Free Republic

To the United States, Julian Assange may now be Public Enemy Number One. Some American politicians have even called for his execution. But less than a year ago, the founder of WikiLeaks was officially entertained at a US Embassy cocktail party by one of the very diplomats whose secrets he would soon spill to the world. Mr Assange's site had already published dozens of leaks embarrassing to the US, including secret Guantanamo Bay detainee handling manuals and the full emails of Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate. The US State Department condemned the manuals' publication as "a criminal act."

The federal government is pursuing their investigation into the University of Tennessee student accused of hacking into the personal Yahoo! email account of Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Witnesses said agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched David Kernell’s apartment on Saturday around midnight. "He is a good guy,” said Ashley Menner, who has been Kernell’s neighbor since classes began in August. “He seems like a really nice guy and I’ve talked to him a few times." Menner was nearby when the FBI searched Kernell’s Fort Sanders Apartment, and had seen the accused hacker in...