September 2016
Who is Making Money From Stolen Property?
Receiving stolen property is a crime in order to deter people from aiding or rewarding thieves by buying stolen property, concealing stolen property, and to deter theft in general. Receiving stolen property may be a misdemeanor or felony.
Why, then, is nobody prosecuting the press for receiving the stolen property hacked by Wikileaks? I certainly believe in freedom of the press, but I do not believe that they should be above the law where it comes to receiving, publishing, and making money out of revealing the contents of classified or private communications. Julian Assange is a thief! Why is he lionized by our communications media even to the point of interviewing him on television?
Many people are gleeful when America's national security is endangered. Nobody seems to care when security officers whose lives depend upon anonymity are outed, including addresses. Under the notion of exposing government misconduct, e-mails and classified documents are hacked and offered for money (which the press pays). That such material is being dumped during an American election in which only one party is exposed (Democrats) should make readers wary. No material that Assange has released has ever embarrassed his good friend, Russia's Putin. Why is that? Does Mr. Putin have a stake in our election?
Suspicion of government is now going global; governments, whether good or bad, are now enduring widespread dislike, therefore hacking and embarrassing them sits well with such cynics. Does it occur to anyone that the opposite of government is anarchy? How well does that go?
Apparently the hackers do not stop with revealing government documents. They are now dumping masses of private information, including the medical records of sick children, rape victims, and mental health patients, according to the Associated Press.
Sensitive family, financial, or identity records of hundreds of ordinary citizens are dumped for the press to publish. Wikileaks revealed the names of two teen-age rape victims and one Saudi citizen arrested for being gay. In the Saudi's case, if he returns to his home country he may be executed. His name, phone, address, and details were all published. Saudi diplomatic cables hacked hold 124 medical files, along with psychiatric information and data on seriously ill children or refugees. What does this have to do with "politics or corruption," which is supposed to be the target of Wikileaks?
Assange refuses to return calls. He does not want HIS privacy invaded.
There was a time in the United States when the "gentlemen of the press" refrained from publishing the sexual secrets of people in government. They considered it immaterial to the performance of our leaders.
This is no longer the case, and is probably warranted. We do want to know what we can about the character and honor of those representing us. But this kind of information, and information about fraud and bribery, can be gathered by hard-working investigative reporters. They do not need a thief to hand it to them.
If we cannot depend upon the media to decide as a profession to put Julian Assange and his young colleague, Edward Snowden, now hiding in Russia, out of business by not publishing anything from their hacking dumps, perhaps our government (and others in the Western World) can once more enforce the law. Those who receive and benefit from stolen material are violating the letter and spirit of the law.
Yes, I know that this stuff can be dumped on the Internet. But only people hungry for conspiracy theories will bother to read it. Mainstream publications should not put this trash out there.
Both Assange and Snowden deserve prison sentences. Unlike real whistle-blowers who are willing and ready to go to jail for what they believe in, these two are in sanctuary granted by countries not fond of the United States, both of which are rampant violators of press freedom. How many journalists are in prison (or have been murdered) in Russia? Why are we aiding and abetting their criminal behavior?
648 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.
Why, then, is nobody prosecuting the press for receiving the stolen property hacked by Wikileaks? I certainly believe in freedom of the press, but I do not believe that they should be above the law where it comes to receiving, publishing, and making money out of revealing the contents of classified or private communications. Julian Assange is a thief! Why is he lionized by our communications media even to the point of interviewing him on television?
Many people are gleeful when America's national security is endangered. Nobody seems to care when security officers whose lives depend upon anonymity are outed, including addresses. Under the notion of exposing government misconduct, e-mails and classified documents are hacked and offered for money (which the press pays). That such material is being dumped during an American election in which only one party is exposed (Democrats) should make readers wary. No material that Assange has released has ever embarrassed his good friend, Russia's Putin. Why is that? Does Mr. Putin have a stake in our election?
Suspicion of government is now going global; governments, whether good or bad, are now enduring widespread dislike, therefore hacking and embarrassing them sits well with such cynics. Does it occur to anyone that the opposite of government is anarchy? How well does that go?
Apparently the hackers do not stop with revealing government documents. They are now dumping masses of private information, including the medical records of sick children, rape victims, and mental health patients, according to the Associated Press.
Sensitive family, financial, or identity records of hundreds of ordinary citizens are dumped for the press to publish. Wikileaks revealed the names of two teen-age rape victims and one Saudi citizen arrested for being gay. In the Saudi's case, if he returns to his home country he may be executed. His name, phone, address, and details were all published. Saudi diplomatic cables hacked hold 124 medical files, along with psychiatric information and data on seriously ill children or refugees. What does this have to do with "politics or corruption," which is supposed to be the target of Wikileaks?
Assange refuses to return calls. He does not want HIS privacy invaded.
There was a time in the United States when the "gentlemen of the press" refrained from publishing the sexual secrets of people in government. They considered it immaterial to the performance of our leaders.
This is no longer the case, and is probably warranted. We do want to know what we can about the character and honor of those representing us. But this kind of information, and information about fraud and bribery, can be gathered by hard-working investigative reporters. They do not need a thief to hand it to them.
If we cannot depend upon the media to decide as a profession to put Julian Assange and his young colleague, Edward Snowden, now hiding in Russia, out of business by not publishing anything from their hacking dumps, perhaps our government (and others in the Western World) can once more enforce the law. Those who receive and benefit from stolen material are violating the letter and spirit of the law.
Yes, I know that this stuff can be dumped on the Internet. But only people hungry for conspiracy theories will bother to read it. Mainstream publications should not put this trash out there.
Both Assange and Snowden deserve prison sentences. Unlike real whistle-blowers who are willing and ready to go to jail for what they believe in, these two are in sanctuary granted by countries not fond of the United States, both of which are rampant violators of press freedom. How many journalists are in prison (or have been murdered) in Russia? Why are we aiding and abetting their criminal behavior?
648 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.