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Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy
The government of Ecuador has confirmed that it has cut off internet access in its embassy in London to Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, saying that he was putting the country's international relations at risk.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Ecuador said that the step had been taken because Assange had failed to abide by an agreement not to interfere in the South American country's relations with other states.
"The government of Ecuador warns that Assange's behaviour, through his messages on social networks, put at risk the country's good relations with the United Kingdom, the other states of the European Union, and other nations," the statement said.
[...] Ecuador temporarily cut Assange's internet connection in 2016, over fears that he was using it to interfere in the US presidential election, but it was later restored.
Also at the Miami Herald and teleSUR.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Pav on Thursday March 29 2018, @11:29AM (10 children)
Assange has been vocal regarding Catalan independance eg. :
"In 1940 the elected president of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, was captured by the Gestapo, at the request of Spain, delivered to them and executed. Today, German police have arrested the elected president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, at the request of Spain, to be extradited."
Spain is rather... sensitive... about this issue. It would be no surprise if additional pressure by Spain gave Equador that extra push.
Assange, Manning, Snowden... all three have been more or less successfully been labeled as sexually deviant, attention seeking and traitorous (although the old pole-dancing girlfriend trick didn't really work on Snowden I guess), and I believe attempts have been made to turn them on eachother also. Their crime? Sharing information of the powerful with the populous. Obama on the other hand was a hero and innovator when his creepy data mining on Facebook seemed to help during his election, though all of a sudden it's a crime against humanity when Trump and Cambridge Analytica did it - perhaps some good will come out of his presidency after all.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @11:33AM
Soon there will be nowhere to run and hide for the criminally corrupt who wrongfully oppress the weak and suppress the truth. Even the watchers are not immune from being watched.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday March 29 2018, @11:37AM
Since I doubt anyone here knows much about the ties between Ecuador and Spain, here's a little bit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador–Spain_relations [wikipedia.org]
One part that stands out:
Ecuador has a population of about 16.5 million.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @02:16PM
Really? Cause snowden was never called a perv.
Manning is hated for being an attention seeker
and Assange is an asshole and probably a perv.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:15PM (2 children)
(Dons tin foil hat) That was the trail run.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @04:55PM (1 child)
If you're doing a trail run I recommend sunscreen instead of tinfoil.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 30 2018, @01:34AM
It might be a bit uncomfortable and you'd need more than just a hat, but tinfoil would make an excellent sunscreen.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday March 29 2018, @05:42PM (3 children)
This episode is another example of how this initial phase of the human struggle for democracy has failed. Snowden, Assange, and Manning are being persecuted for sharing proof of government crimes with citizens. These are not totalitarian states like the People's Republic of China or North Korea we're talking about, but supposed democracies with supposed sacrosanct protections for human rights.
Criminals are our governments. Justice will never come from them, only from us.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @06:49PM (2 children)
Well when the elite decide that they need protections against the general public --> electoral college, then yeah the idea of democracy has failed right out the gate. The US system was designed with very little power given to the people. I don't really fault them for the choice, but in this new age of information connectivity we should work on a better system.
Turns out we need a 3rd branch of government, THE PEOPLE! When you have to say pretty please represent our actual interests congress critter then the system has failed. It is a tough problem, but obviously we need to figure out something better before we implode.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday March 29 2018, @06:54PM (1 child)
> Turns out we need a 3rd branch of government
So many people have figured that out, it's been in the US constitution for over 200 years, and in those of most developed countries, too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @09:43PM
DAMN! 4th! 4th branch!!