维基解密创始人力挺“棱镜”深喉

    鉴于最近发生的“棱镜”泄密丑闻，包括朱利安•阿桑奇和丹尼尔•艾尔斯伯格在内的一些知名检举人上周和记者召开了一次电话会议，表达了对新闻自由现状的担忧。

    因为20世纪70年代向媒体披露五角大楼的绝密文件，艾尔斯伯格成为第一个因《反间谍法》而受到起诉的人。他说：“随着奥巴马当局起诉维基解密（WikiLeaks）、朱利安•阿桑奇、布拉德利•曼宁（美国陆军士兵，涉嫌向维基解密提供了数十万份机密文件——译注）、爱德华•斯诺登、以及发表相关内容的媒体，他们实际上就是在宣告：调查性报道是非法的。”

    艾尔斯伯格认为，跟前任相比，奥巴马是有史以来向公众隐匿信息最积极的总统。他说：“奥巴马以《反间谍法》名义起诉的人是历任总统起诉人数的两倍。”至今已有六人遭到起诉。艾尔斯伯格相信，阿桑奇将是第七人，而爱德华•斯诺登将是第八人。

    维基解密创始人阿桑奇竭尽全力为自己的员工辩护，称当局必须立刻停止 “不道德的”调查。美国政府欲以间谍罪及与安全官员共谋罪起诉阿桑奇。这些官员中就有布拉德利•曼宁，他目前正因向维基解密披露秘密文件而受审。周三正好是他在伦敦厄瓜多尔大使馆被囚禁一周年的日子。

    阿桑奇认为，政府所谓的“共谋论”荒诞可笑，作为记者兼出版商，他只是在完成自己的本职工作而已。“难道说美国的记者需要一个和他们工作相关的避难所吗？”他还抨击了他所谓政府对自己希望公众了解的信息的“控制”。

    至于斯诺登，这个被《卫报》（Guardian）称之为“美国政治史上最重大泄密事件”的责任人，艾尔斯伯格和阿桑奇都对他表示支持。阿桑奇说：“我们正与斯诺登的法律团队接触，同时设法让他在冰岛获得政治庇护。”而关于斯诺登从香港飞往冰岛的航班的安全性问题，听起来声调低沉、疲惫不堪的阿桑奇只是说：“我们正在了解所有相关事项”。

    而艾尔斯伯格称，包括他本人、曼宁和斯诺登在内的所有检举人都有一个基本的共同点。“我们都发现当局总想掩盖自己违反宪法、毫无人道和轻率大意的行为，而我们每个人都是在单枪匹马地和当局展开较量。”艾尔斯伯格还说，他将这个群体的每个人都视同手足。

    但是举报什么时候会越过红线、妨害国家安全呢？艾尔斯伯格坚信，绝大多情况下，公众知情权的需求都要比正当的保密要求更重要。他说：“国家安全已经变成了一种大众宗教，任何对它的质疑都成了亵渎神明的行为。”（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    Famous whistleblowers and journalists, including Julian Assange and Daniel Ellsberg, held a conference call on Wednesday, to express concern about the freedom of press, in the light of the latest whistleblowing scandal.

    "With the Obama administration's prosecution of WikiLeaks, [Julian] Assange, [Bradley] Manning and [Edward] Snowden and also their cases against publishers of the content, they are criminalizing the process of investigative journalism," said Ellsberg, the first person prosecuted under the Espionage Act, for revealing top-secret Pentagon papers in the 1970s.

    Calling the President the most active in concealing information from the public compared to predecessors, Ellsberg said, "Obama has prosecuted twice as many people, under the Espionage Act, as all the earlier Presidents put together." Six people have been prosecuted under the act so far; Ellsberg believes Assange could be number seven and Edward Snowden number eight.

    For his part, Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, vehemently defended his staff, saying the administration must immediately stop their "immoral" investigation against them. The U.S. wants to prosecute Assange for espionage and for conspiring with security officials, including Bradley Manning -- on trial now for releasing secret documents to WikiLeaks. Wednesday marked a year in confinement at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for him.

    Assange holds the Government's "conspiracy theory" is preposterous, claiming that he was only doing his job as a journalist and content publisher. "Is the United States a country where journalists need asylum, in relation to their work?" He also attacked what he calls the administration's "control" of what it wants the public to know.

    As for Snowden, the man responsible for what the Guardian calls "the most significant leak in U.S. political history," Ellsberg and Assange support him. "We are in touch with Snowden's legal team and are working to get him asylum in Iceland," says Assange. On the safety of Snowden's flight, from Hong Kong to Iceland, the tired and downbeat sounding Assange only offered "we are looking into all issues."

    Ellsberg says there is a basic similarity between all the whistleblowers, including himself, Manning and Snowden. "We saw the administration covering up unconstitutional, inhumane, and reckless behavior, and each one of us took them [the administration] on." Ellsberg says he feels great affinity for each one of them.

    But when does whistleblowing cross the line and hamper national security? Ellsberg believes that in most cases the need for public information outweighs any valid requirement for secrecy. "National security has become public religion and any questioning of it, sacrilegious," he says.