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Everyone's making it to South by Southwest this year — even Wikileaks founder Julian
Assange, who held an hour-long Skype call with attendees Saturday.
Speaking from political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Assange took questions
from Twitter and the audience on surveillance, security and the business of leaking. (Via
Leaksource dotInfo)
He criticized Facebook and Google for collecting so much information about their users, calling
it "...an unprecedented theft of wealth from the majority of the population by those who
already have a lot of power. They're doing that in part by stealing information from
all of us." (Via CNN)
Assange said leaks are therefore something of a public service. "The way human institutions
behave ... is all obscured by some sort of fog. Every now and then there's a clearing
in the fog with one of these disclosures." (Via CNET)
According to VentureBeat, Assange warned only about one percent of what surveillance groups
have collected has ever leaked to the public. He said the total amount of stored information
roughly doubles every 18 months.
"He told a large crowd that new leaks are forthcoming, but did not offer specifics.
Assange said he's fearful, but feels compelled to act.
Only a fool has no fear. rather, courage is seeing fear and still proceeding anyway."
(Via WFMJ)
But not everyone was around to hear that message — Fortune reports the auditorium emptied
to half of its original audience of roughly 5,000 amid persistent technical problems.
The audio cut out several times, for example, prompting Assange to twice ask the audience
to raise their hands if they could hear him.
"Unfortunately, the Assange session made it clear that live, in-person guests trump remote
appearances." (Via Fortune)
But South by Southwest will try the format at least once more: it will host a conference
call with former NSA analyst Edward Snowden and journalist Glenn Greenwald on Monday.