- Julian Assange - Wikimedia commons
Julian Assange is the public face of Wikileaks, the online whistleblower organisation. However, little is known about this mysterious Australian.
Birth and Early Life
Assange was born in Townsville in the north of Queensland, Australia, in 1971. His parents were in a traveling theatre troupe and were itinerant employees.They traveled around the countryside throughout Julian's early life until they separated when he was 11 years old.
People from Magnetic Island in Queensland remember the family as living an alternative lifestyle like hippies who always had something interesting going on in their house.
After the divorce, Julian's mother frantically ran from town to town seeking to avoid domestic violence. The family rarely stayed in the one place and kept a low profile.
Education and teenage years
Assange left home when he was 16 . He enrolled at several universities including Melbourne University, where he studied Mathematics. He was an exceptional mathematician and soon turned these skills towards computer programming.
Around this time he became involved with a group of outlaw hackers. The group, called the "International Subversives" were based in Melbourne and hacked into large corporations including Telecom, the Australian telecommunications company, RMIT, the Australian National University and even allegedly, the Australian Federal Police, where they read the file about the investigation into their activities.
In 1991, the group were caught and charged . Assange was given a good behaviour bond and a fine. The judge said that he had hacked into these corporations because of intellectual curiosity and with no malicious intent.
In 1997 a book called Underground which dealt with the Melbourne underground hacking scene appeared. Assange was listed as one of the researchers for the book. It was alleged he was the hacker called Mendax whose activities were described in the publication.
Assange's genius with computers lead to him working with some large companies writing encryption codes.He never completed his degree and was largely self educated.
Wikileaks
In 2007 Assange with some like-minded people formed Wikileaks, an online organisation that released information and documents from whistleblowers.
In 2009 Wikileaks released a secret black list of banned websites from the Australian communication authority. Also in that year the organisation with Assange won an Amnesty International Media award for publishing information about human rights abuses in Kenya in 2008.
Wikileaks has become known worldwide for its leaking of documents relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In 2010, large caches of secret government documents relating to these conflicts were revealed by Wikileaks.
Due to issues with the information on the site, Assange has found it necessary to revert to his childhood pattern of itinerancy, traveling from place to place with little more than a back pack and computer. He rarely talks about his private life and remains focused on wikileaks.
Julian Assange is a controversial figure with a stated mission to resolve the problem of press and whistleblower censorship. His ability to access whistleblowers and government documents is unprecedented in the modern age. Whether these revelations will have lasting effect is yet to be seen.
Sources
Carly Crawford, Hacker or Revolutionary? Herald Sun, Melbourne,July 31 2010
Andrew Strutton, Rogue Website Author Local Lad, Townsville Bulletin,Townsville QLD, July 29 2010
Will Pavia, Aussie Behind Invulnerable site for Whistleblowers , The Australian, Canberra ACT, July 28 2010
Bernard Lagan, International Man of Mystery, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney NSW, April 10, 2010.
Leann Richards - I am a writer, a student, a teacher and an historian. My various occupations have included bookkeeper, historian, teacher, tax consultant ...
