Assange: "Internet is world's 'greatest spying machine' and obstacle to free speech"

"JULIAN Assange, the founder of controversial website WikiLeaks, today warned that the internet was the "greatest spying machine the world has ever seen" - and an obstacle to free speech.

Speaking to students at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University, the former computer hacker claimed that the internet, particularly social networking sites such as Facebook, gave governments greater scope for snooping.

"There was actually a Facebook revolt in Cairo three or four years ago," Assange explained.

"It was very small ... After it, Facebook was used to round up all the principal participants and they were then beaten, interrogated and incarcerated.

"So while the internet has in some ways an ability to let us know to an unprecedented level what government is doing ... it is also the greatest spying machine the world has ever seen," he added."

[link to www.news.com.au]