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Multiple sources reporting:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37680411
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/10/17/wikileaks-says-assanges-internet-link-was-severed-by-state-party.html
http://time.com/4532984/wikileaks-julian-assange-theories/
Wikileaks has announced that Julian Assange's internet access had been intentionally severed by a state actor. I would assume this means they disrupted a VPN connection he had rather than just cutting all internet access to the Ecuadorian Embassy, but again details are limited.
The announcement of disruption was also preceded by multiple strange tweets of random numbers (likely crypto keys) that appear to be part of a dead man system activated by the disruption.
takyon: The full tweet states "Julian Assange's internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. We have activated the appropriate contingency plans." Wikileaks recently released Part 9 of the Podesta Emails. Also at CNET and Ars Technica.
Update: Wikileaks says: "We can confirm Ecuador cut off Assange's internet access Saturday, 5pm GMT, shortly after publication of Clinton's Goldman Sachs speechs."
Perhaps the embassy's perennial guest has finally overstayed his welcome?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2016, @08:00PM
I understand your point, but would also add that jammers have undoubtedly been improved over the years and can be selective about their radius. If Ecuador is complicity with cutting off his internet they could jam him from the next room! However, it is also quite likely that the telcos were served with what amounts to national security letters and have simply disabled any service he might get.
Or he's dead.
Either way, the OP is stupid to think that the people behind this would not account for a burner phone....
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 17 2016, @08:08PM
For all we know, the shutoff was a ham-fisted move by Ecuador (or not by Ecuador), and Assange is already back online (note "the appropriate contingency plans"). Or never was offline. Or there was a technical issue.
We can't take a Wikileaks Twitter account's word as gospel. But I'm interested to hear more.
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(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Monday October 17 2016, @08:47PM
For all we know, the shutoff was a ham-fisted move by Ecuador
The ONLY place I've seen this mentioned is soylentnews...
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Monday October 17 2016, @08:57PM
Scratch that - was looking in the wrong place.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 17 2016, @08:57PM
Explain? You mean everywhere else has gone full infowars conspiracytard and assumed the NWO is cracking down?
Small governments aren't known for having great technical prowess or making truly rational decisions. Whatever happened to Assange, it clearly has had little or no effect on the organization's ability to get those emails out. They probably learned to make lots of backups after Daniel Domscheit-Berg [wikipedia.org] screwed the org over and deleted some documents.
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(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 18 2016, @01:54AM
I don't know anything about anything - but the fact that Assange is not mobile may be a factor in cutting his internet access. If most of our cell phones get bad signals, we can walk across the street, or find a better spot in the yard. We have mobility on our side. On a really bad day, I can drive a couple miles up or down the road, and find a better signal. Or, I can drive into town. Cellular service really is that bad around here.
But, if Assange steps outside the embassy, the constabulary will whisk him up, and he will go directly to jail, he will not collect $200, and there is no 'get out of jail free' card in this game.
Stationary targets are much easier to hit than moving targets.
(Score: 4, Funny) by takyon on Tuesday October 18 2016, @04:07AM
That's the trick: get him on the balcony when he's trying to get 2 bars.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2016, @04:12AM
That is the saddest and funniest sounding arrest :)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 18 2016, @06:26AM
He did cancel his balcony press release. He likes theater and drama, and made some allusions that might be interpreted as an assassination attempt. If the man spoke more plainly, he'd make more sense. Maybe.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday October 18 2016, @02:51AM
For all we know, the shutoff was a ham-fisted move by Ecuador (or not by Ecuador)
Either that or Ecuador has just found out that a £14.99/month Plusnet account with bundled Huawei router isn't really enough to run an embassy off. Sheesh, only Assange could turn an internet outage into a global news event.
(Score: 4, Funny) by isostatic on Monday October 17 2016, @08:57PM
If Ecuador wanted to stop his internet traffic they could simply kick him out the door.