Julian Assange - WikiLeaks (19 page)

The original idea was that Internet could be seen as a ‘distinct country,' the other, physical countries would then have the right to control who crosses the border, but not to interfere in the internal rules of ‘Internet country.' The idea was to conceive that what goes on in ‘real life' is answerable to the states and possibly
to their courts, but that their representation on the Internet should not be censured as such.

Smári gave as an example pedophile images spread over the Internet. He estimated that what should be condemned was the act committed, as spreading images on the Internet was not the root of the problem and sometimes helped to track down the ringleader. He warned about the points of view of censorship and political control of the Internet that in turn curb freedom of expression. They often demonstrated politicians' lack of knowledge of the Internet and of new means of communication.

Birgitta tried to convince politicians
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that Iceland must adopt a series of laws inspired by these foreign examples. Moreover, a work group was established “with lawyers, legal advisers, activists in civil liberties and new technology. They had collaborated with representatives of the Ministry of Education, of the Sciences and Culture in order to be able to implement this program.”
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“The time was right. Since 2009 the country had been governed by a coalition of Social Democrats and Green Leftists who were open to this kind of adventure. Nineteen deputies, belonging to five parties represented in Parliament, co-signed a resolution aiming to order the government to drawn up the necessary documents.

Icelanders hoped that many foreign media, harassed in their own country, would come over and open branches of electronic publishing.”
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However, there were still sizeable logistics problems, like the absence of a warning and response center to computer attacks, but nothing was insurmountable for the ultra-motivated Icelandic team.

It was as though Julian had given them an incredible boost of energy to act in favor of freedom that Internet users wanted to safeguard. As for Julian, he went over to put together his Icelandic team to which he had given what they needed and which would do the same for him when the time came. Actually, they had all been there when Julian, David, Rop and the others came to edit the
Collateral Murder
film.

It must be said that Julian's choices weren't always accepted. Kristinn remained active in WikiLeaks, while Smári went over to the anarchist movement Fab lab, which promoted sciences to children by designing animated programs adapted for young children. In fact, they closely follow the IMMI. As for Birgitta, she ended up feeling that there wasn't enough transparency in the organization, particularly the decision-making, and not enough communication either. To optimize the flow of communication, one needed to have a good structure. According to her, after the spring of 2010, the structure wasn't very clear anymore. Birgitta wanted to define the roles attributed to each person, and tried to start a discussion many times, to no avail. So she took a step back from the movement.
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However, one of the most virulent critical comments on WikiLeaks, a website that fights for transparency, is its own lack of financial transparency. Although Birgitta didn't think that there was any reason to suspect any wrongdoing, she believed that it should simply be more transparent.
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Despite everything, even outside the WikiLeaks organization, she had always supported Julian. Just that fact was enough for the US government to want to access her Twitter messages in January
2011. In fact, she'd been told that Twitter received a request from the US government to examine Julian's messages as well as those of his close friends and collaborators. As a parliamentarian, Birgitta had means to defend herself in the name of individual freedom, her country and its adherence. She was legally protected by her parliamentary immunity, and sounded the alarm as to the terms used by people like Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, and all those who had called for Julian's assassination. Birgitta would like people to understand the reach and strength of the words, and that “if they use these words to call for the assassination of Julian Assange, of her or of any WikiLeaks associate, they have to live with the consequences of the possible death of one of these people.”

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” These words, which refer to Voltaire, the famous French writer and journalist, are reflected in the First Amendment of the US constitution. They show utmost respect for human expression that some people try to preserve today in virtual media.

“WikiLeaks will never have an actual office or headquarters. Its existence is virtual and it's going to stay that way.”

On the plane flying him to Stockholm, Julian let his thoughts roam. He was a man of flesh and blood; a man who could dissolve himself into computers.

His life had been floating around the Internet for more than twenty years: Mendax, Harry Harrison, John Shipton – so many different personalities. And he remembered every one of them.

Julian knew them all very well. He liked to take on a different personality when he felt like it. He always felt real, but moved forward with a mask. His life was the Internet, the conferences, the interviews, the planes, the evenings with sympathizers, volunteers, friends to some, at least for a time, governments, ‘leakers'… His life was one big Venetian ball where the game consisted of unmasking the others before being recognized, and he was really good at it.

Who really knew Julian Assange, the man made of flesh and human needs?

Everyone who knew him always pointed out his ability to focus on ideas so intensely that he forgot to eat, drink and even sleep. Very few people could actually do the same. Now he had established a personal guard and Rop Gonggrijp was part of it.

Rop considered himself a friend of Julian's. He had just spent an extraordinary 2010 with him.

Although he had known Julian for over ten years, he traveled with him more from October 2009 to November 2010 than he had in the entire time knowing each other.

The real adventure started in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Julian and Rop were invited to speak at a conference organized by Hack In The Box (HITB), a hacker movement that advocated keeping knowledge free and sharing it. It organized conferences several times a year around the world. Hackers, members of organizations and Internet workers of every country would meet up in the comfort of major hotels.

Everybody talked about his own activities. In front of the audience, Rop demonstrated the non-reliability of electronic voting systems and how they could be made more reliable. Some countries had managed to build trustworthy systems like in Brazil, while others had created the possibility of manipulating the direct and democratic expression of citizens, like in India.

Julian came to present WikiLeaks. He had top billing at this event: he was the last speaker at the conference and the most awaited one. The room was filled to the brim to hear his presentation entitled ‘Publishing the unpublishable.' He developed his project to allow newspapers, human rights organizations, investigators and others to download information from the WikiLeaks site. He also explained that he offers potential whistleblowers the opportunity to broadcast sensitive documents using their secure connection. The new arrivals on the site are subjected to an embargo period during which the material was analyzed then released to the public.

