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This is spooky...

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  • This is spooky...

    And we're not talking Halloween, either. Indymedia, an alternative news hosting site located in London, was indirectly ordered by the FBI shut down some of the websites it hosted for independent media in the UK. Granted, Indyspace was using servers (located in London) that were owned by a US-based company with a branch in London, but isn't this going a little too far to suppress free speech in another country?

    What really spooks the alternative news folk is the fact that Indymedia was set "to participate in the European Forum on Communications Rights being held alongside the European Social Forum and several other days of discussions about electronic civil liberties and community media" before they were shut down by the US Government this past week.

    The ISP that was hosting 20 Indymedia newssites declines to tell Indymedia exactly why the servers were confiscated, other than the general "cooperating with the US government in the interest of national security" ruse that has been used on way too many illegal seizures and intimidation perpetrated recently by our government.

    Any advocate of free speech should be absolutely incensed at the action, and journalists---regardless of political persuasion in this country--should interpret this as a subtle warning that BIG BROTHER has very long, sticky arms that can cross international jurisdictions. Do the Feebs really think there are encrypted messages to the terrorists in the news stories coming from the alternative press in England?

    Miulang

    Indyspace story here: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/298741.html
    Last edited by Miulang; October 9, 2004, 05:42 PM.
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: This is spooky...

    Postcript: Now the FBI is denying that it ordered the subpoena. Here is the official statement from Rackspace, the ISP that shut down the Indymedia sites. The court order came from Herndon, VA:

    Rackspace Statement Regarding Indymedia
    By Annalie Drusch
    Director, Corporate Communications
    Rackspace Managed Hosting

    Friday 08 October 2004

    In the present matter regarding Indymedia, Rackspace Managed Hosting, a U.S. based company with offices in London, is acting in compliance with a court order pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), which establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. Rackspace responded to a Commissioner's subpoena, duly issued under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1782 in an investigation that did not arise in the United States. Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter.

    For additional information on the MLAT, please visit findlaw.com.

    -------
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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    • #3
      Re: This is spooky...

      More information on the evolving Indymedia case: turns out that the FBI was requested by Switzerland and Italy to issue the subpoena. Um, have the governments of Switzerland and Italy no balls of their own that they have to hide behind us for their investigations? I think there's still more to this story yet to unfold.Go here to keep track of what's going on: http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml

      Italy and Switzerland Requested Indymedia's Server Seizure

      Today, October 8, 2004, Indymedia has learned that the request to seize Indymedia servers hosted by a US company in the UK originated from government agencies in Italy and Switzerland. More than 20 Indymedia sites, several internet radio streams and other projects were hosted on the servers. They were taken offline on October 7th after an order was issued to Rackspace, Inc., one of Indymedia's web hosting providers.

      The reasons for the court order or who actually holds the servers now are still unknown to Indymedia.

      According to Italian news agency reports and an Agence France-Presse (AFP) interview with FBI spokesman Joe Parris, the FBI acted on Italian and Swiss requests. "It is not an FBI operation," Parris told AFP. "Through a legal assistance treaty, the subpoena was on behalf of a third country." (1)

      Earlier today Rackspace published a statement that they turned over the servers in response to an order under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). The MLAT establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations regarding international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter. (2)

      An Indymedia system administrator stated: "We do not know if Rackspace is under a gag order, or what legal restrictions were imposed requiring them to act this way, or whether their legal department had enough time to study the request."

      Aidan White, the General Secretary for the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) had this to say. "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specialising in independent journalism. The way this has been done smacks more of intimidation of legitimate journalistic inquiry than crime-busting." (3)

      Indymedia condemns the fact that even 24 hours after two entire servers were taken down, Indymedia is still not getting any information of the reasons for the order.

      By taking down 2 servers more than 20 Indymedia sites were affected in different countries globally as well as several unrelated projects. Indymedia considers this extremely invasive operation a a serious threat to the Freedom of Speech worldwide.

      Indymedia insists that the servers are returned because each day they are inoperable and Indymedia's irreplaceable data is unaccessible means greater material damages to the Indymedia operation worldwide.
      Last edited by Miulang; October 10, 2004, 08:40 AM.
      "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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      • #4
        Re: This is spooky...

