Has Julian Assange’s Fame Wrecked Wikileaks?
WIKILEAKS was huge news not too long ago. Footage of US soldiers in Iraq looked good and grainy and as if something was going on we didn’t know about. Bradley Manning was the alleged insider doing good deeds. Truth would out.
Wikileaks then unleashed tons of stuff about Afghanistan. Lazy hacks seized on it. But there wasn’t much in it. It’s existence was the story. Wikileaks was our alternative source for news.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had an aura of mystery. Here was the David Gower look-alike that would not be pinned down by “bastards“. But he started showing off and looking like he was enjoying his fame.
He was then accused of rape, in a odd tale short on facts that traveled well. And Assange was reduced to being just another horny geek with a website and a son.
And now Wikileaks is losing staff:
At least half a dozen WikiLeaks staffers have tendered their resignations in recent weeks, the most prominent of them being Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who, under the name Daniel Schmitt, served as WikiLeaks’ German spokesman.
Domscheit-Berg learned about Assange’s agreements with a number of media outlets last month, but did not know the details or when the documents were scheduled to be released. When he quizzed Assange in an online chat, Assange responded by accusing Domscheit-Berg of leaking information about discontent within WikiLeaks to a columnist for Newsweek.
A purported transcript of the chat provided to Wired.com by a WikiLeaks insider shows the conversation grew heated.
“You are not anyone’s king or god,” wrote Domscheit-Berg in the chat. “And you’re not even fulfilling your role as a leader right now. A leader communicates and cultivates trust in himself. You are doing the exact opposite. You behave like some kind of emperor or slave trader.”
Assange’s alleged reply:
“You are suspended for one month, effective immediately. If you wish to appeal, you will be heard on Tuesday.”
Domscheit-Berg walked…
Posted: 28th, September 2010 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