The conference was a huge success. In Kuala Lumpur, in this world of hackers, Rop and Julian were stars. Rop was presented like a world-renowned hacker and known activist. Julian came across as a squadron leader ready to risk a lot to defend his cause.

After this four-day event, they traveled together for a month through Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. They really bonded as friends during this trip, sharing the same views. Rop was sold on Julian's ideas; the man had so much energy and passion for his project. To him, everything was possible. He saw the pitfalls, the road was long, but he was entirely capable of overcoming it, improving his system again and again, shaking up public opinion. Freeing people through access to knowledge: Julian said he'd do it, and he had been working on it day after day without fail. This determination deeply touched Rop, who followed him all the way to Iceland in December 2009 for the Reykjavik Digital Freedoms Conference. Daniel Domscheit-Berg spoke under the name Daniel Schmitt. At that time, WikiLeaks was nothing more than some obscure tech-oriented organization with an ambitious journalistic project. Daniel and Julian were given standing ovations when they walked on stage. The consecration of Julian's project was done on this small island of 300,000 inhabitants. WikiLeaks helped out Icelanders with the Kaupthing Bank affair and since then, WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange have been hailed as heroes.

Julian and Daniel responded to success quite differently. Daniel stayed focused on the message, his lips tight and his eyes riveted on the slides that appeared on his computer and the big screen deployed on stage. He listened to the round of applause go by with a serious look on his face. Julian was relaxed and smiling, cracking jokes along the way.

When they explained that WikiLeaks could provide new opportunities to protect the freedom of the press in Iceland, the room gave up some thundering applause. Rop was taken aback by this, as were Julian and all the others. However, Julian would only stay a little while on this euphoric mood. He was already
starting to think about the means Iceland had to become a haven for reality informants. He had already built the premises of the future law called IMMI, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative. Rop wanted to participate in the adventure and would come back to Reykjavik a few weeks after the conference to help draw up this government bill.

After a few other trips and conferences on electronic voting systems, Rop wanted to spend a few weeks home in Amsterdam, but his friend Julian needed his help. It wasn't intended for Rop to go back to Iceland to work on this project, which suddenly became the team's number one preoccupation. By reading WikiLeaks' Twitter messages, Rop figured that his friend needed help. A few hours later, he showed up on Grettisgata to organize the planning and administration of the Project B team with a 10,000-euro loan for WikiLeaks to start the works. That week in Iceland was intense and restless. Rop played the role of guardian angel to Julian, a driven man who forgets to sleep and eat.

As the co-producer of the film, Rop accompanied Julian to the press conference they held in Washington. The video needed as much visibility as possible, which was why Julian decided to hit hard: release the video of the two America helicopters opening fire on civilians and journalists in Baghdad and at the same time, hold a press conference in Washington so that the media could broadcast the information.

WikiLeaks had been in existence since the end of 2006, and in 2010 the organization had not yet fulfilled its mission: to change the world, shake up public opinion and force governments to face their actions. Over the years, Julian learnt that he couldn't do it without using the relays of the press. Now he had to expose himself and Rop supported him in this move.

They often talked about the fact that WikiLeaks wasn't making the difference it wanted to make. Leaks were published on the site, but didn't have the impact they wanted. Like a hacker, he considered the organization a system to be improved and the option he chose was to give WikiLeaks a human face.

The responses to the organization were very favorable at the time. They received a warm, even triumphant welcome at conferences. In 2008,
The Economist
awarded WikiLeaks an ‘Index on Censorship Award,' and in 2009 it received the Amnesty International ‘Media Award.' All this attention helped Julian fine-tune his approach. He was on the right track. His pride and pleasure were real, but as always, his mind was inclined to take over his emotions and whisper to him, ‘Do more, go further, do better.'

And finally, for the first time, beyond the IT world, a short film would affect public opinion.

Rop remembers that morning. “Hey Julian, we're off to the lion's den,” he said, while the taxi driving them to the National Press Club was going down Massachusetts Avenue. The taxi drove along rows of office buildings. “No feline stares then,” Julian answered, smiling. The rest of the trip was quiet. A few minutes later, Julian, who was only announced as one of the spokespersons of an ‘information leaks' movement, stood up in front of the room of the National Press Club. He was ready to present
Collateral Murder
to some forty-odd journalists. Stylish as usual, he was wearing a brown blazer with a black shirt and a red tie.
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He showed the film, stopping here and there to give some details. In doing so he exposed his implication, his knowledge of the subject, and prepared and guided the emotions of the journalistic audience. Once the projection was over, he showed
the film of the
Hellfire
attack that was not included in
Collateral Murder
. A woman in the audience screamed when the first missile blew up a building. Julian read the e-mail Kristinn had sent from Iraq. You could feel the emotion in the auditorium.

Julian let a few seconds of silence go by. He cleared his throat and spoke solemnly. In fact, he wished he'd disappeared and let the message speak for itself: “This leak sends a message that the armed forces doesn't like.”
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He reiterated that a site was created especially for this film, and that it could also be viewed on YouTube and many other sites.

A few minutes after the press conference was over, Julian was invited to Al Jazeera's ‘headquarters' in Washington where he spent half the day giving interviews. This Qatar-based television station, nicknamed the ‘Arabic CNN,' became a popular world media in a very short time. In the evening, the MSNBC news channel did a long feature on the film. The press relayed the information throughout the world, and on YouTube more than 7,000,000 people viewed the
Collateral Murder
film.
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