Recent news headlines have included names and phrases such as Julian Paul Assange, Wikileaks, Facebook, and security threats. For those of us that have limited time to spend researching what these have in common, these terms seem to have no relationship or relevance to our daily lives.
However, by understanding how these terms are related, it becomes clear how important being familiar with this current news situation really is.
Who is Julian Paul Assange
Julian Paul Assange is the editor in chief of the website, Wikileaks, devoted to leaking private information on the internet. Having studied in a number of subjects such as physics, math, and programming, he is an expert computer hacker with experience hacking into universities and communication companies.
He is currently jailed in the UK, waiting possible extradition to Sweden on charges of sex violations. The United States is currently building an espionage case against Assange.
Wikileaks Website Information
Wikileaks is the website started by Assange which leaks valuable sensitive information to the internet. Assange refers to himself as, “the editor in chief,” and claims to be the final say on which confidential documents are posted to the site. Several documents have leaked through the site so far and contain information ranging from church manuals to air-strike videos and information on the war in Afghanistan.
Currently the site has experienced a downturn of financial supporters such as Paypal, Visa and Mastercard, which could encourage other supporters to cease assistance, as well. Mastercard, upon dropping Wikileaks, has experienced numerous issues with its website, potentially stemming from irate Wikileaks’ supporters.
Facebook Numbers and Wikileaks
Facebook joined in the Wikileaks controversy when the popular social networking site refused to take down the Wikileaks fan page.
Facebook spokesmen note that since the Wikileaks page does not violate any of Facebook’s policies, they see no reason to discontinue the site’s Wikileaks page until a proven violation has occurred. Facebook is receiving increase criticism for this decision in light of the incoming Chairman of the Department of Homeland Security requesting that Wikileaks be placed on the terrorist list.
Security Threats Overseas
A number of potential security threats may lead back to information supplied from the Wikileaks website, putting thousands of U.S. troops in danger overseas.
Heads of several countries around the world have placed blame on the United States for failure to adequately protect the highly sensitive documents from becoming public. The United States responded to these allegations by claiming that the fault lies completely on the website and its founders.
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More information is pouring in every day about the current state of Wikileaks and its founder Assange.
Whether Facebook will reconsider its decision on taking down the fan page remains to be seen, but it will definitely be interesting to see if hackers try to attack Facebook as they claimed to have done with MasterCard. Most people will start to feel the heat of this situation when it hits their pocketbooks.
