WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange has made a lot of enemies, and you can now add Facebook to that list.
In a recent interview with Russia Today, Assange said "Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented."
"Here we have the world's most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to U.S. intelligence," the whistle-blowing site's editor continued.
Assange asserted that he believes many major U.S.-based tech companies are actively helping the government spy on people.
"Facebook, Google, Yahoo, all these major U.S. organizations have built-in interfaces for U.S. intelligence," Assange said. "It's not a matter of serving a subpoena. They have an interface that they have developed for us intelligence to use. Now is it the case that Facebook is actually run by US intelligence? No it's not like that. It's simply that U.S. intelligence is able to bring to bear legal and political pressure to them and it's costly for them to hand out records one by one so they have automated the process. Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies in building this database for them."
Assange has cemented his reputation as a conspiracy-monger. He made waves at the end of last year when he began the release of more than 250,000 confidential U.S. embassy cables, causing worldwide diplomatic embarrassment for the U.S. and its allies. The 39-year-old Australian is currently residing near London, awaiting extradition to Sweden where he must answer to allegations of rape and sexual molestation.
By Leslie Horn
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