The Assange Character

Absolutely intrigued by geniuses like Julian Assange. 

Here’s an excerpt from a CNN article, Julian Assange: Loathed, admired, here to stay.

He was just 16 when she bought him a Commodore 64 computer in 1987. Assange attached a modem to his computer and began his journey into the new computer era.

“It’s like chess,” he told New Yorker magazine. “Chess is very austere in that you don’t have many rules, there is no randomness and the problem is very hard.”

Though his mother raised him without any religious influence, she sensed that from a tender age, her son was led by a strong desire to do what he perceived as just.

“He was a lovely boy, very sensitive, good with animals, quiet and has a wicked sense of humor,” she’s told the Melbourne, Australia, Herald Sun.

Assange studied mathematics and physics at the University of Melbourne.

In interviews, Assange speaks in baritone. His pace is measured, and he seems to choose words carefully. He can be charming yet cagey about his private life and is rarely shaken by discussions of even the most controversial revelations on WikiLeaks.

He’s the kind of person who, he says, can hack into the most sophisticated computer system. But he can forget to show up for an interview or cancel at the last minute.

When he talks, he displays an astonishing breadth of interests: from computers to literature to his travels in Africa.

Assange’s fascination with hacking grew when he was a teen. He taught himself computer encryption and security. He says he once set up an encryption puzzle based on the manipulation of prime numbers.

A June 2010 New Yorker article describes how Assange hacked into the master terminal of the telecom company Nortel in 1991. The profile also says that Assange married and had a child when he was 18, but the relationship fell apart and his wife left him with their infant son.

The young hacker eventually turned away from network flaws and focused on what he perceived as wrongdoings of governments.