Wikileaks editor detained by US customs

Wikileaks editor detained by US customs

www.nzherald.co.nz

A senior volunteer for Wikileaks in the US has been detained, questioned and had his phones seized when he returned to the country from Europe, as the FBI steps up its investigation into the leak of thousands of Afghanistan war secrets to the whistleblower website.
Jacob Appelbaum, who has stood in for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange since he was advised not to travel to the US, spent three hours at a New York airport while customs officers photocopied receipts and searched his laptop, and he was again approached and questioned by FBI officers at a computer hackers conference in Las Vegas.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This strikes me as strange especially since wikileaks recently posted an encrypted "insurance" file on their website. Could this be a purposeful tactic, a negnotiator being sent inside from wikileaks or could this be the US Governement showing no fear of what files they have. I have to question why this guy would be traveling to the USA when it is obvious you are not on the 'birthday list'.



www.nzherald.co.nz
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by byteshertz


This strikes me as strange especially since wikileaks recently posted an encrypted "insurance" file on their website. Could this be a purposeful tactic, a negnotiator being sent inside from wikileaks or could this be the US Governement showing no fear of what files they have. I have to question why this guy would be traveling to the USA when it is obvious you are not on the 'birthday list'.



www.nzherald.co.nz
(visit the link for the full news article)

This guy is a renowned hacker. Here's his Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org...

It already cites his detaining - that didn't take long.

reply to post by byteshertz


Maybe because he's an American citizen and should, by all counts, have the right to do so. Or is that not allowed anymore? In the infamous words of both GW Bush and Gaston (a bird of the same feather from Disney's Beauty and the Beast), "If you're not with us, you're against us!"

It's a good thing there are people with nerves of steel who can cope with this type of assault. I'm so very glad there are people like Assange and Appelbaum in the world. They have my respect and support.

That does it for me ... I think Wikileaks is looking for someone who can crack the "insurance" file. Either as a test of AES256 or because they recieved the file and have reason to believe it contains important info.

they did that to him 2 or 3 days ago

so, its kind of old

the file was uploaded at the time he got detained, so, it may have something to do with it

but they talked to him for 3 hours and got his cellphone ... thats it I think

reply to post by CosmicEgg


Totally agree with you, but there is nerves of steel and then there is a brain of gold - knowing when to play your nerves of steel card. He is a vital piece of the puzzle and I am sure he is aware of this and being very smart would not make a statement like this without it being part of a bigger plan.

welcome to the next thing in spying network entertainment.
Reality Spying TV. Below are some previews from
next week's episode. Geez, can't you see all
this is scripted ????

It's Psy-Ops !!!

They tried it first with the
Restore America Plan.
And now with the wiki
Pentagon Leaks.

All of this is to appease the subjects
who are pro-revolution.
They are trying to give Patriots
hope so they don't revolt on their own.
They want a Revolution that THEY CONTROL
not us. It is a way to hold onto power
and let the public think things have changed.


[edit on 2-8-2010 by boondock-saint]

reply to post by boondock-saint


Agree with you also there is alot of things not adding up.
Pro-revolutionists must be careful not to follow something just because it appears to be on their side. However at some point we all must trust someone else, sure you always trust yourself first but we in order to unite we are going to have to trust someone.
Edit to add: Im not saying wikileaks is that group, but i'm not seeing a whole lot of viable options. And we also need to remember these groups have to keep things from us in order to get things out as backwards as that sounds.

[edit on 2-8-2010 by byteshertz]

You guys see the front page of CNN?

Making it look now like encryption software itself isn't evil and like helping someone install encryption software is illegal?

Man if there isn't some SPIN spinnin'

Oh, I get the message "You hackers out there are a threat to the US and if you so much as voice your support for Assange you're going to be put on the bad boy/girl list."

Is the US trying to start a cyberwar that they weren't expecting? One from THE INSIDE?

Well at least they didn't detain him. That's at least one small victory for the first amendment. They're just tightening the screws hoping someone will crack and lead them to deep throat 2010.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
Well at least they didn't detain him. That's at least one small victory for the first amendment. They're just tightening the screws hoping someone will crack and lead them to deep throat 2010.

and we will find out later in this long drama TV series
that this is the episode where the FBI placed
the tracking and listening devices in his cell phone, his
computer, his luggage, jewelry, etc....


[edit on 2-8-2010 by boondock-saint]

reply to post by boondock-saint

If they have his phone number, they can track his phone. What would be the point of bugging anything else, really.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by boondock-saint

 

If they have his phone number, they can track his phone. What would be the point of bugging anything else, really.

you act like he is not smart enough to toss
his cell phone in the nearest trash bin when he
leaves their custody. If they really want to
track someone they will rely on more than
1 tracking device.

Plus, not to mention that the bottom of the OP's
linked article states that Jacob already has a
voicemail message on his phone that this line
has been compromised and is not secure.
Would you keep ur cell phone after posting
that voicemail message ????

Thus the need for the other tracers by
the FBI.


[edit on 2-8-2010 by boondock-saint]

If this is Applebaum you are talking about - he was detained - they took and kept his 2 cell phones. He mentioned it at Defcon.

It is unwise these days for anyone to cross the US border with a computer, telephone, or camera, because THEY like to snoop. And confiscate. And if they give it back, you don't know what they've done to them. If you can afford it you should get a brand new computer with nothing on it, download your antivirus, firefox maybe your imaging software and nothing else, a disposable cellphone with only your emergency numbers on it, and a cheapo camera, not the one you paid $700 for when you cross the border.
There are places online where you can backup your computer. Do that and once your feet are over the line you can go there and download everything.If you MUST have them, if Christ would have suffered and died in vain if you couldn't use your laptop in Italy, then fedex it to yourself.
I'm sure that he knows that.

The above is not my idea. I got it from Lewrockwell.com

Wikileaks posted an insurance file, now the US authorities are not daring to do anything stupid, like detaining/kidnapping/killing Wikileaks staff?

in the mean time Jacob Appelbaum, "showed off" and slaps into the face of the FBI and white house byattending a hacker conference the geeks must worship him

all because of the possibly dangerous information of a single encrypted insurance file....hmmm.....


[edit on 2-8-2010 by nagabonar]

What's this crap about Lamo being involved in Project Vigilant where a lot of ISPs give idiots like him access to everything because we have 3rd party in our EULAs?


cryptogon.com...

"According to Uber, one of Project Vigilant’s manifold methods for gathering intelligence includes collecting information from a dozen regional U.S. Internet service providers. (ISPs) Uber declined to name those ISPs, but said that because the companies included a provision allowing them to share users’ Internet activities with third parties in their end user license agreements (EULAs), Vigilant was able to legally able to gather data from the Internet carriers and use it to craft reports for federal agencies. A Vigilant press release says that the organization tracks more than 250 million IP addresses a day and can “develop portfolios on any name, screen name or IP address.”

Darn but this whole thing is getting to be a deep and wide rabbit hole - wikileaks, lamo, the timing with Defcon, the US govt freaking out.....

[edit on 2-8-2010 by hadriana]

reply to post by boondock-saint


I'm sure these guys are well aware of what could have been planted in said computer, and/or phones (if they are ever returned to him). I'm not sure it's legal, them keeping his phones, by the way.

Assange and his team live with high risk every day, and will be only too aware of how his computer could have been compromised.

The possibility that a high ranking wikileaks staff go with important data into US is small.

Would be a rather stupid executive or corrupt executive to do that.

Nothing to fear for Wikileaks, as long the insurance file scares the crap out of the military involved