“For the first time in the history of our country, the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication of truthful information.” The ACLU clearly recognizes the serious new threat to our First Amendment in the form of prosecuting the highly unpopular Julian Assange under the 1917 Espionage Act. The purpose of which was to silence critics of US entry into the first world war.  On this show, journalist Ben Norton discusses the little-known history of this anti-Constitutional rarely used act. It is all about clamping down in the start of a major campaign of intimidation of leakers and the publications which dare to carry the upsetting truth. Assange may be unpopular but this is a real threat to all freedom of the press. And the Russians don’t like him either; he published secrets they did not want leaked.