Born: 1971, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Occupations:Currently: Editor in chief and spokesperson for Wikileaks, Hacker
Previously: Journalist, programmer, internet activist
Website: www.wiki leaks.org
Awards: Amnesty International UK Media Awards 2009, Sam Adams Award 2010
Julian Paul Assange ( born 1971) is an Australian internet activist and journalist best known for his involvement with Wikileaks, a whistleblower website. Assange was a physics and mathematics student, a hacker and a computer programmer, before taking on his current role as spokesperson and editor in chief for Wikileaks.After the hacking trial, Assange lived in Melbourne as a programmer and a developer of free software. In 1995, Assange wrote Strobe, the first free and open source port scanner.Strobe inspired Fyodor to develop the Nmap port scanner.
Assange has said that it is “pretty much true” that he is constantly on the move, and that he is “living in airports these days”. Assange has lived for periods in Australia, Kenya and Tanzania, and has visited many other places including Vietnam, Sweden, Iceland, Siberia, Iraq, Belgium and the United States.Assange was the winner of the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award (New Media),awarded for exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya with the investigation The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances.
Wikileaks is an international organization based in Sweden that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of otherwise unavailable documents while preserving the anonymity of sources.In April 2010, a video posted on a website called Collateral Murder established Wikileaks as a prime portal for unauthorized, accurate accounts, documents and video from distant battlefields. In July of the same year, Wikileaks released Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 90,000 documents about the War in Afghanistan not previously available for public review.Julian Paul Assange born 1971 is an internet activist and journalist[citation needed], best known for his involvement with WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website. Assange was a physics and mathematics student, a hacker and a computer programmer, before taking on his current role as WikiLeaks’ spokesperson and editor in chief. Assange is an Australian citizen currently based in Europe.
Assange’s parents ran a touring theatre company. In 1979, his mother remarried; her new husband was a musician who belonged to a controversial New Age group led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne. The couple had a son, but broke up in 1982 and engaged in a custody struggle for Assange’s half-brother. His mother then took both children into hiding for the next five years. Assange left home in 1987. He moved several dozen times in his childhood, frequently switching between formal and home schooling and later attending two universities at various times in Australia. He has been described as being largely self-taught and widely read on science and mathematics. From 2003 to 2006, he studied physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne but does not claim a degree. On his personal web page, he described how he represented his university at the Australian National Physics Competition around 2005. He has also studied philosophy and neuroscience.Julian Assange is the controversial public face of WikiLeaks, an international website that gives whistleblowers an anonymous way to publish sensitive documents. Assange is a former computer hacker and security specialist whose own personal history is sketchy: according to reports in The Guardian, his parents ran a touring theater troupe in Australia before divorcing, and Assange was married at 18 and had a son before his own marriage broke up. In 1991 he was arrested for computer hacking in Australia, eventually pleading guilty to 25 counts but paying only a fine. Late in 2006 he helped found WikiLeaks.org, a website which describes itself as a "an anonymous global avenue for disseminating documents the public should see." WikiLeaks has published leaked documents on hundreds of topics, including oil scandals in Peru, the Church of Scientology, climate research, the contents of a Sarah Palin email account, and procedures for the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. In April of 2010 it released Collateral Murder, leaked video of a deadly 2007 U.S. Army helicopter attack on Iraqi citizens, and in July of that year it released more than 92,000 documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. White-haired, secretive and nomadic, Julian Assange has lived long periods in Australia, Kenya, Sweden, and other countries. In August of 2010 he was accused of sexual assault by two women in Sweden. Swedish authorities investigated, then closed the investigation, then opened it again, and the investigation is ongoing.
Tonight, "Nightline" has an interview with Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.org.
Julian Assange has a long history of getting the government's attention. The Australian-born Wikileaks.org founder was well into his hacking career by his 20th birthday, and in 1991 his Melbourne home was raided by the Australian Federal Police.
Now Julian Assange is being criticized for revealing classified information, he published thousands of secret military documents relating to the war in Afghanistan.
Where can I read Julian Assange's complete biography?
Julian Assange has a long history of getting the government's attention. The Australian-born Wikileaks.org founder was well into his hacking career by his 20th birthday, and in 1991 his Melbourne home was raided by the Australian Federal Police.
Assange ended up pleading guilty to 24 charges of hacking. He was fined $2,100 (Australian) and released on bond for good conduct. Throughout his career, Assange has also been a celebrated software writer who works primarily to facilitate the free flow of information and the free use of computer tools stripped of the constraints of traditional information outlets and software companies.
Wikileaks was created in 2006 and while Assange has shied away from calling himself a founder, he says he is the Web site's editor in chief and that he has final say in any documents the Web site posts. Wikileaks was created to give people access to suppressed or classified documents leaked from anonymous sources whose information is vetted by a board of directors.