Wikileaks Roundup

Julian Assange was arrested today in Britain. Here’s some background on the charges*

Assange has an editorial in today’s Australian.

How is Wikileaks like L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry?

Visa and Mastercard have cut off Wikileaks too, and will likely face the same sort of hacker retribution Paypal already has.

This is in the rolling coverage at the Guardian, so you’ll have to scroll for it, but Charles Arthur notes that while you can’t use Visa and Mastercard to contribute to Wikileaks, you can still use both cards to contribute to the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that has been convicted of illegal activities in the past.

Julian Assange is in the running for Time’s Person of the Year. And he’s leading the online voting pretty handily.

* Speaking only for myself, if this charge is accurate, I don’t see why it’s not considered rape or sexual assault. It’s pretty clear to me that anyone involved in sexual activity can withdraw consent at any point in the proceedings, and if the other party refuses to stop, you’ve moved from consensual sex to rape. And lying about using protection can certainly fall into the realm of assault.

I say this because I don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking that just because I may admire Assange’s work with Wikileaks, he can’t possibly be a rapist. It is entirely possible that he is both.