Wikileaks and the Law

This is something I exclusively mentioned in my first post, the question of whether or not Wikileaks is able to act within the parameters of the law with specific regard to first amendment rights. Julian Assange has been distinguished as Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' but is this rightly so? US congress passed The Espionage Act of 1917 in 1917 (appropriately) the act states:

1)      Any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States...or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy.

2)      To convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. This was punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than 30 years or both.

If this does not demonstrate Wikileaks’ conflict with the law allow me to elaborate. This is basically demonstrating that anything that may compromise the US military is by law espionage. Although some may beg to differ we need to realize that since this passed congress it is now law, and it has been tried and proven. In law it is the student’s duty to recognize the importance of precedent:

1)      Schenck v. United States, 249, U.S. 47; an anti-war socialist spreading anti-conscription pamphlets during World War 1, the basis of the act.

2)      Gorin v. United States 1941; here the Supreme Court ruled that the leaked information did not have to be directly used against the USA.

3)      Ethel and Julius Rosenberg v. United states 1950; sentenced to death for selling nuclear secrets to the USSR

4)      Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo v. United states 1971; publishing classified pentagon documents (the pentagon papers) to The New York Times, released but not acquitted

5)      The New York Times v. United States 1971; trial dropped, although Supreme Court Justices agree that the defense was in violation of the act.

6)      Alfred Zehe v. United States 1983; a Non-American tried under the act, plead guilty and served an 8 year sentence (was later exchanged with four other East Germans for twenty-five Prisoners in Eastern Europe)

7)      Johnathan Pollard v. United States 1986; selling information to Israel

8)      Samuel Loring Morison v. United States 1985; sold satellite photos of Russian nuclear weapons, convicted of espionage and two accounts of theft of government property.

9)      Kenneth Wayne Ford jr. v. United States 2003; former NSA officer who withheld classified documents in his home for years after leaving the NSA.

I believe from the above list of precedents, which is only a handful of the conviction under the act, we can recognize the illegality of what Assange is doing. The number one counter arguments have been simply reduced firstly is that the law is immoral. Immoral laws are passed all of the time, but whether or not the law is moral we need to abide by it as global citizens, it is a romantic and foolish notion to think we supersede legal procedure. Secondly people question because he is an Australian citizen, but we just look at Alfred Zehe v. United States, an East German sentenced to prison in the USA for leaking United States documents. Also if the leaked documents had not been used directly against the USA, the case of Gorin v. United States of 1941 confirms that the information need not be used to be considered espionage. If we can conclude that there is precedent and law prohibiting the actions of Julian Assange. We need to also look at the actions of Bradley Manning who was convicted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice articles 92 and 134 specifically: "transferring classified data onto his personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system in connection with the leaking of a video of a helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007," and "communicating, transmitting and delivering national defense information to an unauthorized source and disclosing classified information concerning the national defense with reason to believe that the information could cause injury to the United States." Considering there is this much precedent set to what extent can we say that Julian Assange is not guilty of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and consenting to Bradley Manning’s violation of The Uniform Code of Military Justice? Simply put we cannot. And hereby I return to my original point in my first post: “Wikileaks is not currently capable of acting in the interest of democratic societies or within the parameters of their laws.”