Julian Assange's Unauthorized Autobiography 122
macwhizkid writes "After signing a major book deal for his autobiography, Julian Assange backed out (allegedly worrying about self-incrimination) but failed to return his £500,000 advance payment. The publisher is understandably unhappy with this outcome, and intends to publish the 'world's first unauthorized autobiography' from an early draft Assange submitted. The book will be in stores tomorrow, but I'm still hoping it'll be published early on WikiLeaks..."
Excerpt from Chapter 17 (Score:5, Funny)
I knew that strange woman at my door wanting sex must be into me because I'm totally hot, not because it was any kind of setup. You see, the Julinator is really smart that way. And the Julinator trusts his intuition. She was so into me that she stole my laptop later that night as a souvenir of an awesome night when I rocked her world. That's just the kind of impression the Julinator makes. Besides those CIA types are all guys, right? The Julinator learned that from those Jack Ryan movies.
Hey, why is my lawyer calling at this hour?
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Man. I'm not sure why the spooks haven't just capped Assange yet, but I'm glad they haven't. This dude is more entertaining than Mike Tyson on crack.
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Why would they assassinate Assange? He's not actually leaking the information, only publishing from anonymous sources. His murder wouldn't actually solve any of their problems, just push them elsewhere.
Phillip.
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he's the one convincing people to leak
pop off the head, and the rest would be less likely to follow in his footsteps
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You say that, but there's nothing stopping you from taking over his job now, and yet you don't, even though it's clear he's no longer doing it.
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Because he's a narcissistic figurehead and generally impotent, The spooks are having more fun figuring out who of the underlings present the more credible threat. The spooks will probably use monitoring Assange as a training exercise to break in newbies.
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he neutered himself with the sex-crime thing
they probably would have dropped him in the north atlantic if he hadn't done that
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I believe the Swedish police. They have credibility built on history, and accountability for their words and actions. I don't believe you, to whom the exact converse applies.
It gets worse when he gets into the mood... (Score:2)
...the "mad Australian" let nothing get in the way of his quest for mastery. Not even a feline.
"Julian was constantly battling for dominance, even with my tomcat Herr Schmitt," says the German.
"Ever since Julian lived with me in Wiesbaden he (the cat) has suffered from psychosis. Julian would constantly attack the animal. He would spread out his fingers like a fork and grab the cat's throat.
(and let me just note that - with such violence against cats - Assange crossed the line, broke all limits, as far as I am concerned)
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thatll teach that cat to try and steal his soul.
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Would you still feel that way if I told you the Herr Schmitt was secretly a former Nazi SS cat?
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Drupal (Score:3, Funny)
Packt Publishing presents: Julian Assange's Drupal Made Easy
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And since it's from packt it'll be on drupal 6.
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And be riddled with errors - grammatical, spelling, and technical.
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I thought my book on Catalyst seemed like it was made of a strange binding agent!
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It'll get 8/10 in a slashdot review even if it doesn't exist.
that's fucking awesome (Score:1)
"Assange So Paranoid Even His Autobiography Is Unauthorized"
This seems funny (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought that too, except .... (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe the publisher feels they stand to profit more by publishing the now controversial book, based on what they've already got?
If they sued over breach of contract, sure - they could try to get their money back, but as we all know, court judgments are FAR from a guarantee of getting repaid. With a character like Assange, perhaps they think it's a FAR better bet to take a chance on making money from his rough draft they possess than by counting on the court system to make him cough up the money?
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Also, even if it was a draft they probably have slipped in a editor (i.e., ghost-author) to 'clean things up' and embellish to their hearts-delight.
The article states is was ghost-written by Andrew O'Hagan, who "had asked for his name to be removed from the book," so it doesn't sound like this guy was "slipped in". Ghost writers are standard fare for autobiographies.
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He supposedly spent his advance on legal fees.
Hilarious.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15009028 [bbc.co.uk]
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It isn't funny at all, just smart business.
If they fight to get all their money back, they will spend money and chances they will not get it back or only part of it and a bunch of legal battles.
So because he is in breach of contract, all bets are off so they will publish the book and make millions of pounds off of it.
So they will get their money back and a profit.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this also means Assange won't see any royalty checks either?
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Probably not.
Just because you made a global stir it doesn't actually mean you are actually smart.
But he should be OK with it. He is against those greedy capitalist making money anyways. He should live in poverty to prove his point. (Granted 500k Pounds, isn't quite poverty)
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(Granted 500k Pounds, isn't quite poverty)
It might be after he's done with all his lawyer fees. The article reports that the money is currently in escrow for exactly that reason.
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I assume he will.
If I had to guess he was too far along to pull out. (Like that’s never happened before.). He got the advance and he delivered the book. He wanted to cancel the contract (and return the advance) but the publisher said “Thanks, but no – we will publish what we got”. The contract should still be in force.
