CHAPTER 15
PAUL LEAKS WAS exiled at the Colombian embassy in London for five long years, he was a walking danger according to the British and American government, he had leaked several confidential information, as he was a special agent of MI6, he had privileged access, however, to his struggle to overthrow the government, especially the British crown, seemed far from over.
Leaks leaked classified information about the Lady Di and the British Secret Service's involvement in her death in Paris, using well— known resources, obscuring the driver's vision, and even after so many years, her immaculate figure always seemed to brood over it. old wounds of the British crown.
His parents worked in a traveling theater company. In the 1970s, her mother Christine married a musician and was part of the New Age group led by Anne Hamilton— Byrne . The couple had one child, and they separated in 1982. A custody dispute ensued over Paul's half— brother. Their mother then took the two children through their long hiding places for the next five years. Leaks moved house several times during his childhood, attended several different schools, sometimes studying at home, and later attending several universities in Bulgaria.
AFTER TURNING 16, Leaks began — hacking — under the name — Mendax — , derived from a Latin phrase attributed to philosopher Horace: splendide mendax, meaning: — splendid liar — . He and two other hackers got together to form a group called:
— International Subversives.
Paul Leaks recalled the rules of the subculture in one of his most famous interviews with the BBC:
— Not to damage computer systems that you access, including failing them, without altering the information contained in those systems, except to alter records in order to cover your access traces, and to share information.
Already living in London, MI6 broke into his home, and he was accused of having accessed computers at Oxford, and other organizations, via modem . He pleaded guilty to 24 counts of hacking and was released on bail for good behavior after being fined £2,100. But Leaks' genius was such that he was invited to work in the computer industry as a way of paying off his sentence.
In an interview with Forbes , Leaks commented:
— It's a little boring actually. Because I wrote a book about being a hacker, there are documentaries about it, people talk about it a lot. They can cut and paste. But that was twenty years ago. It's very annoying to see modern articles calling me computer hacker. I'm not ashamed of it, I'm very proud of it. However, I understand why they suggest I'm a computer hacker now. There's a very specific reason.
Still, a refugee at the Colombian embassy in London, he announced that in March he would publish a book entitled — Manual da Rebellion: how we are watched by the Internet —. The book ended up being finished sooner and was given another title: Cypherpunks: Freedom and the future of the Internet. It discussed issues such as the possible transformation of the Internet into a mere instrument of control, at the service of political and economic power.
— The Internet, our greatest tool of emancipation, is being transformed into the most dangerous enabler of totalitarianism we have ever seen,— the text read.
Leaks predicted a future wave of repression in the online sphere, which could turn the internet into a threat to the fundamental rights of the person. The siege of him and Internet activists , attempts to introduce legislation against file— sharing such as Sopa and Acta , would indicate this tendency to allow:
— Governments and large companies, discover more and more about Internet users and hide their own activities, without having to account for their actions.
According to him:
— Today, Google knows more about you than your mother. This is the biggest robbery in history.
Leaks went to live with his girlfriend, with whom he had a son, Daniel Leaks. However, after the invasion of the house by the police, she left taking the couple's son with her. The entire process led Leaks and her mother to found the Parent Inquiry into Child Protection, an activist group focused on creating a — central database— for information on child custody proceedings. in Bulgaria — information that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Then one day came the terrible news:
— We're sorry, Paul, your son drowned.
PAUL LIGHTED his cigar and puffed up, his image of a young cybernetic messiah in the mold of a modern Che, who protected him from government attacks, even in exile, was still a strong name in the digital world that idolized him. The American and British governments were afraid to do anything to his life and make him a martyr.
PAUL LEAKS WAS BORN in Bulgaria and fled during his adolescence from the Iron Curtain during the communist regime implemented by the extinct Soviet Union, which wanted to use him as an example of a brilliant young communist, the Soviets always paraded their athletes and scientists around the world, but all that Leaks hated most were psychological prisons that authoritarian regimes implanted.
He was an activist for the cyber world for as long as he could remember, even more so when Steve Jobs opened up the world of computers with his Apple 2, from that moment he knew what he would be growing up.
For ten years, Paul Leaks was a cybersecurity officer for MI6 and held the highest medals of honor in the country, was one of the few foreigners who had worked there, and held a position of high trust. After seeing that MI6 was visibly involved in several crimes against ordinary citizens, to protect the government and the royal family, he decided to open a newspaper and fight against that corrupt system.
