FC: Al-Jazeera, Iraqi government websites encounter problems

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed Mar 26 2003 - 20:48:37 PST

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    From: "Brian Durham"
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: uruklink.net domain hijacked
    Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 11:31:58 -0600
    
    Declan:
    
    It looks like someone has hijacked the Iraqi uruklink.net domain (or it's
    been hacked - can't tell).
    
    Here's a quote from the page:
    "Hacked, tracked, and NOW owned by the U.S.A."
    
    The page now gets redirected to http://www.itshappening.com/index_three.html
    
    Please delete my email if you publish this.
    
    Best,
    Brian Durham
    
    ---
    
    Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 11:05:07 -0500
    From: Dixieland <dixielandat_private>
    Subject: Al-Jazeera link to US down?
    To: declanat_private
    
    in the past few days, i've found it harder and harder to view the pages on
    Al-Jazeera's web site.  I cannot read arabic but i've been checking back
    frequently lately for images of the war (which our government is censoring
    from US media broadcasts) and also because the Quatar-based news
    organization had stated a goal of getting an English translation of their
    site operational by the end of the month.
    
    today the site (al-jazeera.net) appears offline completely.  the web feed of
    their broadcast channel by the german site ish.de is still operational,
    however.  is anyone else having difficulty with war-related web sites that
    operate outside of the control of the mainstream powers?  for a while
    yesterday cursor.org was down, it's up now but there was no explanation
    given.  August J Pollak's political weblog, xoverboard.com, went down this
    weekend and no one was reachable at his hosting company for some time.
    
    perhaps it's just me being extra suspicious during a time of conflict, but
    since major media outlets are of no use to us when it comes to following the
    battles i get very wary of independent media centers going mysteriously
    offline.
    
    keep up the wonderful work,
    
    - Brian
    
    ---
    
    Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 18:08:07 -0500
    From: Monty Solomon <montyat_private>
    Subject: English Al-Jazeera Website Hacked
    
      English Al-Jazeera Website Hacked (Politics Tuesday)
      http://go.hotwired.com/news/politics/0,1283,58200,00.html/wn_ascii
    
      Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera launched an English-language
    website Monday. On Tuesday, its Web host says it was hit with a denial-
    of-service attack, but an Al-Jazeera representative blames the problem
    on unexpectedly high traffic.
    
    ---
    
    Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 14:26:58 -0300
    From: Fernando Cassia <fcassiaat_private>
    To: declanat_private
    Subject: [MediaGuardian.co.uk: Europeans flock to Al-Jazeera] / Al Jazeera 
    banned
      from NYSE...
    
    MediaGuardian.co.uk: Tuesday March 25, 2003
    
    "Europeans flock to Al Jazeera"
    
    The Arabic-language TV network al-Jazeera has seen its European
    subscriber n	mbers double since the
    start of the war in Iraq amid huge demand for an alternative to western
    media coverage.
    
    The broadcaster said it has signed up 4 million new subscribers in
    Europe since last Wednesday, doubling its viewership on the continent.
    
    http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,921693,00.html
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    (I guess pro-war, Bush lap dog Lou Dobbs is what NYSE calls a
    "responsible reporter...")
    
    NY stock exchange bans Arab TV network
    http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,921504,00.html
    
    ---
    
    Reply-To: <ncochraneat_private>
    From: "Nathan Cochrane" <ncochraneat_private>
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: RE: YellowTimes.org web site shut down for photo of US POW
    Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 11:17:42 +1100
    
    Hi Declan
    
    So it's ok to do it (kill Iraqi children and send troops into a warzone) but
    it's not ok to see it?
    
    Good to see Canada is still a shining example of what a Western liberal
    democracy should be.
    
    And how many US commercial outlets have shown these uncensored images, I
    wonder?
    