        Further update on this story: An independent news outlet in England weighs in: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10..._mlat_request/.

        OK, so the Swiss got hinky because some of their Secret Police (did we even know they had secret police?) had their pictures taken during a European economic conference. So what the hell did the Italians have to do with it? And why did the British goverment not give Indymedia a reason why they allowed the FBI to go in and snatch the hard drives of the servers?

        Miulang
        "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: This is spooky...

          Latest on the Indymedia affair. This is from today's entry in www.indymedia.org:

          INDYMEDIA: REPRESSION - 11 Oct 2004
          Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our Websites"
          Evidence is beginning to mount that the authorities of at least four countries (Switzerland, Italy, U.K. and U.S.A.) are involved in last week's seizure of two of Indymedia's servers that brought down more than 20 of the Indymedia network's web sites and several internet radio streams. Indymedia has yet to receive any official statement or information about what the order entailed or why it was issued.

          An FBI spokesperson, Joe Parris, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the FBI issued a subpoena to the provider who hosted the Indymedia servers in the U.K., but that it was "on behalf of a third country." (1) Daniel Zapelli, senior federal prosecutor for Geneva (Switzerland), confirmed that he has opened a criminal investigation into Indymedia coverage of the 2003 G8 Summit in Evian. (2) Zapelli will provide details of that investigation at a press conference on Tuesday.

          Federal prosecutor of Bologna (Italy) Marina Plazzi stated that she is investigating Italy Indymedia because it may "support terrorism." (3) Plazzi says she will provide more information on Thursday, October 14th.

          Meanwhile international journalist associations have come forward in support of Indymedia. "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specialising in independent journalism," said Aidan White IFJ General Secretary. (4)

          Indymedia is consulting with the Electronic Frontier Foundation on how to retrieve its servers and prevent further government attacks on free speech. "EFF is deeply concerned about the grave implications of this seizure for free speech and privacy, and we are exploring all avenues to hold the government accountable for this improper and unconstitutional silencing of independent media.," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. (5)

          As of Monday, October 11, five of the downed websites have been restored, including Brasil, Euskal Herria, Poland, UK and Nice. Indymedia volunteers are working around the clock to restore the remaining sites, however at least four of them - Uruguay, Italy, Western Massachusetts and Nantes - have suffered data loss as a result of the governments' action. "This FBI operation gives us even more reason to continue with what we have been doing for several years," says an activist from Italy Indymedia.

          "Uruguay has a long history of media repression. We don't have the money to pay for web hosting, and so we rely on the solidarity of other countries. Actions like the seizure of the servers make the whole world insecure for free media," says Libertinus, an Indymedia volunteer from Uruguay, one of many Indymedia web sites that was caught in the FBI actions as a bystander. "Uruguay's national elections will take place on October 31st. It's a bad time for this to happen."
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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          • #6
            Re: This is spooky...

            Yesterday, Indymedia reported that the 2 hard drives that were confiscated from their hosts Rackspace, had been returned. They are treating the returned drives as having been hacked until they can do a full inventory of all files. There is a good possibility that whichever government actually had possession of the drives (could have been the US, Britain, Switzerland or Italy), probably cloned the data so it would be difficult to prove that the data had not been copied.

            Servers Returned
            13 Oct 2004 17:46 GMT

            A Rackspace employee stated, "I was just told that the court order is being complied with and your servers in London will be online at 5pm GMT. I will pass along anymore information that becomes available and that I am allowed to."
            It has been verified that the returned hard-drives are the originals, but the circumstances of the seizure still remain unclear: who took them, why were they taken, and under which court order? Indymedia is not aware as to whether Rackspace is still under gag order.

            The hard-drives will be treated as "hacked" (compromised) and as a result there will be delays in restoring the sites that are still down.

            [ original posting ]
            "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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            • #7
              Re: This is spooky...

              That's interesting though. It furthers some ideas that maybe, there's only a handful of people running everything in the EU, or even in the world.

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