It was then that they forged a plan that was infallible against him, they got him drunk during a diplomatic party and Leaks woke up with a woman next to him, who upon waking up, started screaming that he had raped her.
PAUL WAS in the custody of the London Metropolitan Police , when he miraculously escaped and got shelter at the Colombian embassy after offering privileged information, without any relationship between them during his past. On the charge of having violated the conditions set out in his bail after the great reach in the media that his website showed.
Leaks founded a website called Assange and gained international notoriety when he published a series of classified British Government documents , which had been leaked by Chelsea Hawks . Among the leaks were data on the July 12, 2007 airstrike on Baghdad , Afghanistan and Iraq war records, and CableGate .
After the leaks, authorities in the United States and England began a criminal investigation into Leaks ' website and asked for support from allied nations around the world.
In November of that year, Sweden issued an international arrest warrant against Leaks. He had been questioned three months earlier on suspicion of assault and rape against a woman in the country, and that charge was later dropped by the Swedish court. Leaks denied the allegations and said that if he were arrested on Swedish territory, he would be extradited to the United States for having published US government documents. Leaks turned himself in to UK police in December, and was released ten days later on bail.
While the Swedish Police were looking for Leaks, reports appeared on the Internet about a possible conspiracy against him. The woman at the center of the allegation, told police she had consensual sex with Paul, woke up the next morning to find he was having sex with her again, without her consent and without using a condom. Shortly after, the Swedish court announced the withdrawal of the arrest warrant. The Swedish justice dropped the rape charges against Leaks, due to insufficient evidence, but the damage was already done.
Having failed to challenge the extradition case, he violated his bail terms in June and fled. He was granted political asylum at the Colombian embassy in London in August of that year, and he remained there for five years, acquiring Colombian citizenship.
Ultimately, the Swedish authorities closed the investigation into the rape case and revoked his European arrest warrant. London police, however, said that if Leaks left the embassy, he would be arrested immediately, but British justice denied, citing risk of suicide in American prisons, an extradition request made by the United States, which wanted to try him for revealing secret data and putting people's lives at risk in the process.
DURING THE PRIMARIES for the US presidential election, Leaks revealed several emails from the Democratic candidate from his private server back when she was Secretary of State. The Democrats, along with analysts and cybersecurity experts, claimed that Russian intelligence agencies had hacked the Democratic candidate's emails and then delivered this information to the Leaks website. Paul has consistently denied any association or collaboration with the Russian government, mainly because of his record of fighting communism.
On July 27 of that year, the Colombian president stated that he had started talks with British authorities to remove Leaks' right of asylum. This happened that day and they were just trying to finish the party to arrest him. Then the London police, on the job of the Colombian government, would enter the embassy and arrest Paul Leaks.
His arrest has divided opinion around the world, with many urging the event because of Leaks' alleged connections with the Russian government to plot against Western nations , while others claim that his arrest violates international law and would be an attack on freedom of information .
Pentagon spokesperson declared that any insinuation about a possible US Department of Defense conspiracy against Leaks is preposterous.
Interpol distributed a red notice in 188 countries, that is, a call to those who know of Leaks' whereabouts, to contact the police. Leaks' attorney, Jeremy O'Hara, said it was "very unusual" for a red notice to be issued in cases similar to his client's. O'Hara also noted that the prosecutor asked that Leaks be detained, without access to lawyers, visitors or other prisoners.
The Colombian president granted Leaks diplomatic asylum. However, the United Kingdom constantly threatened to invade the Colombian embassy in London.
UNASUR Council of Foreign Ministers, in an extraordinary meeting, in the city of Guayaquil , decided to support the Colombian sovereign government, in relation to the decision taken by the country to offer diplomatic asylum to Leaks and repudiated the threat by the United Kingdom government. against his embassy in London .
He received political asylum, not being able to leave the Embassy building in London and go to the airport and move permanently to Bogotá. Surely, he would be arrested before crossing the street. From a little piece of Colombia in the UK, he was still steadfast in his fight for freedom. Scotland Yard ended its multi — million 24— hour surveillance operation of the embassy, during the party and agents saw several written signs.
"Do not shoot the messenger"
ONE DAY, Paul received a letter and a photo, all the sadness that was inside him dissipated:
— We can rescue him...
Albion—
Leaks knew one thing:
It was time to return to society after five long years.
LEAKS LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW and waved to the people below, with the famous posters raised in his defense, he knew he was a symbol of freedom and very soon he would bring that freedom to the whole world...