[Ola Bini](https://olabini.se) has been [arrested](https://heavy.com/news/2019/04/ola-bini/) by the Ecuadorian Police based on questionable links to [Julian Assange and Wikileaks](https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2019/04/11/nota/7279946/jackers-rusos-miembro-wikileaks-viven-ecuador-denuncia-maria-paula). Although he has been arrested, [no charges](https://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/world/article229326519.html) against him have yet been filed. Near to the time of Ola's arrest the Ecuadorian police tweeted an obscured photo of a person in detention and that person's personal belongings, including nearly 20 laptops, numerous drives, and 12 books. The original tweet read: > APREHENDIDO ciudadano en #Quito, que mediante la utilización > de plataformas digitales de redes sociales, transmitía contenido > de connotación social (divulgación de información) a través de > sitios web, entre los mas destacados #WikiLeaks. El sujeto > utilizaba perfiles falsos. A rough translation is as follows: > Citizen Apprehended in #Quito, who through the use of social > networks, transmitted content of social connotation (dissemination > of information) through websites, including most prominently WikiLeaks. That tweet has since been deleted. It is not 100% certain if Ola is the "citizen" in question, but I find the images of the belongings particularly compelling.[^pic] I had the good fortune of meeting and talking with Ola on numerous occasions and found him a deep thinker who was a true lover of knowledge and intellectually engaged with matters of computing thoughtfully and eloquently. Therefore, as a lover of knowledge myself I dug in on the image above to identify the books procured as so-called evidence.[^ev] *Update: [Ola released an official statement](https://freeolabini.org/en/statement-from-ola/). In this statement, Ola says something troubling, specifically, "the case against me is based on the books I've read and the technology I have."* [^ev]: It's unclear what these items might be evidence of, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better way to drum up FUD than to splay those items out in such a manner as the image above shows -- a Guy Fawkes mask would have been a bit too much. [^pic]: While the obscured face does hint at Ola, the books are the give-away. Below you'll find the books confiscated by the Ecuadorian police (left to right, top to bottom): - *[The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld](https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Net-Inside-Digital-Underworld/dp/1612194893/?tag=modusponens-20)* by James Bartlett - *[The Hacker Playbook: Practical Guide To Penetration Testing](https://www.amazon.com/Hacker-Playbook-Practical-Penetration-Testing/dp/1494932636/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Peter Kim - *[WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy](https://www.amazon.com/WikiLeaks-Inside-Julian-Assanges-Secrecy/dp/161039061X/?tag=modusponens-20)* by David Leigh and Luke Harding - *[The Snowden Files - movie tie-in edition](https://www.amazon.com/Snowden-Files-Luke-Harding/dp/1783351047/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Luke Harding - *[Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security](https://www.amazon.com/Cyber-War-Threat-National-Security/dp/0061962244/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Richard A. Clarke - *[The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674970845/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Frank Pasquale - *[Cyber War Will Not Take Place](https://www.amazon.com/Cyber-War-Will-Take-Place/dp/0199330638/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Thomas Rid - *[The Snowden Files - original edition](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K8ZH9IW/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Luke Harding - *[The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money](https://www.amazon.com/Panama-Papers-Breaking-Story-Powerful/dp/1786070472/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Obermayer and Obermaier - *[Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1482614375/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Al Sweigart - *[Privacy Lost: How Technology Is Endangering Your Privacy](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787985112/?tag=modusponens-20)* by David Holtzman - *[Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1781685835/?tag=modusponens-20)* by Gabriella Coleman I've always been a proponent in the idea that to know someone is to read what they read. Therefore, I'm digging into Ola's books[^ob] to learn a little more about him and the topics and problems that have grown in importance during troubling times.[^tw] \#FreeOlaBini [^tw]: To wit, knowledge is power. [^ob]: My awareness of most of these books originally came about by learning that [Ola was reading them](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/932658.Ola_Bini).