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FBI have shut down IMC ?

Lex | 23.04.2001 15:49

The FBI raided the Seattle IMC at 10:17 PM Saturday. I've witnessed news of the raid being removed from seattle.indymedia.org,quebec.indymedia.org, vermont.indymedia.org, and www.indymedia.org. Try to get this message out by alternate means if you can.

At 10:17pm EST a posting went up on the www.indymedia.org/ftaa breaking news page, reporting that the FBI were raiding the Seattle IMC. This posting disappeared half an hour later, perhaps due to a blackout on the raid imposed by the FBI. Similar reports have disappeared from other indymedia sites, and live news feeds have all but disappeared. I've witnessed news of the FBI raid being disappeared from seattle.indymedia.org, quebec.indymedia.org, vermont.indymedia.org, and www.indymedia.org. Try to get this message out by alternate means if you can.


The following report was posted on then removed from vermont.indymedia.org:

"There is a report of FBI Officers currently located within the Seattle IMC demanding the location of the person who's name is the registered name of indymedia.org. Apparently, they have an arrest warrant for Jonathan Jay because of a supposed threat against President Bush on the Montreal IMC site. They are making threats that the IMC is not supposed to send out *any* emails regarding this issue, according to the warrant. However, this, according to the
IMC lawyer, is Prior Restraint, which is unconstitutional. The closest story mentioning Bush on the Montreal site is the following: story mentioning bush Please look to seattle.indymedia.org as well as other sites for updates on this situation."

And this one was quickly disappeared from CMAQ just a few minutes after going up:

"SEATTLE INDYMEDIA CENTER SHUT DOWN BY FBI AT 3:25 UT

Frickin Chickin 2001-04-21

At 3:25 UT, FBI raided the Independent Media Center in downtown Seattle on 3rd St. between Pike and Pine. They had a warrant for the arrest of Johnathan Jay, the registered owner of the indymedia.org domain name. Until the time of the raid, www.indymedia.org/ftaa was uploading up the minute play by play news of the events at the FTAA Summit and protest in Quebec.
This site has now been shut down. FBI are searching Seattle for Johnathan Jay and are staked out outside his house right now at 4:23 UTC (9:24 Pacific Time). There is no live independent news coming from Quebec now."

---

Seattle Indymedia (?) was served papers by the FBI last night and is under
a gag order not to discuss issues regarding the subpoena. who they want is the guy that registered the domain name. This has caused quite a lot of heartbreak in Seattle, fearing this fellow, Jonathan Jay, is in deep dookie...

they also removed the info they were carrying regarding the person who was hit with a plastic/rubber bullet and is critical condition (this and the subpoena has been confirmed to me by folks over Internet at IMC)apparently, someone threatened Bush on the IMC Montreal-which got the FBI
upset.

also, rumours spread late last night that someone had died and the folks in Quebec went crazy, she is now confirmed alive but critical with a neck injury from a 'plastic' bullet!!

Since this has already been removed from numerous imc sites, I felt it would not be good idea to "publish" on the site, but wanted to get the info out.

See also:-
 http://sf.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=100004

Lex

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

(can't think of one)

24.04.2001 12:29

The fact is that if it was the BBC that was raided and forced to remove information, there would be a popular outcry, it's only the fact that the corporate media are in league with the State that this news will never get out into the mainstream.
As far as the majority of society is concerned the IMC is not a symbol of freedom as they are coerced into believing that it is as bad as their mythical "anarchist thugs"

Mogwai


No news is bad news

24.04.2001 13:43

I was shaking all the way through reading that last night. Indymedia is and has always been, to my knowledge entirely legal and proper. That the FBI can do this means a) we are *really* upsetting some powerful people and b) Any of these websites could be next.

As we know, the british police becomes more like the FBI day-by-day, and i can imagine tony blair would not hesitate for a second if he was told by washington to start pulling down activist websites.

Foot and mouth has already proved they can make the law up as they go along, and I really sense a very bad air of oppression floating over us right now...

townie
mail e-mail: cant_cope@hotmail.com


Iron Heel Slams Down...

24.04.2001 14:24

Looks like George Bush Jnr's dictatorship is shaping up on schedule.
Check out THE IRON HEEL by JACK LONDON. Try the link

London Reader
- Homepage: http://www.sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Writings/IronHeel


Censorship or what?

25.04.2001 00:27

I really cannot believe that this is supposed to be the new millennium, 21st century 'civil' society! America, 'Land of the Free'and home of the brave...more like land of free trade and the grand narrative of globalisation. It sounds a little like you one has to be numb, unthinking, uncritical and from a monoculture to survive. What a great shame and horror that the FBI put time and energy into activist direct action media groups rather than investigate huge global media news coverage which is so slanted and bias we may never know what really happened.
If IMC are at the scene of something how can anyone ever deny that it really happened. There is at last a counterpart to all the CCTV cameras...its just that people are taking filming into places it is most unwelcome. We must all exercise a hermenutic of suspicion when reading or seeing any news coverage...what is absent from the news is of equal value.

Kate
mail e-mail: katechat@supanet.com


Fuck Bush's Idiots

25.04.2001 11:19

Doesn't America have a Constitution guaranteeing freedom of information and freedom of expression? Yeah but I also guess you have the Fucked Bureau of (Un)Intelligence. Support from this side of the water,
Geoff

Geoff
mail e-mail: Nowarondrugs@aol.com


no outcry

25.04.2001 17:51

In fact the even bigger problem is, that there hasn't been an outcry by indymedia itself so far. This ought to be a feature on every imc starting page, but it isn't until now. This FBI raid and the questionable information policy of many IMCs worldwide afterwards weakens the independence of the whole indymedia project.

stw


please chill?

25.04.2001 18:08

The following comment I just found on the seattle web-site:
 http://seattle.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=2951&group=webcast

-----------snip-----------------
Please, CHILL
by Seattle-IMC 12:47pm Tue Apr 24 '01
All,

1) FBI Didn't "RAID" the Seattle IMC
2) Seattle-IMC was served court papers, the contents of which cannot be discussed at the moment
3) The site was not "taken down"
4) The cops are not looking for Jonathan, but if they find him in a stakeout please have them let us know how they did it 'cause he sure is hard to get ahold of sometimes...
5) Seatle newswire is acting strage because of a code upgrade that hard-coded an error which displays front.php3 instead of display.php3 for individual articles
6) Turns out less news is posted to our site in the middle of the night. Go figure.
You'll know all later, but for now just friggin' CHILL OUT and stop wasting time on stupid rumours.

-----------snip--------------
I think the seattle information policy is aswell responsible for the rumors. This message 4 days earlier would have been helpful for many people in the web, not knowing, what was going on

stw


IMC

26.04.2001 19:19

First Amendment rights my arse!

Leah Delfin-Borromeo
mail e-mail: monstris@hotmail.com


FBI raid Indymedia rumours strengthen communi

27.04.2001 20:24

I heard the FBI rumour so immediately constructed a Quebec page on my own web site, I get all the same witness reports from mailing lists anyway. I encourage anyone who can't get to these protests but knows how to network and publish info on the net to do so. http;//www.teknopunx.co.uk/quebec.htm
H

banner Heather
mail e-mail: heather@teknopunx.co.uk