[Indymedia sites, which provide challenging and independent
reporting, particularly of political and social justice issues,
are open forums where any member of the public can publish
their comments. They are an important organizing platform
and info-backbone for the new global social movement, think
Seattle, Genova, Porto Alegre ...]
notice: The FBI is operating inside the UK ! And in France on
behalf of the Swiss police !
questions: Why ? Why now ? Why not by the local authorities ?
Are we entering a new phase of total information control or
"perception management" as Rumsfeld would call it ? Is this
part of the war on terror ? Is free speech an act of terrorism ?
jan
----
http://www.indymedia.org/ servers seized by FBI
Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace
ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting
agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20
Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the
requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet.
Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the
reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Talking to
Indymedia volunteers, Rackspace stated that "they cannot provide
Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received
gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the
concerned parties on what is happening.
It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is outside the US
jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.
At the same time an additional server was taken down at Rackspace which
provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG (linux
distro), and a handful of miscellanous things.
The last few months have seen numerous attacks on independent media by
the US Federal Government. In August the Secret Service used a subpoena
in an attempt to disrupt the NYC IMC before the RNC by trying to get IP
logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the FCC shut
down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI
requested that Indymedia takes down a post on the Nantes IMC that had a
photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle
were visited by the FBI on the same issue. On the other hand, Indymedia
and other independent media organisations were successfull with their
victories for example against Diebold and the Patroit Act. Today
however, the US authorities shut down IMCs around the world.
The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia,
Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles,
Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and
West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague,
Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global
Indymedia Radio site.
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
reporting, particularly of political and social justice issues,
are open forums where any member of the public can publish
their comments. They are an important organizing platform
and info-backbone for the new global social movement, think
Seattle, Genova, Porto Alegre ...]
notice: The FBI is operating inside the UK ! And in France on
behalf of the Swiss police !
questions: Why ? Why now ? Why not by the local authorities ?
Are we entering a new phase of total information control or
"perception management" as Rumsfeld would call it ? Is this
part of the war on terror ? Is free speech an act of terrorism ?
jan
----
http://www.indymedia.org/ servers seized by FBI
Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace
ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting
agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20
Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the
requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet.
Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the
reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Talking to
Indymedia volunteers, Rackspace stated that "they cannot provide
Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received
gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the
concerned parties on what is happening.
It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is outside the US
jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.
At the same time an additional server was taken down at Rackspace which
provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG (linux
distro), and a handful of miscellanous things.
The last few months have seen numerous attacks on independent media by
the US Federal Government. In August the Secret Service used a subpoena
in an attempt to disrupt the NYC IMC before the RNC by trying to get IP
logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the FCC shut
down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI
requested that Indymedia takes down a post on the Nantes IMC that had a
photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle
were visited by the FBI on the same issue. On the other hand, Indymedia
and other independent media organisations were successfull with their
victories for example against Diebold and the Patroit Act. Today
however, the US authorities shut down IMCs around the world.
The list of affected local media collectives includes Ambazonia,
Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles,
Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and
West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague,
Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global
Indymedia Radio site.
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---