Last week it was revealed that WikiLeaks employees have had to sign a gagging contract, which means they are basically signing a contract to make sure they do not disclose any information about the site and/or the people who submit the documents. The article reveals that anyone who breaks this kind of super-injunction could face a 12 million pound penalty. The writer exposed that the contract was ‘by orders of magnitude the most restrictive I have ever encountered. Legal experts consulted about the document agree’ (Guardian, 2011). This shows that any restrictions put in place are merely there to make sure that any documents/ cables contributed to the site are kept highly confidential.
The writer (he once worked for WikiLeaks) discloses that he refused to sign the contract, which ensued in a rather hostile reaction from Assange who said that; ‘I must sign the document, or else risk the lives and wellbeing of everyone in the room, and never be trusted again’ (Guardian, 2011). The writer also revealed that the rest of the day (after his refusal to sign the contract) was spent by people urging him (desperately) to sign the agreement, ‘The rest of the day, and long into the night, was spent with other WikiLeakers begging, reasoning, or cajoling me into signing the document. I later learned Julian had specifically requested they use every possible effort to "apply psychological pressure" until I signed’ (Guardian, 2011).
The article does not portray Julian Assange as the cool and composed character he seems to come across as. In fact, the article leads one to believe that he is actually very frantic, and perhaps slightly aggressive. I would advocate that the reason he comes across this way is because of his passion for WikiLeaks, and I happen to agree that WikiLeaks employees should sign a gagging document, otherwise the people who expose and/or leak documents to Assange could be found out fairly easily. Therefore, perhaps Assange’s persuasion techniques may seem fairly bold, but it only shows his dedication to the company he has spent the last 4-5 years building.
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