Just to flip this around a bit Anon, shouldn't we also assume the alleged victims are innocent until proven guilty? From your later posts I can understand why you are bitter on this point. However, consider that there are plenty of men who are willing to presume that rape claims are false until proven otherwise without your history. And even if we go with the worst case there is still a majority of claims which are accurate.

The Assange case exists in a charged atmosphere. I'd be wary of pre-judging anyone involved (I have to fight my own bias too). There are reasons that all these charges might be trumped up and there is certainly a possibility that Assange is a misogynist prick who did what he was alleged to have done.

Y'know while I am normally a supporter of the establishment I really just can't rationalize this one. Apple bans erotic content, so at least they're even handed about it. But why target one specific fantasy for its analogies to sick actions in the real world? To me that partisanship it what is going to bite them in the ass later. Even if there was a specific complaint that forced them to this action it would have been wise to hide the target better.

There are likely books that put Saw to shame with enough imagination. Sheesh, this is just all kinds of stupid. I'd like to know what prompted this action.

While I agree that a public figure's sexual preferences are irrelevant, there are bits in there that I think are legitimate fodder for his professional motivations. You focus on the irrelevance to his ability to run a website which leaks government information; I focus on the relevance to his motivation.

Does wikileaks simply want to be an anti-western tool, or does it have ambitions to be an international investigative force for transparency? One doesn't have to be a basement nerd envious of kinky sex with exotic women to be critical of Assange. Casting every critic in that light is just as wrong as simply labeling Assange a douche and leaving the commentary at that.

I do not think there is a government in operation since three burly cavemen got together and beat the others of the tribe into line that had "the respect and trust" of the people. And the more educated, rich, and free a nation is, the more that suspicion is widespread. Come to think of it, I'd rather never have the government of the US gain the respect and trust of the people -- that means all divisions have been erased; all debate has ended. Possibly because people are just too poor, ill-educated, and scared to object.

The second thrust of your argument, that "almost nothing can be hidden anymore" hints at a future where it is impossible to hide nearly anything. That hints at a culture that seeks to expose everything, public or private. An informer society is bad; a society that thrills on voyeurism is even worse.

Be careful of the utopia you wish for.

The dude was motivated by the same vigilante spark countless others have been motivated by. The court of public opinion is largely against Wikileaks and Mr. l33t jester thought he'd be applauded for taking the site down. And some will applaud him for it. But he'll still go to court because he hijacked a ton of computers and sent them at a site.

But if anything it is the common citizenry, not "government FUD" that influenced him I'll wager. I'm consistently surprised that people look too deeply into simple motivations. He patriotism might very well be limited to selecting US rather than the Taliban in the latest CoD game. But that's a lot less exotic than a government plot to DDoS wikileaks. So fsck it, maybe the dude is a CIA plant.

Heh, I feel the sentiment since I never get a case. I try and treat my phone right and if stuff happens, well it is my fault.

The only flaw here is that when you brag about glass you can stab, beat, smack, taunt, flay, or bake you get a reaction when something minor breaks it sometimes. And that's even before you tie that problem to Apple. I'd still buy an iPhone 4 if it were offered for Sprint, but you can't brag about everything down to the type of glass used and expect even fringe problems to be ignored.

Steve's probably curled up with his copy of "Atlas Shrugged" right now mumbling something about looters.

You do have a point. However, I'll play devil's advocate and posit that fans tend to play down problems that aren't so blindingly obvious and frequent they cannot be denied. Red Ring of Death, the Antenna problem, Galaxy GPS are all examples where defenders flocked and attackers swarmed to the message boards. Sometimes the reports are pure fiction, sometimes it's denial, and hell sometimes it's just a minor problem that both sides are invested in distorting.

It doesn't help that Apple's cult of personality and success promote such disproportionate reports. No one gave such a damn about the Galaxy GPS problem except tech blogs, owners and a few anti-android people. It's the price you pay for no longer being a niche company or brand.

*Shrug* My gut feeling is that it is a fringe case which can happen to that type of glass. But it happened to Apple in numbers large enough to be verified, so it's big news.