BIOGRAPHY: INSPIRING STORY OF JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER OF WIKILEAKS


Julian Assange is an Australian journalist, software developer and computer programmer who gained fame and attention internationally after starting up a whistle-blowing website called WikiLeaks.com.

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 Julian Assange was born in a place called Townsville found in Queensland in Australia on 3rd  July in the year 1971.

Julian Assange's childhood life was very unusual since he spent most of his childhood life moving around with his mother earlier on.

His mother who is called Christine and his step father who is called  Brett Assange were always working together so that they could organise theatrical productions. Brett Assange one time described Julian Assange as a sharp child who was always fighting for the underdogs.

After sometime, the relationship between Brett and  Christine became bad although his mother continued to live a very transient lifestyle.

With all the travels that he had with his parents,  Julian Assange was able to attend about 37 different schools  while he was growing up  and during that period, he was also learning alot through homeschooling.

While he was still a teenager, Julian Assange was able to discover his passion for computers after getting his first computer from his mother when he  was aged just 16.

After sometime on discovering his passion for computers, Julian Assange developed his talent for hacking into computer systems.

 In 1991, Julian Assange was able to break into the master terminal of Nortel  which is a telecommunications company and this act brought him alot of trouble.

After getting arrested, Julian Assange was charged with more than 30 counts of  hacking in Australia but he was able to get off that hook by just paying up the fine levied for the damages that his action caused.

 During that time, Julian Assange continued to pursue his career in computer programming and software development.

Julian Assange studied mathematics at the University of Melbourne although he later dropped out before completing his degree saying that he did leave the University because of moral reasons.

 Julian Assange was against  students working on computer projects for the military. In the year 2006, Julian Assange started working on a website that was intended to collect and then later share confidential information worldwide and he called this website WikiLeaks.

In 2007, the website was launched  and it started operating out of Sweden during that time simply because the country had strong laws that were able to protect the anonymity of a person.

 In the same year, Wikileaks unveiled a United States Military manual that was able to provide detailed information about the Guantanamo detention center.

In 2008, in the month of September Wikileaks shared some emails that were allegedly from  the then vice-presidential candidate called Sarah Palin  that it had received from an anonymous source.

 In 2010, in the month of December, Julian Assange discovered that he had many legal issues to worry about. In the month of August,  the Swedish police started investigating him for the allegations  of  two counts  of sexual molestation, rape and even illegal coercion.

After the swedish authorities introduced a European arrest warrant on 6th December 2010, Julian Assange turned himself in to the London police.

 In 2011, there were a series of extradition hearings that took place and after these events, Julian Assange later learnt that the High court had actually dismissed his appeal.

While he was still on the conditional bail, Julian Assange later made plans to appeal to the UK supreme court.

In June 2012, Julian Assange arrived at the Ecuadorean Embassy  which is found in London and here he was seeking to avoid his extradition to Sweden.

In August that year, the Ecuadorian government granted Julian Assange an asylum which according to the New York Times  was able to protect Julian Assange from  British arrest but only when he is on the Ecuadorean territory and this left him vulnerable if he tried to leave the embassy to get to the airport or train station.

 This brought alot of tension  between the British and Ecuador.

 During the 2016 U.S Presidential elections, Julian Assange and Wikileaks returned to the limelight after WikiLeaks released more than 1,200 emails from  Democrat Hillary Clinton's private server during her time as the Secretary of state.

In july 2016, WikiLeaks again released another round of emails that were allegedly from the Democratic National Committee (DNC)  that was indicating an effort that was aimed at undermining Clinton's primary opponent called Bernie Sanders.

This led to the resignation of the DNC chairperson who is called Debbie Wasserman Schultz. On the eve of the presidential elections, Julian Assange released a statement and said that he didnot have any personal desire in the outcome of the elections, he also added that he did not get documents from  the Trump campaign team.

 In 2019, in the month of April, Julian Assange's asylum  was withdrawn by Ecuador and the WikiLeaks founder was arrested at the London Embassy.

There were rumours of a relationship between Hollywood actress Pamela Anderson and Julian Assange after the former Baywatch star was spotted  one time visiting  Ecuadorian embassy back in the year 2016.

 In 2017 in the month of April, a documentary about Julian Assange was aired by  Showtime  that it called Risk after it was premiered at the 2016 Cannes Festival, the documentary  revolved around the events that took place in the 2016 U.S presidential elections.

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