Reporters without Borders (RSF) is calling on the UK to deny the U.S. request for the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The extradition haering begins Monday (Feb. 24) and will have wide-ranging impact on publishers, the group says. 

That is because, RSF says, if Assange is extradited, this will be the first time that the Espionage Act, which dates from World War I, has been used against a publisher. 

Wikileaks has provided a conduit for leakers to publish sometimes classified or secret documents. 

Related: Speech Groups Pan New Assange Indictment 

And if Assange is successfully prosecuted under the Act, it says, the investigative reporting that exposed the Pentagon Papers and Watergate would be criminalized, pointing out that the Obama Administration did not charge Assange under the espionage act for just that reason. 

Back in May 2019, A federal grand jury returned indictments against Assange on 18 charges brought by the Justice Department related to his role in obtaining, receiving and disclosing national defense information in a "conspiracy" with leaker Chelsea Manning, a move Free Speech organizations said at the time could chill investigative reporting.   

It was a superseding indictment, with 17 new charges added to the single count Justice initially charged.  

The counts are: Conspiracy to Receive National Defense Information (count 1); Obtaining National Defense Information (counts 2-4); Obtaining National Defense Information (counts 5-8); Disclosure of National Defense Information (9-11): Disclosure of National Defense Information (12-14): Disclosure of National Defense Information (15-17); Conspiracy to Commit Computer Intrusion (18).  

Assange was arrested in London last April. He had been living in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012, but that asylum was rescinded. 

Assange has argued that the U.S. government's pursuit of fellow leaker Edward Snowden and others like him threatened the future of national security journalism. 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested in London.

He had been living in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012, but that asylum was rescinded.

Assange could be extradited to the U.S. 

The Justice Department was quick to charge Assange with conspiracy, saying the arrest was in connection with the U.S./UK Extradition Treaty. 

The indictment is related to the Chelsea Manning leak of classified documents to Assange and his alleged active encouragement of it. Assange is charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and faces a five-year prison sentence if convicted. 

Assange also published emails to and from former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a leak the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has said came from Russians--Assange has denied that--and was part of the campaign to undercut Clinton and help Donald Trump.

Among the implications of that leak, in addition to potentially helping Trump's campaign, was that CNN dropped contributor Donna Brazile, then-interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, after a leaked email revealed that Brazile had shared questions with the Clinton campaign in advance of a CNN debate and town hall meeting.

Assange has argued that the U.S. government's pursuit of fellow leaker Edward Snowden and others like him threatened the future of national security journalism. "The Obama administration hopes to erect a new interpretation of law which defines journalistic sources as spies," Assange had argued back in 2013.

Wikileaks has provided a conduit for leakers to publish sometimes classified or secret documents.

“Julian Assange and Wikileaks maliciously conspired to steal and publish U.S military and intelligence classified information, compromising counterterrorism activities essential to homeland security. His arrest today in London is the first step to bringing him to justice," said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee. “Assange’s arrest and future extradition will hopefully pressure Manning to cooperate with law enforcement so all of the people who put U.S. national security at risk can be held accountable.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists was not happy with the conspiracy charge.

"The potential implications for press freedom of this allegation of conspiracy between publisher and source are deeply troubling," said Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, in a statement. "With this prosecution of Julian Assange, the U.S. government could set out broad legal arguments about journalists soliciting information or interacting with sources that could have chilling consequences for investigative reporting and the publication of information of public interest." 

A spokesperson for activist group CODEPINK said that group will beholding a protest at the British Embassy in Washington to call for Assange's immediate release and "protection of all whistle-blowers."

Showtime Documentary films will examine WikiLeaks in a new documentary Risk, the network announced Sunday night.

Risk, from Academy Award winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, follows WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange over a six year-period in an effort to provide a better understanding of the current era of massive leaks and the impact of the internet on global politics, said network officials.Showtime has partnered with film distribution company Neon to release Risk theatrically nationwide, with a television premiere on Showtime this summer. 

Risk is one of several Showtime Documentary Films on the docket including Whitney. “Can I Be Me” and Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars.

Risk is produced in association with Field of Vision and First Look Media, with Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) serving as executive producer.

WikiLeaks has put a $100,000 bounty on a copy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty being negotiated by the U.S. and Pacific Rim countries that includes protections for digital content.

WikiLeaks said the goal of the treaty is, among other things, to "create a new international legal regime that will allow transnational corporations to bypass domestic courts, evade environmental protections, police the Internet on behalf of the content industry..." and more.

"The transparency clock has run out on the TPP," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement. "No more secrecy. No more excuses. Let's open the TPP once and for all."

WikiLeaks has already published several leaked chapters of the treaty draft, but wants more. Those chapters, which included online content protection language, did not sit well with consumer advocates Public Citizen.

“The WikiLeaks text features Hollywood- and recording industry-inspired proposals – think about the SOPA debacle – to limit Internet freedom and access to educational materials, to force Internet providers to act as copyright enforcers and to cut off people’s Internet access,” Burcu Kilic, Public Citizen's legal counsel, said when the chapters were first published.

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents TV and movie content producers, sees TPP differently.

The TPP would expand trade, including access to creative content, to much of the Asia-Pacific region, MPAA said, including creating what it calls "strong standards for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights for the 21st century."

"Completion of a meaningful TPP will allow our flourishing industry to continue expanding into some of the world’s largest and most important markets to continue to build on this American success story," an MPAA spokesperson said of the treaty.