Canadaland

This was a time when Assange and other punks like him were running circles around governments. It seemed like the ability for the powers that be to keep secrets was over. It was just done. Thanks to Assange et al we were going to know if a cell phone company was surveying everyone. We were going to know if a government assassinated a bunch of people who turned out to be journalists. We were going to know. And between Anonymous and Wikileaks and Edward Snowden, it was happening in a way that felt like it was a force of nature, and there was no containing it. The authorities, what could they do? Information wanted to be free.Then, it all ended. Julian Assange has been rotting away in Belmarsh prison in the UK. Edward Snowden tweets from Russia. Wikileaks. When's the last time they released anything? The Empire struck back. There were arrests, there were accusations, and the machine was surprisingly effective and merciless in containing the free flow of information and government secrets. That's what happened to