Southern Star-April2023 English

 Julian was born in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia, on 13th of July 1971. His mother's name is Christine.She was an activist against Vietnam War and met a young agitator Jhon Shipton during the demonstrations in Sydney. Julian was born out of that meeting, though Christine was not married to Jhon.As if to rebele against an injustice and  established order was inculcated into Julian right from his birth.

When Julian was two years old, his mother met Brett Assange, a musician in a traveling drama company.Julian acquired his surname from his stepfather Brett. Julian's early life was very unstable. He had to change his school 30 times.When he was 9 years old, his parents separated. His mother married a person called Leif Meynell. They never got on well with each other. To stay away from Leif,Julian and his mother were always on run, changing places and cities. Atlast both of them got rid of Leif.Julian was 16 years old at that time. At the same time he came in contact with a computer and the two became inseparable ever since. As he played with the computer he came to realize the ability of the system. He learned to create computer programs,decode the cryptic script. At that time this information was available in handbooks, which were not easily accessible, specially for the younger generation who were short of money .Therefore to overcome this difficulty ,an underground group was formed,which could decode the secret script, extract the program and make it available to the younger generation. Thus a competition started between the company employees and the young hackers, to create and decode the programs. To overcome each other, all sorts of methods in computer science were utilized which developed the programming immensely. Communication started between programmers and hackers on international level, through postal  service  without charges, as a way was found to use postal stamps again and again. Before the era of internet these people used to communicate with each other on the computers through international telephone calls. As international calls were expensive, a way was found to subvert the telephone system to make free calls. Later on 'Modem' came and the communication was done through modem. Julian wrote a program to find out other computer's modem and this way ' hacking ' started. Julian and his comrades realized that the information from other computers is not easily accessible. There are lot of obstacles in between to protect the information for the sake of profiteering, or to suppress personal freedom and truth. Therefore they started hacking the computers of such companies to extract the information.

 Julian acquired the name 'Mendex' as a handle and started hacking different computer systems. There were very few hackers in the world, which could be counted on the fingers of once hand.They hacked the computer systems of defense organizations of different countries, Pentagon, and several banks. It was not their intention to hurt anyone or make a profit for themselves, but to make the information available to everybody. In the end Australian government got wind of his deeds and his mother's house was raided. Julian was on the run again. He left his mother's house to hide in Melbourne. In 1990  he was  staying  in an encroached  house in the suburbs of Melbourne along with his girlfriend. He created a program which could give  information about such empty properties and a way to encroach and stay in such properties. In the end he was thrown out of the encroached house. But the program  benefited many homeless persons. Australian government was chasing Julian all the time. In October 1991 identity of Mendex was found, and Australian police confronted him. It took Australian government five years to lodge FIR as the act against cyber crime was new. In the meanwhile he formed a company along with his friend to protect computer from piracy. Now he was doing exactly apposite to what he was doing until now.In1991 Julian created 'sycophant.' program by which he could find  the password of any computer. By this program he could enter the computers of American defense establishments, Navy, Pentagon, Motorola, Panasonic, Zerox etc. He realized that by cyber piracy and programs he can extract any information concealed from general public and expose corrupt and criminal elements.

In 1992, movement of 'CypherPunck' was launched. There were not more than 9000 members of the group. CypherPunks used to create and advocate cryptography and supply codes to others, so that the information in their computers could be gaurded. Just as Julian fought for freedom of information, he also worked for the safety and privacy of personal information. Previously cryptography was confined to governmental organizations or big business houses. Because of cypherpunk general internet users also got an access to cryptography. In1993 Julian assisted Australian police to expose a conclave of internet child molesters. In this period he became introspect and roamed about in the forests of Australia. During the court case he was charged on 31 counts and find heavily. He also protested against Christian Church for religious freedom and freedom of information. next development was  'Rubberhose' which was designed by Julian Assange in 1997.The program protects the information by hiding it below multiple layers of false information.

Julian is very fond of reading. He wanted to complete his education by entering college. In 2003 he took admission in Melbourne University in the subjects of Mathematics and Physics. For cryptography Mathematics is necessary and that helped him a lot during formation of WikiLeaks. He was at Melbourne University till 2006.During that period he got an idea about WikiLeaks. To publicize the information hidden from the general public, by the oppressive and conspiring governments, organizations ,banks,  was  the main aim of WikiLeaks. It was not his intention to criticize the organizations or make revolutionary  changes in their setup. He was not interested in the consequences after the revelations. He was interested in bringing out the suppressed truth. For this purpose he started a web site on internet named 'WikiLeaks Org ',on 4th of October 2006. WikiLeaks exposes the hidden information as well as keeps the identity of the informant secret. For this purpose cryptic script is utilized. Julian established a board of directors among the like minded people. Julian was well aware that the project will hurt the interested people and will be apposed by them. Therefore he registered the website at SanFrancisco, where plenty of sympathizers were living.The news of WikiLeaks  launching was spread over everywhere  by email.

On 28th of December, for the first time WikiLeaks published court records of Islamic Republic of Somalia. Source of the information was Chinese and it was suspected that the information was planted deliberately by China for their own good. This showed that WikiLeaks can also be misused.

