Assange: China is 'technological enemy' of WikiLeaks

In interview with British left-wing political magazine 'New Statesman' Assange says mainstream media should be worried by his indictment.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Wikileaks Julian Assange 311 AP (photo credit: AP)
Wikileaks Julian Assange 311 AP
(photo credit: AP)
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that the "technological enemy" of Wikileaks is not the US, but rather China, in an interview with the British left-wing political magazine New Statesman on Wednesday.
In the interview, Assange said that "China is the worst offender," when it comes to censorship.
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"China has aggressive and sophisticated interception technology that places itself between every reader inside China and every information source outside China. We've been fighting a running battle to make sure we can get information through, and there are now all sorts of ways Chinese readers can get on to our site."
Despite this, Assange asserted that Wikileaks was stronger than ever, "we have never published as much as we are now."
Assange stated "there is no 'fall'," and accused the US of attempting to use Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking the cables to Wikileaks, to build a case against him.
"I'd never heard his name before it was published in the press," Assange told the magazine. "Cracking Bradley Manning is the first step."
"The aim clearly is to break him and force a confession that he somehow conspired with me to harm the national security of the United States."
However Assange asserted that this "conspiracy" was impossible because "WikiLeaks technology was designed from the very beginning to make sure that we never knew the identities or names of people sub¬mitting material. We are as untraceable as we are uncensorable. That's the only way to assure sources they are protected."
In the interview with the New Statesman, Assange said that US attempts to indict him should worry mainstream media, "I think what's emerging in the mainstream media is the awareness that if I can be indicted, other journalists can, too," says Assange. "Even the New York Times is worried. This used not to be the case. If a whistle blower was prosecuted, publishers and reporters were protected by the First Amendment, which journalists took for granted. That's being lost."
He warned that despite these attempts, "WikiLeaks is now mirrored on more than 2,000 websites. I can't keep track of the spin-off sites - those who are doing their own WikiLeaks... If something happens to me or to WikiLeaks, 'insurance' files will be released."
The content of these files are not currently known, but Assange said "[t]hey speak more of the same truth to power." 
"There are 504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organization and there are cables on Murdoch and News Corp," he told the magazine.


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