SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the can't-get-there-from-here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIJBUZm1HoY dept.
Like any techno-political soap opera watcher, I've on occasion wondered why it is so damned hard for Julian Assange to get away from that embassy.
Riddle me this: you've been stuck in a little room in Equador's embassy in London for 8 years. You can't leave without getting arrested and most likely extradited.
A few countries not friendly to the U.S., but most notably Russia, have tried to figure out how to get you out of there
Your crimes are mostly pissing off people in power in the way journalists really should, but there is also compelling evidence of at least one actual crime — that you provided material assistance to someone hacking secret information. If the U.S. gets hold of you, you can pretty much count on paying the piper.
Still, you have hordes of supporters, and even entire countries with not insignificant resources willing to give a hand if only to tweak the nose of the U.S.
Diplomatic vehicles, helicopters, disguises, being made an ambassador yourself, just plain sneaking out... nothing has panned out.
So what are your options? Jetpack? Smuggle in parts of a drone capable of carrying a person? VTOL car? Urban ghillie suit? Rocket skates? Dig a tunnel in the basement? It seems hard to believe that the bored lax surveillance of 8 years on can't be defeated by a motivated technogencia.
You've probably only got one shot...so how would you do it?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Thursday December 27 2018, @12:34AM (11 children)
"but there is also compelling evidence of at least one actual crime"
No there isn't. I notice you didn't provide a link.
Anyway, it's sorely disappointing to me, as a believer in law and order, that the legal route has been denied. The UK stands exposed as a scofflaw, and no one seems to care. What a sad point in history to be a native English speaker.
Anyway, the problem is probably insoluble. Sure, you could try to tunnel, you could try to fly, you could try to sneak out in disguise - but none of those will work if the regime is keeping a close watch (we know they are) and has overwhelming force (we know they do) and no fear of or respect for law and decency (clearly the case.)
The good news is the UK government currently looks about as stable as that of South Sudan, so there's always the chance of regime change, and a new regime might be more law-abiding, at least at first. That may be his best bet to escape from Airstrip 1.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Thursday December 27 2018, @01:09AM (9 children)
Meh. I had that discussion some months back here on SN, and I started from your perspective. I had to adjust my view.
Whoever I was discussing with linked the chat logs showing Assange passed lanman password hashes off to a someone to apply rainbow tables to crack. You can argue that rainbow tables are pretty trivial assistance to render from a technical perspective (they are), you could also laugh at Manning for not being able to do that himself (there with you) but the law doesn't much care about the difficulty of the crime, just that it was committed. This is more than sufficient to get him extradited. Taking the information and publishing it as a journalist is one thing and should be protected, however helping Manning crack passwords to get the information in the first place is a criminal act. This mistake may really be the only reason he has spent 8 years in London.
If you go search my conversation history you'll find a pastebin to the full chat log in there somewhere, but here's a link that includes the relevant bits: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2011/12/military-assange-manning-collaborated-in-chats.html?gtm=bottom>m=bottom [nymag.com]
So wait for regime change is certainly an option. I wouldn't get my hopes up about them promptly ditching extradition treaties with the U.S. though :-\
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday December 27 2018, @01:32AM (6 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday December 27 2018, @01:43AM
Speaking of which, have they gotten over all those cryptography level restrictions on exports?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday December 27 2018, @04:00AM (2 children)
Oh come on.
It builds suspense for the idiots and adds sarcastic comedy for the non-idiots. Lighten the fuck up.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday December 27 2018, @06:24AM (1 child)
Step 1: Visit Salisbury...
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday December 27 2018, @11:12AM
Step 2: Make a hamburger and call it steak...
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @04:50AM
Try explaining that to the morons who keep demanding back doors in crypto and threaten legal repercussions for those who tell them they're idiots.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday December 27 2018, @04:02PM
> Math is not a crime.
Nor is a car, but one can be used to commit crime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @04:04PM (1 child)
Seriously LANMAN? You mean uppercase passwords limited in length to 7x2 so breaking them is trivial?
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Friday December 28 2018, @11:40AM
I thought it was 8x2 but could be misremembering, regardless, yes trivial since the mid-late 90s. If you wanted go hacking NT that wasn't hardened in this time frame there's really no excuse for needing help with them when every schlub could download l0pht and google hashes at that point.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday December 27 2018, @01:10AM
Well, strictly speaking this is presented as a purely hypothetical question, where they hypothetical you may in fact have "compelling evidence of at least one actual crime" against you ;)
And there's still the matter of skipping bail. That's one you *should* answer for, imo.