    FWIW
    The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has an item on their Foreign
    Correspondent current affairs website about victimisation of Arab-Americans
    in the US. I saw it last night and it was an eye-opener. Did you know that
    George Bush owes his reelection to the very people his administration is now
    profiling and victimising? A pertinent stat from the report was that most of
    the 3 million Arab-Americans are christian, not muslim.
    http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s811501.htm
    
    There is also a piece on Al Jazeera, the independent Arab equivalent of CNN.
    Whatever may be said of Al Jazeera, they have not done any worse in covering
    this "war" than the American channels. They are likely more independent of
    governments in their region than the likes of CNN and the commercial
    networks and newspapers.
    http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s811500.htm
    
    cheers
    
    Nathan
    
    ---
    
    From: Paul Mobbs <mobbseyat_private>
    To: mobbseyat_private
    Subject: Iraq online protest enters 2nd week -- PLEASE JOIN!
    Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 22:51:21 +0000
    
    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: SHA1
    
    
    ####   Update on the electrohippie Iraq War online protest   ####
    
                 ****     please forward freely !!     ****
    
    
    Website:
    http://www.fraw.org.uk/ehippies/
    
    
    Headline:
    Downing Street web site went down at height of protests last Saturday!
    
    
    THE ACTION CONTINUES, AND WE ASK THAT PEOPLE STILL TAKE PART REGULARLY, AND
    THAT THEY ENCOURAGE AS MANY OF THEIR FRIENDS TO DO SO AS POSSIBLE.
    
    
    ##   What's happened over the last 7 days:   ##
    
    This is an update on the electrohippie collective's online protest action.
    
    the electrohippies online sit-in will be so for the foreseeable future. We've
    no firm idea yet, but it will certainly continue until fighting stops.
    
    We've had one report that the 10 Downing Street web site was down on Saturday
    22nd March, in the evening (UK time). This co-incides with a high level fo
    use (usage for each day sown below). There's more about this on Indymedia at:
    http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=59053&group=webcast
    
    There have been no reports relating to the Whitehouse site -- this is not
    unexpected given the capacity of that site.
    
    The daily hits for the entire Free Range Activism web site (the only usage
    data we currently have) on 26th March were over 10,000. Currently they have
    dropped back to 7,000 to 8,000. we hope that people are able to spare time
    over the coming week or so to try and beat last Saturday's figure.
    
    Total hits for the FRAW site on each day over the last week were (date/hits):
    19th - 3,858; 20th - 5,359; 21st - 5,284; 22nd - 7,191; 23rd - 10,440; 24th -
    8,775; 25th - 7,819.
    
    Also, there have so far there have been over 1,100 requests for the 'Iraq
    distribution' page -- a page of contact details for people to complain about
    the conduct of the war. You can reach this page from the link near the top of
    the index page on the electrohippie web site.
    
    On Wednesday 26th March a modified version of the web tool was uploaded to the
    action site. This 'time slices' people's sit-in efforts between the
    Whitehouse and the Downing Street web sites. On the assumption that many
    people keep their clock within about 1 minute of the correct time, the web
    page now switches the load between the two web sites every two minutes (you
    may notice the difference if you used the tool during the previous week.
    
    
    
    ##   Where next:   ##
    
    To help increase the pressure on Bush and Blair's web site we ask that people
    try and use the action tools at similar times (tricky, because of time
    differences). If at all possible, try and use them between the following
    three time intervals each day (all times are local times):
    
    UK/Ireland/W. Africa - 	07.30­10.30, 13.00­17.00 and 21.00­01.00
    Central Europe - 		08.30­11.30, 14.00­18.00 and 22.00­02.00
    East. Europe/C. Africa -	10.00­13.00, 15.30­19.30 and 23.30­03.30
    Middle East/E. Africa - 	00.30­04.30, 11.00­15.00, and 16.30­20.30
    Indian subcontinent -`	02.30­06.30, 13.00­17.00, and 18.30­22.30
    Asia/Far East -			05.30­09.30, 16.00­20.00, and 21.30­01.30
    Japan/Australia -		06.30­10.30, 17.00­21.00, and 22.30­02.30
    West. US & Canada -	05.00­09.00, 13.00­17.00, and 23.30­03.30
    Mid US &Canada - 		01.00­05.00, 06.30­10.30, and 14.30­18.30
    E. US & Can., S. Am. - 	03.00­07.00, 08.30­12.30, and 16.30­20.30
    
    If your use strays outside these times, don't worry. As long as you use the
    tools for a large part of these time periods it will help make the action
    more successful.
    
    
    
    the electrohippie collective
    March 26th, 2003
    
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