(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The founder of whistleblower website Wikileaks (www.wikileaks.org), Julian Assange, told an Australian newspaper that he was hassled by airport security upon returning to his country of citizenship, perhaps as a result of publishing a confidential blacklist of websites that forms the basis of the Australian government’s proposed Internet filter last year.
Assange told newspaper The Age that his passport was taken from him at the Melbourne Airport and after 15 minutes was told by customs officials that it was about to be cancelled. Half an hour after his passport was returned, police approached him to search one of his bags, and asked him about his criminal record, which related to computer hacking offences dating back to 1991, he told the paper.
Wikileaks has been in the news lately because of its release of a video of journalists being killed by US helicopters in Iraq. This airport incident helps to further establish Wikileaks as a threat to authority — however, it increasingly seems that it is Assange who may be disguising events to stir publicity through claims of being a conspiracy target.
Website Gawker is especially skeptical of his claims, noting that Assange was likely behind claims last month that Facebook had deleted the Wikileaks fan page. On another occasion, he said that six gunman invaded his home in Kenya and attempted to kill him for Wikileaks’ role in exposing government-sponsored killings there, despite little evidence suggesting that it was anything more than a robbery.
Regardless, it seems that the publishing of confidential and sensitive material online is garnering more and more attention in the real world. In 2008, a federal judge in California ordered the shut down of Wikileaks, however, Sweden-based hosting company PRQ (www.prq.se) resisted the injunction notices — not surprising considering that PRQ is reportedly operated by two Pirate Bay founders Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij. The Pirate Bay, after all, has proven to be an unsinkable ship, managing to remain in operation despite challenges from copyright lawyers and government.
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