The thing about Assange's "dead man's switch" is that Britain and the US can monitor ALL internet traffic in and out of the Ecuadoran embassy, and eventually figure out what it is, even if it is encrypted. So, once they figured it out, they can force this situation and keep maintaining the switch and possibly even take down the server(s). Assange should have put some effort into keeping himself anonymous and detached from the project rather that naively and arrogantly positioning himself as a big, public enemy combatant to the most powerful forces the world has ever known.