WikiLeaks and Assange under attack

While WikiLeaks’ site is still being bombarded with requests at a speed of 10 gigabits per second – making access to it very difficult and at moments even impossible – ars technica reports that its operators have moved the site’s services to the Amazon cloud in hope of making it less vulnerable to DDoS attacks.

In the meantime, a “red alert” has been issued by the Interpol for WikiLeaks’ founder and director Julian Assange, in connection to the investigation that is currently under way following rape and sexual molestation accusations made against him by two Swedish women. The “red alert” is not an international warrant for his arrest – since he has not been charged yet – but prompts anyone who knows of his whereabouts to report it to law enforcement agencies.

Assange is thought to be hiding somewhere outside London, but has been doing interviews via the Internet. Among other things, he is saying that Hillary Clinton should resign since she ordered US diplomats to spy on UN officials and that constitutes a violation of the international agreements that the US has accepted and signed.

In an interview for Forbes, he also announced a major leak of private sector documents in January, which should offer a whole new look behind the curtains of corporate America – banks, pharmaceutical companies, etc.

While the U.S. Government and various politicians and officials are almost unanimous in their condemnation of Assange – calling him a terrorist and looking for his head on a platter – some South American countries are thinking about offering him refuge. He might need it, too, since Australia – of whom he is citizen – is also starting an investigation to see if he has broken any laws in his country.

Assange continues to enlighten the public on the reasons of WikiLeaks’ existence and role in the world. “In order to make any sensible decision you need to know what’s really going on, and in order to make any just decision you need to know, understand what abuses or plans for abuses are occurring,” he explained.

But, one thing is sure. Not only has WikiLeaks received a massive amount of coverage in the last few days – and consequently been given the possibility to address a much wider audience than ever before – but the one thing that the U.S. seem to forget is that WikiLeaks is not Assange’s private platform, nor is it so easy to take down due to the distributed nature of its resources and mirror sites. If they manage to take him down, there are other associates that can take his place. It is indeed a brave new world out there – one that politicians haven’t been able to grasp yet.