To popularize the website, Julian traveled extensively on a shoestring budget. In 2007 WikiLeaks came into the possession of American military documents regarding the information about the purchase of military hardware for the war in Iraq to the amount of 13 billion dollars. The information was made available to everybody in the world. It was a huge military information. Many military contractors were benefited by the information. Even there were many inquiries with WikiLeaks regarding the whereabouts of the military equipment. Scams like torture of Iraqi prisoner of war at Gauntanamo Bay detention camp, use of chemical weapons at Faluja by American forces, were exposed by WikiLeaks. Anarchy happening at Kenya was also reported by WikiLeaks. In January 2008 WikiLeaks exposed  a money laundering scam Perpetuated by a Swiss bank 'Baer 'WikiLeaks was sued by the bank but WikiLeaks won the court case and the charges were dropped. Thus WikiLeaks exposed many more scams.

At this time Julian felt, it necessary to take refuge in a country which is against censorship and for freedom of expression, so that he could work without restraint. He selected a small country like Iceland for this purpose. On 5th of April 2010 WikiLeaks published a video headlined 'collateral Murder '.It showed an American helicopter firing on innocent Iraqi civilians and a motor van, which contained two children. There was a strong opposition to the screening of video in America. But it was published and was a sensation everywhere. America and it's military tried to reason it self out of the mess.On 26th of May 2010 Chelse Bradly Manning a transgender US soldier was arrested on the suspicion of being a whistle blower and punished for 35 years of imprisonment, commuted to 7years by President Barack Obama. In 2010 WikiLeaks published Afghan war logs and Iraq war diaries, which exposed tyranny and slayings of innocent civilians during Afghan and Iraq wars.Julian was criticized severely by US government and defense ministry, which started hounding him everywhere. Even a call was given for his assassination.

In August 2010 Julian traveled to Sweden for some assignment. There he came in sexual contact with couple of women. Though he justifies the incident, that was his biggest mistake. He was well aware that the US government is after him. Even then he couldn't control the temptation of sex.A person who wants to wash somebody's dirty linen in public should always be careful and avoid temptations of money, publicity or sex. Julian was caught in a trap. Those women accused Julian of rape and Swedish police promptly served a warrant on him.After a month or so Julian went to England. The warrant followed him there also.In November 2010 he was arrested by London police, but was released on bail. In February 2011 his extradition to Sweden was attempted.He was put under house arrest in Elingham Hall at NorthFolk London. In 2011 WikiLeaks published American Ambassador's telegraphic massages under the heading of 'CableGate ' and it caused outrage all over the world. In CableGate US Ambassadors' deeds were exposed, where he was influencing other governments to buy American goods by offering bribes.Some part was published in Indian news paper' Hindu ' where it was revealed that 25 million dollar bribe was given to Indian politicians and MPs. US government initiated an inquiry into the charges through FBI.At the same time Julian and his associates were also under scrutiny. They were even detained on American Airports. American politicians demanded his assassination by drone. WikiLeaks' computers and network was attacked to stop it's transmission, but the sympathizers continued to transmit from their individual computers.The Authorities tried to block WikiLeaks' financial support, by withdrawing donors' credit cards.Even then WikiLeaks continued to receive donations through other means. A summons was issued to take over WikiLeaks' program.Criminal charges were slapped on Julian in U S A. This way WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was attacked from all directions.

In June 2012 Julian took refuge in Ecuadorion Embassy to avoid deportation to Sweden. In 2019 Swedish authorities dropped the charges of sexual misconduct against Assange. In the same year his political asylum was withdrawn by Ecuador. Julian was arrested by London police and kept in Belmarsh prison.He married his long time fiance and mother of his two children Stella in the prison in March 2022. In April 2022 a British judge sent Assange's case to Interior Minister for his extradition to U S A.Home secretary Priti Patel signed the order of Julian's extradition in June 2022. Assange has appealed against the order.

Even today Julian Assange is fighting for the freedom of information. His campaign was against the established governments,companies  internet and other organizations in the field of information technology. Then, why was he stamped as a criminal?In the same way, were, Mahatma Gandhi,Jawaherlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, who fought for the freedom, criminals?Julian had to be on the run.Netaji SubhashChandra Bose,Mao,Dalai Lama,also had to escape. Were they also criminals?They were great people, who received many honors. WikiLeaks was also recommended for Nobel Prize in 2011.

What is the freedom of information?It means everyone should have the information freely and openly. Does it mean, that nobody can have a private and a personal life and freedom?What is a private information. If an organization or an individual, after a great deal of effort, spending considerable amount of money and time, acquires a technology, invents something, writes a software program,then, does that information also should be available to others freely?Should that individual or organization not profit from their efforts?Should freedom of information be misused for extortion, bank robbery, black mail?Any good idea, if falls in to the hands of the people with bad intentions, is spoiled. Same thing happened with the movement of Freedom of Information. Whether Assange misused the freedom of information is not known. But let me Salute him for his struggle for Freedom of Information.

The End