The book includes an edited transcript of the meeting during which Assange explained the importance of WikiLeaks, while Schmidt celebrated Googles expansion as a collaboration with the US State Department. Unsurprisingly, Assange isnt a fan technocratic imperialism is what he called it. <\/p>\n
Theres no love lost from Schmidts side either. We went to visit Julian Assange when he was on his, shall we say, GPS locator service, Schmidt told a magazine recently. He came away with the view that we dont want random people leaking large amounts of data I dont think that serves society. We asked Google whether Schmidt agreed to the publication of their conversation but have had no reply. <\/p>\n
Assanges previous attempt at a book proved disastrous for Canongate Books. It reported a 363,367 loss for 2011 after Assange pulled out of a deal. He had promised a part memoir, part manifesto and received a rumoured 500,000 advance, but after sitting with a ghost writer for more than 50 hours of taped interviews, he decided he wanted to cancel the contract. <\/p>\n
The new book is less of a risk for those involved. It will be published by OR Books, which runs a print-on-demand service. If no one buys the book, the only hurt will be to Assanges ego. Not that humility has ever been his strong suit. <\/p>\n
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