[derelicta]

What a catastrophe.

This is the ultimate evidence that there is no such thing as a free press; People are only allowed to report what their masters allow them to. The day you cross a line and in Assange's case, the day you report the crimes commited by The Empire, they crush you.

[tim333]

They are not prosecuting him for that. In main for:

>allegations that in 2010, Assange offered to help Manning, the Army intelligence analyst, crack a password to break into a classified U.S. government network, an act that would have gone beyond journalism.

People report crimes committed by the empire all the time without difficulties. Here's a wikipedia with some for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes

[derelicta]

I have a hard time believing they planned his assassination just for a mere cracked password.

[tim333]

There's a difference between what they think he's responsible for and what they think they can prove in court.

[JTbane]

agreed, IMO both he and Snowden should have been pardoned as whistleblowers...

[mnau]

Insert "Always has been" meme.

[vaylian]

Doesn't mean that it always has to stay that way.

[mnau]

People tried and kind-of succeeded. It's being eroded, but it still mostly works.

US generally doesn't persecute it's citizens for reporting. See Pentagon papers.

Assange is not US citizen. Guantanamo bay detainees weren't US citizens. They are free targets.