-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Politech] Indymedia claims that four nations involved in
seizure of servers [fs]
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 02:20:54 -0400
From: terry.s@private
To: declan@private
Hi Declan!
As usual, the FiBbers and friends are acting naive and foolish. What
better way to prompt and promote mirror sites like this showing alleged
Swiss secret police, than to make Indymedia such an international
spectacle?
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/mtoups/nantes/copsinnantes.htm
It's also interesting that in one FBI statement, they said there were "no
laws broken". That sounds like quite the strategy for Bush
administration efforts to terrorize or merely harass and threaten the
publishers of information like the map of documented concentrations of
real Weapons of Mass Destruction. Its outline, from the NYC Indymedia
center, looked much like that of the USA, with complete notes on what
WMD's in which depots.
It also appears from comments discussing this situation here:
http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=11190
that there's a serious problem with libraries censoring Indymedia. Are
they too critical of corrupt politicians, but the Bush cabal less
respectful of citizen rights to be critical of abuses than that other
party?
Terry
EFFector Vol. 17, No. 38 October 13, 2004 donna@private
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424
In the 309th Issue of EFFector:
* Indymedia Servers Mysteriously Reappear, But Questions
Remain
* In File-Sharing Witchhunts, RIAA Is Foiled Again
* Entertainment Giants Push Supreme Court to Rewrite
Copyright Law
* MiniLinks (12): DoJ Report Endorses PDEA, Induce Act
* Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts:
<http://www.eff.org/>
To join EFF or make an additional donation:
<https://secure.eff.org/>
EFF is a member-supported nonprofit. Please sign up as a
member today!
: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :
* Indymedia Servers Mysteriously Reappear, But Questions
Remain
San Francisco, CA - Computer servers seized by the US
government last week have now been returned to Rackspace
Managed Hosting, but questions remain about why and
under what authority this outrageous incident occured.
EFF, which is representing a coalition of independent
Internet journalists whose websites were shut down by
the seizure, will examine the servers to make sure that
they are secure and to preserve evidence for future
legal action.
The seizure, which took place on October 7, was in response
to a "Commissioner's Subpoena" issued at the request
of a foreign government. Although initial reports suggested
that the FBI had taken the servers, the FBI has since
denied any involvement. Citing a gag order, Rackspace
continues to decline to comment on what happened.
The servers hosted Indymedia's Internet radio station
and more than 20 Indymedia websites, as well as several
email lists. When they were seized, it silenced numerous
political news websites for several days - a clear
violation of the First Amendment.
"Secret orders silencing US media should be beyond the
realm of possibility in a country that believes in freedom
of speech," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "EFF was
founded with the Steve Jackson Games case 14 years ago,
and at that time we established that seizing entire
servers because of a claim about some pieces of
information on them is blatantly illegal and improper.
It appears the government forgot this basic rule, and
we will need to remind them."
EFF will take legal action to find out what really
happened to the servers and ensure that the media are
protected from this kind of egregious First Amendment
violation in the future.
For the breaking news item:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_10.php#002006>
For the previous press release: "EFF Challenges Secret
Government Order to Shut Down Media Websites:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_10.php#001992>
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