Random House bucks drive

to punish Wikileaks founder

 

Random House is defying the government-corporate push to punish Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, by going ahead with its part of a reported $1.3 million deal to publish Assange's autobiography.

 

Random House would not confirm the dollar amount, but said in a statement, “We are very excited to be publishing this book. The work that Assange has been doing at WikiLeaks has tremendous importance around the world.”

 

Assange, who is under house arrest in eastern England amid allegations of sexual misconduct, told the Sunday Times newspaper, “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to.” Citing his mounting legal bills, he said, “I need to defend myself and to keep Wikileaks afloat.”

 

Assange said Random House’s Alfred Knopf division was paying $800,000 to publish the book in the United States and that Canongate was paying about $500,000 to publish it in Britain.

 

Random House's decision to stick with its contract with Assange doesn't bode well for the orchestrated military-industrial complex campaign to "get" the net journalist.

 

Son of Wikileaks

"The system" faces more headaches as a Wikileaks spin-off, Openleaks, prepares to publish more secrets.

 

Openleaks was founded by a disgruntled Wikileaks associate, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who is also being published by Random House.

 

Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website, will “reveal the evolution, finances and inner tensions” of the organization, said an announcement last week from Crown publishers, another imprint of Random House.