Ever since Wikileaks founder Julian Assange disappeared from the public eye, presumably still being held at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, questions have been raised about his well-being. To give a proof-of-life, Assange made an appearance online through a live video-streamed Reddit AMA.
During his AMA, Assange read user questions and answered them in real time. But that did not satisfy some of the Redditors, who posted questions asking for a more realistic proof-of-life. Some also believed that Assange wasn't really there and it was merely a pre-recorded hologram.
This so-called conspiracy gained momentum when Assange skipped one of the top comments in the AMA thread asking him to digitally sign an encrypted message using the Wikileaks private PGP key. Well, that's one way to verify if Assange is still alive.
But the Redditor who asked the question followed up with a speculation on why Assange could not sign the message. It is possible that Assange lost access to Wikileaks' private PGP key or he is no longer in full control of Wikileaks.
But Assange did not disappoint Redditors in giving proof-of-life. He read out recent basketball scores and also a recent hash of the bitcoin blockchain, which is almost impossible to predict. In addition to that, Assange also said that his close friends and lawyers would announce publicly if he was under any threat.
Just when he was successfully giving his proof-of-life, the stream ended abruptly with Assange slowly disappearing in front of a green background. There you go with all those doubts all over again.
Did you watch Assange's live Reddit AMA? If not, you can stream it here. Also, do let us know what you think.