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he was too far along to pull out. (Like that’s never happened before.).
All good things in life happen thrice...
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He probably will get any promised royalties unless they separately sue him for breach of contract for only having done part of the work.
Basically it sounds like they are just accepting what he did submit and going forwards as described in the contract.
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Yeah; my first thought was along the lines of what others here are saying. Julian and the publishers' people (and their lawyers) probably got together and worked this out as the best publicity stunt ever. The "autobiography" (ghost-written as usual) gets published, Julian gets "plausible deniability" for everything in it, the "scandalous" situation gets lots of free publicity, lots of books get sold, and so on. I'll bet they're reading this and chuckling, while sharing some beers. And it doesn't even m
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He may not have broken anything.
These are professional publishers. They're probably used to all sorts of things going wrong with relationships with writers, and don't just hand over advances without something in the wording to protect them.
They almost certainly bought the right to publish anything Assange gives them with the first dollar they handed him. They almost certainly also bought an exclusive right to do so.
What they didn't get in terms of cooperation in completing the book is balanced by what he
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You may hit them with "breach of contract", but in this case the added drama may increase book sales, more than anything else could.
It still may have been planned from the start, but the purpose of the plan may have been as simple as "free advertising".
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Speaking of sales, I wonder how long it will be before - or indeed if - the book gets Blaired* [metro.co.uk]... will it be before or after Assange himself goes on a 'potholing holiday'?
Taking all bets!
*Disclaimer: I have no firm opinion on the legality or morality of Assange's actions, but what happened there really did appeal to my love of whimsy.
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Actually.... I would think that what you do is make a decision based on the current situation.
Yes, maybe...even probably you CAN sue (hell, you can always file a suit right, even if you don't have jack shit). However, that doesn't mean that its your best move, or even a smart one.
Take the ex-roomate who screwed me out of rent and bills. I had options, a lawyer advised me i could sue him outright, or I could call each incident a separate incident, and keep it in small claims court to do myself on the cheap.
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No Andre. or am I missing the joke? Andre Pellbone out of Chicago. One of the best con men I have ever dealt with...when he left man.... I felt like I got screwed by a professional. I was actually more in awe than pissed. He even managed to run up an $800 phone call on my landline before he skipped town. It was..... impressive.
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If someone backs out on a contract with you, you don't just take what you have and say "oh well, we'll do with what we have." You hit them with breach of contract and get your money back.
You're aware that you're talking about Julian Assange, right? Spend the next ten minutes trying to work out a scenario wherein someone sics lawyers on him, finds him (that is, gets through the layers of paranoia embedded deep within him to hide his location and activities), hauls his ass back to whatever jurisdiction is needed for legal proceedings, and ultimately manages to get five hundred thousand quid out of him sometime EARLIER than the next twenty-five years (money which, inevitably, has already been
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You're aware that you're talking about Julian Assange, right? Spend the next ten minutes trying to work out a scenario wherein someone sics lawyers on him, finds him (that is, gets through the layers of paranoia embedded deep within him to hide his location and activities), hauls his ass back to whatever jurisdiction is needed for legal proceedings,
You're not informed [cbsnews.com], because his current location is known and he is pending extradition to Sweden at the very moment:
"Assange must wear an electronic tag, report to police every day and observe a curfew. He also must stay at a registered address - a 10-bedroom mansion in eastern England owned by Vaughan Smith, a WikiLeaks supporter and founder of London's Frontline Club for journalists."
and ultimately manages to get five hundred thousand quid out of him sometime EARLIER than the next twenty-five years (money which, inevitably, has already been spent).
This is the most difficult part. However, supposedly the money is in escrow to pay for his lawyers, so it really depends
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Using Google [wikipedia.org]
Here's a map [g.co]
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I think it's more likely a calculated decision on the part of the publisher. Given what the NYTimes and Guardian both reported when they had to put up with him for the cable releases, Assange seems like the kind of person who would actually try to take the money without really considering the potential consequences.
I'm sure they're confident that the character alone is well-known enough by now to sell at least a couple hundred thousand copies... even if the writing itself is first-draft quality. And I'm su
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Bit ironic using the Guardian as they didn't seem to consider the consequences of publishing a book with the encryption key that released the entire unredacted archive of US diplomatic cables to the world.
"Assange seems like the kind of person [that steals money]". Nice random made-up observation. Any proof that he is a habitual criminal?
Phillip.
Writers Steal Advances All the Time (Score:2)
In book publishing, writers are notorious for taking an advance payment and never delivering the book. Usually it's never delivering the final draft, which some authors never agree is quite finished. Sometimes it's years of "writer's block", or distractions. The coke and hookers an advance can buy (or more typically booze and cigarettes) can interfere with the discipline part of the creative process. And some publishers will add to the advance to encourage a writer to finish when they get late.
Partly it's b
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You can't just "back out" of contracts after you sign them. Especially if you don't refund the money! If you can't give the money back, you have little hope of avoiding the terms.
Re:Well, isn't that appropriate? (Score:5)
Me too. The WikiLeaks mission is an important and productive one and I applaud and support them.
But Julian himself is just so goddamned hard to like.
nomitave determinism, more frequent than you think (Score:3)
Leaks (Score:2, Funny)
I shall download the book from pirate bay. After all, everyone must have access to information.
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Of course...wait no. You're a filthy pirate...
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You can always pay Julian his royalties in BitCoin,
Well, let's just make shiat up. (Score:3)
The publisher is understandably unhappy with this outcome, and intends to publish the 'world's first unauthorized autobiography' from an early draft Assange submitted.
I don't believe a publisher would not be aware of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind [wikipedia.org], so the claim of being the "first unauthorized autobiography" is a lie.
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Most slash-turds consider critical thinking to be akin to religion.
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So, something in which most of the world believes?
(Unfortunately, for the latter.)
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Says the slash-turd with the Death Penalty signature.
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I don't believe a publisher would not be aware of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
How was that unauthorized? Wiki says he sold the rights to it to Columbia Pictures.
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Well, if that doesn't qualify, surely this [wikipedia.org] does.
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So who will buy a copy? (Score:1)
So who will buy a copy? I expect the major audience--hackers--will universally pick up a copy off torrents, Usenet, IRC or a cyberlocker.
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Hackers are a minority. Liberal Hippies are a huge market that they can make big money off of. They think they are so smart that they can out think capitalism. The capitalist know that and use it to make money off of them.
It's about the goal, not about a face (Score:2)
I don't care about Julian Assange as a person. He's just a face for Wikileaks. It's their goal which is important. This autobiography is just means to fund the goal. You might as well buy some expensive stickers from their webstore.
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Or how much Americans have paid into programmes like Social Security out of every paycheck that we're entitled to get back, like when we retire.
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I'm entitled to the interest, too. You fucking Teabaggers are nothing but thieves.
ironic - IP taken from Assange (Score:2)
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Who would do a thing like that?
I read that as someone taken his IP address. Makes much more sense as intellectual property :)
Drama Queens Rule Our Society (Score:2)
IANAL, but (Score:2)
I don't think he can back out, can he? A contract is a contract[1]. The other party may choose to let him buy himself out if he offers terms that they agree with; but they're under no obligation to do so.
[1] There are some exceptions, but I'm not sure this is one of them.
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What needs enforcing? The publisher already has the transcripts.
Asshat doesn't have the money, and even if he did the publisher would be under no obligation to accept its return.
In My Time (Score:2)
Julian Assange backed out (allegedly worrying about self-incrimination)
Vice President Cheney didn't worry.
Assange helped to write a book about hackers (Score:2)
Wikipedia page about "Underground" [wikipedia.org]
Download page for "Underground" [xs4all.nl]
I read it on my Kindle.
Don't take Assange's version of events on trust (Score:3)
As he puts it:
The Guardian (Score:1)
Get it while you can. (Score:2)
Assange has lost much of the support that brought him into prominence. His horrible treatment of Bradley Manning has doubtless eroded the confidence of future potential major leakers.
If I was a publisher, I'd be worrying that Assange's days as a household (?) name are numbered and I'd be trying to get my money while he was still somewhat "hot."
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Not called 'Unauthorized Autobiography' in Sweden. (Score:2)
I have it on good authority that in Sweden the legal term is Book By Surprise.
Books on Assange and Wikileaks (Score:2)
If you're interested in the subject, I recommend reading the Daniel Domsheit-Berg book: "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website". If D's account is any guide, erratic behavior from Assange shouldn't come as a surprise. And myself I would expect an Assange autobiography to be even less accurate than is the norm for such a thing, he's apparently into "self-mythologizing".
I've also been looking at Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy [barnesandnoble.com] by The "Guar
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You'd trust the word of DDB over Assange?
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I don't care what you think about the guy personally or politically or whatever, but at least Assange tends to act in a somewhat logical and consistent manner. DDB switches allegiances back and forth constantly and does logically incoherent things.
The Guardian have sure changed their tone on Jools (Score:1)
Since Julian tried to point the finger at them for the release of the unredacted cables, their editorials of him have become scathing. [guardian.co.uk]
Personally I hope an alternative to Wikileaks shows up at some point and does the whole thing properly without the ridiculous circus and personality cult of old Jools. The idea is a great one, I'd just prefer it without an egomaniacal dictator at the helm.