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UK government approves Julian Assange's extradition to the US
Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange's extradition to the US has been approved by UK home secretary Priti Patel
UK High Court rules that Julian Assange can be extradited to the US
A UK appeals court has reversed a previous ruling that Wikileaks founder shouldn't be extradited to the US due to mental health concerns.
UK court rules Julian Assange shouldn't be extradited to the US
The court has ruled that Julian Assange can be extradited, but it's likely that he will appeal the judgment.
Fame, infamy and incarceration: The Julian Assange story
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was removed yesterday from the Ecuadorian embassy in London after having his asylum revoked; he was then immediately arrested. Talk of extradition to the US began immediately. But if you haven't been paying extremely close attention over the last decade or so, you might not quite recall exactly how Assange ended up exiled in the embassy in the first place. It's a long and twisting tail, linked close to the rise and notoriety of WikiLeaks itself. And in many ways Assange's legal troubles are just getting started now that he's been arrested and the US has formally charged him with crimes. Catch up on the major steps that led Assange to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy back in 2012 -- as well as what's happened that caused him to get thrown out and arrested. If there's one thing to be learned from Assange's history, it's that he will almost certainly not be going down without a long and protracted legal battle.
Canada will allow US extradition of Huawei CFO to move forward
Huawei financial chief Meng Wanzhou is one step closer to facing sanctions-related fraud charges in the US. Canada's Department of Justice has issued an Authority to Proceed measure that greenlights the extradition process for Meng, making it that more likely she'll head south. A British Columbia Supreme Court will set the date for the extradition hearing at a March 6th court date where Meng will appear.
Huawei CFO freed on bail ahead of extradition
Tensions remain high over the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou for alleged Iran sanction violations, but Canada just offered a tiny olive branch. A British Columbia Supreme Court justice has granted Meng bail after her attorney and family made a case for her conditional release. She's paying $10 million CAD ($7 million of it in cash) and must stay in the province, report to a supervisor, agree to around-the-clock surveillance, pay for security, live in a Vancouver area house owned by her husband (Liu Xiaozong) and remain home between 11PM and 6AM.
US government accuses Chinese hackers of stealing jet engine IP
The Justice Department has charged ten Chinese nationals -- two of which are intelligence officers -- of hacking into and stealing intellectual property from a pair of unnamed US and French companies between January 2015 to at least May of 2015. The hackers were after a type of turbofan (portmanteau of turbine and fan), a large commercial airline engine, to either circumvent its own development costs or avoid having to buy it. According to the complaint by the Department of Justice, a Chinese aerospace manufacturer was simultaneously working on making a comparable engine. The hack afflicted unnamed aerospace companies located in Arizona, Massachusetts and Oregon.
3D gun distributor Cody Wilson deported to the US
Authorities aren't wasting any time bringing Cody Wilson, the owner of 3D-printed gun maker Defense Distributed, back to the US. Taiwan officials deported Wilson to the US on September 22nd following his arrest a day earlier over his annulled legal status in the area. It wasn't clear where in the US Wilson was headed, although a Texas city is a possibility given the US arrest warrant issued for him in state over allegations he paid for sex with an underage girl.
Irish Silk Road figure extradited to the US
The US is continuing its quest to try Silk Road's foreign leaders. Irish resident Gary Davis (aka "Libertas") has been extradited to the US to face charges over his alleged involvement in the dark web outfit as an administrator. He faces charges of computer intrusion, money laundering and narcotics distribution. IF he's convicted, he could face life in prison.
Court rules Kim Dotcom can be extradited to the US
Kim Dotcom, who has been in the news so often that it's hard to believe his company MegaUpload was shut down way back in 2012, is running out of lives. A New Zealand appeals court has ruled that he can be extradited to the US to face criminal copyright infringement charges. Dotcom's lawyer Ira Rothken tweeted that he's "disappointed" with the decision, and plans to make a final appeal to the New Zealand Supreme Court.
Czech Republic extradites suspected Russian hacker to the US
The Czech Republic has extradited Russian national Yevgeniy Nikulin to the United States, where he's accused of several hacking attempts dating back to 2012. A US federal grand jury had indicted him in 2016 for breaking into DropBox, Formspring and LinkedIn. The latter breach potentially exposed the information of 100 million of users.
UK tribunal declares WikiLeaks a media organization
A British tribunal released a ruling today on a freedom of information case in which an Italian journalist, Stefania Maurizi, sought documents regarding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition. While the tribunal decided that she could not get those documents due to confidentiality reasons, it did state in its summary that WikiLeaks was a media organization, which could make any US attempts at having Assange extradited more difficult.
Kim Dotcom hopes to livestream his extradition appeal
Megaupload creator Kim Dotcom is in the fight of his life as he appeals his possible extradition to the US, and he wants everyone to know it. He's requesting that the Auckland, New Zealand court hearing his case should let him livestream the hearing on YouTube. Dotcom and his lawyer Ira Rothken argue that this is the definition of a "public interest" case. Megaupload's abrupt shutdown over allegedly facilitating piracy, and the resulting criminal action, supposedly had a far-reaching effect on the internet.
