I have no reason to lead me to believe that Assange is on the run from anything larger than his own PR machine. It's perverse that this story has increasingly drifted from focusing on Manning to focusing on Assange.
I hope this clarifies things for you from my end. I've been entirely candid with you, and hope you'll update with a clarification from my end.
Consider it done. Also, to clarify: It would be great to be able to reach everyone I blog about here before I write about them. I agree that's a better way to go. And if I did that, I might manage to post one a week, maybe. Because this blog is mostly opinion mixed with snark, not straight reporting, I usually don't attempt to contact sources first; in this case, I did not attempt to reach Lamo, with whom I have corresponded in the past. In hindsight that probably would have been a better idea.
Now here's a letter from reader R.M., an IT sys admin who's father to a teen with A.S. He offers another fascinating perspective on this syndrome:
My son has Asperger's Syndrome. Very little social skill and obsessive interest in a narrow range of interests are well-known characteristics of those with the disorder. High to genius-level IQ is also very common in those who have Asperger's. My son's IQ is in the 180 range. My son has few friends, but is very trusting of those he does have and could easily be manipulated by them. He has a more active online social life than a face-to-face social life. He gets into a routine that he follows and will not willingly change. He wears the same brand of shoes and type of clothes every day. He had full scholarship offers from many universities, but would not go because he was afraid to go and live on campus. If you ever need to know anything at all about squirrels, he could tell you every detail you would every want to know for hours. For whatever reason, that's one of the things he is obsessed with. I could believe that a person with Asperger's would turn in a friend if they thought it was the right thing to do. My son once left a car I told him to wait in and went and found a policeman to give me a ticket because he noticed that I had parked in a no-parking zone.
Fascinating stuff, and equally so is the long response from reader NWJH in the comments field to yesterday's post. Thanks folks for keeping me on my toes.
Got more info about Asperger's, WikiLeaks, or military espionage? Lay it on me below or email me: cringe@infoworld.com.
This story, "WikiLeaks part II: Adrian Lamo responds," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Robert X. Cringely's Notes from the Field blog.