Headline, October18, 2013

''' PAIN FOR THE GUILTY '''

Instead Immi would foster a new wave of media organizations and whistleblower outlets that don't rely on WikiLeaks' technical savvy or resources.

Already a handful of smaller, leak-focused conduits  -regional sites like Africa-focused SaharaReporters or Thaileaks.info   -have published damning data.

Immi's McCarthy says he's been approached by media organizations from Rawanda to Chechnya. German WikiLeaks staffer Daniel Domscheit-Berg, disgruntled with Assange's laser focus on infrequent megaleaks, has left the organization along with several others to create his own spinoff.

''In the end there must be a thousand WikiLeaks,'' he told Der Spiegel.

When asked ( Assange)  how he expects companies to cope with a world where hundreds of WikiLeak-alikes may soon exist. His prescription is earnest  -if a bit patronizing. ''Do things to encourage leaks from dishonest competitors. Be as open as possible. Treat your employees well.''

He also wants to clearup a misunderstanding. Despite his revolutionary reputation, he's not antibusiness. He bristles at the media's focus on his teenage years as a computer hacker who broke into dozens of systems, from the U.S. Department of Defense to Nortel, and was eventually convicted on 25 charges of computer fraud and fined thousands of dollars.

Instead, he prefers to think of himself as an entrepreneur. He tells the story of a free-speech focused internet service provider he cofounded in 1993. known as Suburbia. It was, to hear him tell it, the blueprint for WikiLeaks  -in one instance, when the Church of Scientology demanded to know who posted antichurch info on one site, he refused to help.

''He is a very brave person,'' says David Gerard, that site's creator. ''I saw it early on, without realizing it: potentiating people to reveal their information, creating a conduit,'' Assange says. ''Without having any other robust publisher in the market, people came to us.''

Leaks merely lubricate the market, he says, settling into the couch and clearly enjoying giving  a lecture on economics. He cites the example of the Chinese Sanlu Group, whose milk powder contained toxic melamine in 2008.

While poisoning its customers, Sanlu also gained an advantage over competitors and might have forced more of them to taint their products, too, or go bankrupt  -if Sanlu hadn't been exposed in the Chinese press, ''In the struggle between open and honest companies and dishonest and closed companies, we're creating a tremendous reputational tax on the unethical companies,'' he says.

Of course, Assange's tax isn't as equitable as it sounds. He alone decides were to apply the penalty, choosing the target and when to expose them with a touch of theatrical grandstanding   -and with zero accountability. For better   -and worse-  WikiLeaks has become the Julian Assange Show!!!

Like any true believer, Assange sees his work in simple terms. Markets he believes can't exist without information. Business will come to appreciate what he offers. And if that requires a few painful scandals in the process?

Assange doesn't miss a beat. '' !! Pain for the guilty !!.''

No matter what the world thinks, says and writes. History is on the side of this very great man.  Julian Assange has spearheaded a movement that is the foundation stone of  ''The Fifth Estate''  people journalism and what that is capable of including finding out the  ''truth'' for yourself.

With respectful dedication to the Students of the world. See Ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

'''Thinkers perish. Thoughts don't.'''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless