Wikileaks has released the transcript of a previously secret 2011 meeting between founder Julian Assange and Google chairman Eric Schmidt.
The meeting lasted five hours, and took place while Assange was under house arrest in London. Also attending were was Jared Cohen, a former advisor to Secretary of State advisor Hillary Clinton and Lisa Shields of the Council for Foreign Relations.
The conversation touched on many topics, from the mundane to serious. Assange explains internet activities to Schmidt, like BitCoin, the algorithmic online currency, or Tor, which makes internet activity harder to track.
Assange also addresses accusations that Wikileaks' commitment to open information sometimes causes more damage than it prevents.
"According to Reuters across 24 countries we have over three quarters support of the general population," Assange said. "If we look at the attacks on us, they always talk about the words 'placed people at risk.' But risk relative to what? Right now we are at risk of a meteorite passing through the roof of this house and killing us all. That is a risk that is true. But is it a proportionate risk? Is it a risk that is significant enough that it is even worth speaking about? Well, the answer is no."
Assange talks about the difficulties in recruiting talented people to his cause, while preventing infiltration by government agents.
"It has tremendously slowed down our growth. Because you can't just put an ad out and say we want you to have these skills and come into the office, it is absolutely impossible," Assange said.
He also prods Schmidt for some inside information from Google. "We wouldn't mind a leak from Google, which would be, I think probably all the PATRIOT Act requests."
Of course, there's a reason for the timing of this release: Schmidt and Cohen have a new book coming out on Tuesday -- The New Digital Age.
There's plenty more in the lengthy transcript, which you can read here.
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