Wikileaks and Free Speech

[Virtual Bison]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/12/1...292142840/

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The United States would dearly like to prosecute WikiLeaks founder and operator Julian Assange but it is having a hard time getting a legal grip on him.

The problem is not just physical custody, but of establishing at what point speech -- in Assange's case the publicizing of confidential and classified information -- becomes a crime. Is Assange, paraphrasing Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, crying "fire" in a crowded theater?

Some U.S. politicians, such as Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., have suggested that Assange could be prosecuted under the World War I-vintage Espionage Act, but that could prove problematic. Late last week, lawyers for Assange told a variety of news outlets that he might be indicted under the act soon, though the U.S. Justice Department was denying those reports