Wikileaks Assange is leaked against

How ironic. Julian Assange, the Wikileaks head and erstwhile hero of free speech libertarians has found himself on the receiving end of leaking activity. Assange has been embroiled in strange case of alleged rape in Sweden that has been on again off again on again and which recently resulted in his appearance in a British court after Swedish attempts to have him arrested on the rape charges. The case has the wiff of expediency about it and of course many suspect that the Swedes are trying to get him to Sweden so that the US will find a way then to extradite him from there.

Assange of course has through Wikileaks been releasing swathes of secret and sensitive diplomatic which has stirred up various hornets nests among governments and rulers around the world. I have to admit that personally I have had very mixed feelings about Wikileaks recent activity.

On the one hand we all have a strong interest in knowing what our governments and leaders are really up to. On the other hand governments and their diplomatic staff need to be able to communicate and pass information securely. Speculating about the motives and actions of foreign governments and their agents is an important part of developing a governments position and influence in dilomatic affairs.

For free speech libertarians though the only thing that matters is that we the people should have access to any information that we want. All information is to this mind set fair game. Assange of course is a leading light of this way of thinking.

How ironic then that Assanges lawyers are now complaining that details of the police files in his case have been made public by the media. As a staunch defender of our right to know one would think that Assange would be the first to say a big hoorah that secret Swedish police files have been exposed. But of course this time it concerns his own affairs - and that isn't so comfortable. This time the boot sits squarely on the other foot and he is the one who will now be arguing that this information has only been released to damage him. Pots and kettles spring to mind here.