Irish court orders accused Silk Road admin's extradition to US
Silk Road's saga hasn't ended just because some of its primary architects are behind bars. An Irish court has ordered the extradition of Gary Davis, an alleged key administrator for the Dark Web-based black market, to the US. Davis reportedly both handled customer questions and organized Silk Road's many items (including drugs and hacking tools) into sections. He's poised to appeal the ruling, and for good reason: he could face a life sentence if the US convicts him.
Kim Dotcom could face extradition to the US
Kim Dotcom, essentially the Motion Picture Association of America and Digital Millennium Copyright Act's de facto prime target, and his colleagues actually can be extradited to the United States to face copyright charges according to a judicial ruling. However, don't expect the man behind Megaupload to appear stateside anytime soon.As The New Zealand Herald, Dotcom's local news publication, tells it, the internet mogul has 15 days to appeal or apply for a writ of habeas corpus (produce the body) and it looks like his legal defense team is already taking care of that. In addition to copyright infringement, he faces charges for racketeering and money laundering as well. The BBC reports that he owes domestic authorities somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million.
Kim Dotcom offers whistleblowers $5 million to help Megaupload's case
The basic facts of how Megaupload was shut down in 2012 are public knowledge. But the founder of the file-sharing service, Kim Dotcom, believes there's a subtext to what really happened -- and he's looking for your help to prove it. In essence, he claims to be the victim of a "corrupt" plot between two back-scratching parties: the US authorities, which supposedly wanted to secure the re-election of President Barack Obama, and the movie moguls of Hollywood, who allegedly offered influence over votes in return for having Megaupload terminated for copyright abuse. The only problem? Dotcom will actually have to prove all of this to a New Zealand court, otherwise he'll face extradition to the US, not to mention a string of further civil lawsuits. And so far, it isn't going well.
Iranian court summons Mark Zuckerberg to answer privacy concerns
We've got a feeling that Mark Zuckerberg will, regretfully, be unable to accept this particular foreign invitation -- especially after all the recent name-calling that's been coming out of Iran. Nevertheless, a court in the south of that country has reportedly ordered the Facebook CEO to attend a hearing to answer complaints over privacy, specifically regarding Instagram and WhatsApp. There have been calls for both services to be blocked in Tehran, but they're still operational for now, perhaps partly due to a degree of protection from more moderate forces within the country. The precise details of the court summons are hard to be sure of, because news of it comes not from the court itself, but from an official within the Basij militia -- a voluntary paramilitary force that is regularly called upon to protect Iran's theocracy from dissent. And frankly, that's exactly the sort of geo-political context that might further dissuade Zuckerberg's PA from scheduling an appointment.
Edward Snowden stops off in Moscow with US extradition request snapping at his heels
Even if he anticipated the risks involved in turning whisteblower, Edward Snowden can't have imagined the rushed, convoluted journey he'd have to take to avoid the full wrath of the US government. First to Hong Kong; most recently to Moscow, and perhaps soon to Ecuador (via Cuba and Venezuela) where he has apparently made a request for asylum. Strongly worded demands for his capture have followed every step of the way, with the White House National Security Council expressing "disappointment" that Hong Kong allowed Snowden to flee and now urging Russia (which has no formal extradition treaty with America) to "expel Mr. Snowden back to the US to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged." In an effort to help the fugitive navigate the maze of diplomatic fault lines, WikiLeaks has stepped up to say that its own legal advisors are "escorting" Snowden towards his final destination, likely making use of the knowledge they gained while protecting Julian Assange, and that it sees US efforts to arrest him as an "assault against the people."
Blizzard helps authorities track fugitive
Blizzard helped an Indiana sheriff track an allegedly drug-dealing, definitely WoW-playing fugitive to Canada. Sheriff's Deputy Matt Roberson, who used to play World of Warcraft, discovered that Alfred Hightower aka Rastlynn, was an avid player. So he contacted Blizzard with a request for help in locating his quarry. Three months later, Blizzard sent Roberson a package containing Rastlynn's IP address, billing address and other info. After finding out the fugitive's latitude and longitude from his IP, Roberson used Google Search to pinpoint Rastlynn's exact location. With the cooperation of Canadian authorities, Hightower has been deported and now awaits his fate in the U.S. Usually it is Blizzard that is calling the police for help, as in the cases of: The teenager who threatened to blow up a plane using in-game chat. The kid who threatened to kill himself if his ban wasn't removed. The teen who was arrested for making a suicide threat to a GM.
From Azeroth to Canada: Tracking down a fugitive in World of Warcraft
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Fleeing_fugitive_caught_through_World_of_Warcraft'; If you thought you could hide online, think again. Alfred "Rastlynn" Hightower just found out that when you're playing World of Warcraft, you can't hide from the law. Hightower was wanted in Howard County, Indiana for two charges of dealing a controlled substance and for dealing marijuana, but had fled the country to Canada. Howard County sheriffs had enlisted the help of the U.S. Marshals to track down the suspect, and were working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to extradite him. However, they had to locate him first.
