Hacker Involved in Wikileaks Project Detained by U.S. Customs Officials

Jacob Appelbaum, a Tor programmer and Wikileaks representative, was detained by customs officials when he entered the country last week to attend the DEF CON hackers conference in Las Vegas. He was questioned on the whereabouts of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, but refused to say anything.

Jacob Appelbaum is a renowned american computer hacker and one of the founders of the San Francisco-based Noisebridge hackerspace. He currently works as a developer and advocate for the Tor Project, an organization developing Internet anonymity and privacy tools.

Appelbaum is also representing Wikileaks, a website regularly posting confidential information leaked from companies, organizations or government agencies. The whistleblowing site is viewed as a threat by the U.S. Army after it published classified documents and videos like the Baghdad airstrike and the more recent Afghan war logs.

It is rumored that U.S. authorities would very much like to have a talk with Julian Assange, founder and main spokesperson for Wikileaks, but his current location remains unknown to them. To avoid being arrested, he canceled his speaking engagements and keeps out of the United States for the time being.

Earlier last month Appelbaum replaced Assange as Wikileaks representative at the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference in New York. This apparently drew the feds' attention, because last week when he flew in from Holland to attend DEF CON, the hacker was detained and questioned by customs officials at the Newark, New Jersey airport.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with the incident, CNET reports that Appelbaum was held in a room for three hours and was denied access to a phone. His luggage and laptop were searched and he was asked to reveal the whereabouts of Julian Assange. After he refused to speak without a lawyer present, the hacker was released, but his mobile phones were seized, a fact confirmed by him during his DEF CON presentation.

In addition, when the talk was over he was approached by two FBI agents who wanted to "have a chat". They appeared to be familiar with the incident at the airport, but said that they weren't involved in it.

The two quickly gave up their plan to talk with Appelbaum after he declined to say anything and others, including lawyers and journalists, intervened with questions. The hacker was reported leaving DEF CON hastily and getting on the first flight out of the country.

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