wikileaks

commentary He's only 26, he's been at the helm of his company for less than a decade, and one of the most famous uses for the technology he's built is that it facilitates tens of millions of people to start virtual farms with cartoon cows. Yet Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is Time magazine's 2010 Person of the Year--and it's a title he deserves.

The Web, of course, is sniping at this choice as they often will with sweeping, editorially arbitrary decisions of what's important and what isn't. Some prominent members of the media … Read more

In another sign that a U.S. indictment of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange may be imminent, his lawyer has said that a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., is currently weighing criminal charges.

"We have heard from the Swedish authorities that there has been a secretly impaneled grand jury in Alexandria," said Mark Stephens, an attorney at the London-based FSI law firm.

Stephens told Al-Jazeera over the weekend that he believes that there is "collusion" between the Swedish government, which has accused Assange of sexual assault, and the United States. "We understand [Swedish authorities] have said … Read more

It's the last full week of the 404 Podcast before we take off for the holidays, and Mark Licea comes in to help us out with the story rundown that includes the weekend box office with a spoiler-free review of "Black Swan," a "Tron"-inspired hotel room in Sweden, and this weekend's Gawker security breach.

Also, be sure to join us after the break when we open a present from a special listener and introduce a new host on the show!

The online Web publisher Gawker Media is the latest victim of a security compromise that exposed the passwords of over 200,000 users last weekend.

The tech news and gossip site told its readers about the security breach in a blog post that urges all registered users to change their log-ins and passwords, especially if they use the same password for multiple accounts online.

A group of hackers called Gnosis took credit for the hack and has made all 200,000 passwords available for download on The Pirate Bay. Their motivations are still unclear, but Gawker may have brought the attack on itself after a blog posted last week mocking the group's hacking skills.

Gawker says it's in the process of improving security to prevent further breaches, but who knows how long that will take. And in other very serious hacking news, be sure to change your e-mail passwords if you subscribed to the McDonalds e-mail list, because that got hacked, too.

U.K. designers Ben Rousseau and Ian Douglas-Jones of Extreme Design are the masterminds behind a "Tron"-inspired hotel room made entirely out of ice and snow.

Located in Jukkasjaviri, Sweden, the hotel rooms look like they're cut directly from the movie, replete with lighting technology built right into the ice to recreate the laser motifs. Rousseau and Douglas-Jones are both "massive fans" of the "Tron" movies, and drew much of their inspiration from the 3D update's unique nightclub scene involving Daft Punk, who also scored the film.

Go see "Black Swan" as soon as you can. The ballet-themed thriller is directed by Daren Aronofsky, who also masterminded "Pi," "Requiem for a Dream," and "The Wrestler," and stars Natalie Portman as a dancer slowly losing her mind from the pressures of her company and a lead role in an updated version of "Swan Lake." This episode is spoiler free, so check out the trailer and see it for yourself!

We're in the process of recording several holiday episodes that will air while we're on vacation, but we need your help for ideas! Shoot us an e-mail at the404(at)cnet(dot)com with your favorite 404 episodes from 2010 and any questions for the hosts.

They can be personal or work-related, or anything else you'd like to know about me, Jeff, or Wilson! We'll send our thanks on the air if we choose your question, but be sure to either write "Favorite 404 episode from 2010" or "Question for The 404" in the subject line to make sure it gets read. Thanks!

news analysis If WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is indicted by the U.S. government for disseminating classified information, as even his own lawyer now expects, his defense is likely to face long legal odds.

The 1917 Espionage Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress during World War I, has been a mainstay of national security prosecutions ever since. And it's been upheld as constitutional by every court that has examined whether its invocation in a criminal prosecution complies with the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech.

A CNET review of Espionage Act cases shows that judges have … Read more

Dutch authorities said today that they have arrested a 16-year-old hacker involved in the pro-WikiLeaks attacks on the Web sites of MasterCard and PayPal.

The Dutch National Prosecutors Office said that the teen, who was not named, was arrested by a high-tech crime team last night.

The arrest comes after a group known as Anonymous--a label that's been adopted before by activists who have electronically assaulted the Church of Scientology and the Australian government--organized attacks on Web sites of companies that have distanced themselves from WikiLeaks. Distributed denial-of-service attacks enlist thousands of computers, all making simultaneous connections, in hopes … Read more

We've learned one new detail about the group of hackers attacking sites that have offended WikiLeaks: They seem to be fond of "Star Trek."

The British magazine The Economist yesterday scored an instant-messaging interview with members of the hacking group Anonymous, which in recent days has attacked sites belonging to Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal, just to name a few. They don't seem to be connected in any way to WikiLeaks or its embattled head, Julian Assange. But they are willing to attack sites they believe are blocking the work of WikiLeaks.

The Economist's reporter (who … Read more

Twitter yesterday tried to put an end to rumors that it's blocking WikiLeaks-related terms from its list of trending topics--the most popular phrases appearing at a given time throughout the microblogging service.

The reason why terms like #wikileaks and #cablegate fell off Twitter's trending topics list, according to a post on the official company blog, is simply because not enough people are talking about them.

"Sometimes a topic doesn't break into the Trends list because its popularity isn't as widespread as people believe," the blog post explained. "And, sometimes, popular terms don't … Read more

The U.S. government indicated today that WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange could be in legal jeopardy for disclosing classified information because he is "not a journalist."

When asked whether "traditional media" organizations that republish secret documents could be prosecuted, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the administration applauds "the role of journalists in your daily pursuits."

"In our view, Mr. Assange is not a journalist," Crowley added.

Crowley's remarks come as Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents are scrambling to piece together a legal case against Assange, who was … Read more

The Wikileaks war is escalating and it's threatening to go all "War Games" on us. 4Chan's forces, the Anonymous group, are DDoS-ing the heck out of sites like PayPayl, MasterCard, and anyone who bows to "government pressure." Meanwhile, secret forces of, uh, governments, are DDoS-ing Anonymous right back. And who's caught in the middle? The poor, innocent routers. Also, SpaceX successfully takes off, and scientists tee off on NASA's arsenic microbe. Ouch. --Molly