[Illustration by R_SH]
ABC: Wikileaks says its website has been shut down by the company providing it with domain name services, as British media reports Scotland Yard could arrest the site’s founder Julian Assange as early as tomorrow. The website’s alphabetical web address no longer exists and is now only accessible through a numerical IP address. The company involved, EveryDNS.net, says it terminated its services because Wikileaks had been coming under “massive” cyber attacks. MORE
RELATED: You can still access the WikiLeaks site by going directly to this IP address: http://88.80.2.32 or http://213.251.145.96/
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Is Assange already under indictment in the United States on charges related to his online release of a vast trove of secret US documents? It’s certainly possible. US officials publicly will only say that they are investigating the matter and that no legal options have been ruled out. But an indictment in such an important federal matter would be handed down by a grand jury, and grand jury proceedings are secret, 
notes Stephen Vladeck, an expert in national security law at American University. There may be an empaneled grand jury considering the Assange case right now. “We wouldn’t know what they’re doing until the whole thing is concluded,” he says. A judge could order an indictment of Assange sealed until such time as the US is able to apprehend him, or until he is in custody in a nation from which he is likely to be extradited. The purpose of such secrecy would be to keep the WikiLeaks chief from going even further underground. MORE
CBS NEWS: Supporters of WikiLeaks around the world are downloading a file the site calls an insurance policy. The files are encrypted with a code so strong it’s unbreakable, even by governments. If anything happens to Assange or the website, a key will go out to unlock the files. There would then be no way to stop the information from spreading like wildfire because so many people already have copies. “What most folks are speculating is that the insurance file contains unreleased information that would be especially embarrassing to the U.S. government if it were released,” said Declan McCullagh, chief political correspondent for CNET, a CBS company. In other words, the Interpol arrest warrant may eventually stop Assange but not the spread of even more Wiki-secrets. MORE
PREVIOUSLY…
WORTH REPEATING: With Friends Like This…
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
WHISTLE BLOWING: Wikileaks Plans To Do To Wall Street What It’s Done To The Pentagon & State Dept.
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
WHISTLE BLOWN: Massive Wikileaks Dump Of State Department Cables Sets World Of Diplomacy On Fire
Sunday, November 28th, 2010
DISS INFORMATION: Rape Charges Filed Against Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, And Then Withdrawn
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010