews with Assange and his underlings, and folks around the Internet are praising its even-handedness.

The entire documentary is embedded below. It's a whole hour long, so you might want to make some popcorn and get comfortable.

 
Thanks for posting that, Brandon! :)

---------- Post added at 09:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 AM ----------

Today, apparently, Wikileaks founder will appear in court in London.

Guardian article
ARD article (Google-translated; pretty badly so, sorry)
 
A side note appeared on Slashdot about the publication of Assange's 2006 online dating profile :

"The Telegraph reports that an online dating profile created by Julian Assange in 2006 has been unearthed from OKCupid disclosing that the WikiLeaks editor sought 'spirited, erotic' women 'from countries that have sustained political turmoil.' Writing under the pseudonym of British science fiction author Harry Harrison, Assange described himself as a 'passionate, and often pig headed activist intellectual.' Assange said he was seeking a 'siren for [a] love affair, children and occasional criminal conspiracy' adding that he was 'directing a consuming, dangerous human rights project which is, as you might expect, male dominated' and added enigmatically: 'I am DANGER, ACHTUNG.' Among Assange's listed interests were the 'structure of reality' and 'chopping up human brains' – although he added the caveat '(neuroscience background)' lest the latter put off potential admirers. 'I like women from countries that have sustained political turmoil,' Assange wrote. 'Western culture seems to forge women that are valueless and inane. OK. Not only women!'"
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---------- Post added at 04:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:05 AM ----------

In other notes, Assange might be released on bail soon, if Sweden doesn't manage to topple that decision and enforce extradition.

Guardian article
ARD Article (Google-translated)

---------- Post added at 04:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:13 AM ----------

Also, grave censorship for members of the US military

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Air Force, not content with blocking WikiLeaks and its mirrors, has begun blocking media sites carrying WL documents. "Air Force users who try to view the websites of the New York Times, Britain's Guardian, Spain's El Pais, France's Le Monde or German magazine Der Spiegel instead get a page that says, 'ACCESS DENIED. Internet Usage is Logged & Monitored'... The Air Force says it has blocked more than 25 websites that contain WikiLeaks documents, in order to keep classified material off unclassified computer systems. ... The move was ordered by the 24th Air Force... The Army, Navy, and Marines aren't blocking the sites, and the Defense Department hasn't told the services to do so, according to spokespeople for the services and the Pentagon."
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WTF!
 
Assange could face execution or Guantanamo Bay

"WikiLeaker-in-chief Julian Assange faces the real danger of being executed or languishing in the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay if, as a result of his extradition to Sweden, he ends up in the hands of the Americans, his lawyers argue. In a skeleton summary of Assange's defence, posted online, Assange's lawyers argue that it is likely that the US would seek his extradition 'and/or illegal rendition" from Sweden. In the United States "there will be a real risk of him being detained at Guantánamo Bay or elsewhere,' his lawyers write."
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