It's behind a paywall, but from the teaser it mentions that the warrant included the right to seize "special procedure" journalistic material  http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4189888.ece

The following article contains misinformation picked up from a disinformation comment posted to IMC UK regarding 16 months of IP addresses being stored - that was made up by a troll:

Anarchist website Bristol Indymedia to close following police raid

By The Bristol Post  |  Posted: August 29, 2014


A NEWS website which has hosted claims by anarchist groups of their involvement in crimes in and around Bristol could be set to close after police accessed its servers.

For more than 10 years, groups have used the Indymedia site to anonymously post statements claiming responsibility for crimes including an arson attack on the new police firearms centre in Portishead, the destruction of phone masts and damage to banks.

In an effort to identify and locate those posting the articles, Avon & Somerset police was granted a court order earlier this month which allowed officers to access the website’s servers.

This could see officers accessing information on those who posted articles and the IP addresses of everyone who visited the site over an unspecified period.

A statement on the national Indymedia site claiming to be on behalf of the Bristol group reads: “Regretfully owing to an administration error by one of the techies all IP address details for the past 16 months were still stored on the server and these have been recorded by the police.”

The post adds that the Bristol site is “now officially closed for good” following the raid.

A message on the Bristol Indymedia site said: “Last week we heard from our web hosts that the police had a court order to access the Bristol Indymedia server. We don’t know for sure, but assume that our web hosts have complied with the order and given the police this access.

“We consider this server to be compromised, users should assume that from this point on the Police have access to the IP address of anyone accessing this site.

“In light of this it is unlikely that open publishing of news items will ever be re-enabled as it would require complete re-installation of the server.

“We are going to leave the calendar on for now, but note that it is likely that IP addresses are now being recorded and accessed by the Police.”

A spokesman for Avon & Somerset police said: “We have obtained a production order in order to access the server of a website as part of an on-going enquiry.

“The action was taken to investigate claims made on a website about possible crimes committed in the Avon and Somerset force area.

“No arrests have been made in connection with this incident.

“Because this is an on-going investigation it would be inappropriate for us to go into further details or make any other comments.”

According to the Times, the raid on Indymedia Bristol’s server providers Bytemark hosting took place on August 15.

Matthew Bloch, managing director of web hosts Bytemark, told the Times: “The police turned up unannounced at the office door with the court order, demanding several things from the indymedia servers.

“Bytemark don’t have any choice about compliance with court orders, but we have never been keen on them.”

Previous actions claimed by the anarchist groups via the website include burning a communications mast, disrupting broadcasts and emergency communications, sabotaging train lines, burning politicians’ cars and razing other vehicles ranging from the border agency to broadband providers.

It isn’t the first time Indymedia have found themselves the subject of raids. In 2005 the British Transport Police seized a server and other IT equipment from the same Bristol group. This was believed to be over a posting to the site that referenced direct action against a freight train, which suffered £100,000 in damage.

Can we have some clarification here?

If the Bristol Indymedia server(s) have been compromised does that mean that posting here on the main UK Indymedia site is also leaving us compromised in any way? There needs to be an honest, open and genuine response to this question because people have to know where they stand with regards to state surveillance etc.,so they can make an informed choice about posting now or not.

Whatever the answer I don't see an end to Indymedia in the UK, in fact it could be that people want to get more involved to ensure this resource is maintained in a positive way.

"If the Bristol Indymedia server(s) have been compromised does that mean that posting here on the main UK Indymedia site is also leaving us compromised"

No the UK site is autonomous.

The best way to keep this resource running is by making a donation - ta!

The Times article behind a paywall:

 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4189888.ece

has been reposted to Urban75 and following is a copy from there, not it also contains the disinformation about the server having 16 months worth of IP adddresses:

Activist website Indymedia shuts down after police raid

Jules Mattsson and Alannah Francis
Last updated at 5:48PM, August 28 2014​

Police accessed servers belonging to the Bristol branch of activist news website Indymedia in a move that later ‘forced organisers to close it down’. The raid is believed to be the latest effort in the long pursuit of the “Bristol unabomber”.

Officers have been trying to locate those responsible for a series of attacks in the city — including a fire in a new police firearms training centre that took a fortnight to extinguish — for more than a year.

A copy of the production order, marked restricted but seen by The Times, authorises officers to seize “special procedure” journalistic material. It demands access to the details of administrators and bill-payers, login credentials, information on those who posted articles and the IP addresses of everyone who visited the site over an unspecified period.

Bristol Indymedia initially said: “Bristol Indymedia only knows the information that a user chooses to provide with a post. We do not keep any IP data on users.”

However, a statement on the national site claiming to be on behalf of the Bristol group reads: “Regretfully owing to an administration error by one of the techies all IP address details for the past 16 months were still stored on the server and these have been recorded by the police.”

The post adds that the Bristol site is “now officially closed for good” following the raid. Indymedia said that they are now consulting lawyers.

Indymedia is a global network of contributors and open publishing sites, effectively allowing anybody to post news reports, pictures and statements on activist issues. The Bristol site was previously used to anonymously post claims of responsibility for the series of arsons and other attacks, signed by the “Informal Anarchist Federation/Earth Liberation Front”.

Those involved in the group also called themselves the “Rogue Fire Brigade” in a number of claims of responsibility posted to Indymedia and other activist websites.

Although it is unlikely that the arsonists would have posted without masking their user details, the data now in the hands of police will send chills through activist circles.

Previous actions claimed by the insurrectionist group include burning a communications mast, disrupting broadcasts and emergency communications, sabotaging train lines, burning politicians’ cars and razing other vehicles ranging from the border agency to broadband providers.

The UK cell is one of many insurrectionist terror groups under the same umbrella worldwide. Most UK attacks have taken place in and around Bristol, with some in Nottingham.

In 2012, the same year as the first visible UK actions by them, an Italian cell took credit for the shooting of a nuclear executive - kneecapping him on his doorstep in Genoa. Other cells have claimed responsibility for attacks as far as Argentina and the United States.

The raid on Indymedia Bristol’s server providers Bytemark Hosting took place on Friday August 15 but details of the seizure have just begun to emerge.

Because of the citizen journalism element of Indymedia, as well as the open posting of statements, their files have sometimes been treated as journalistic in nature with the associated legal protections.

Matthew Bloch, managing director of web hosts Bytemark, said: “The police turned up unannounced at the office door with the court order, demanding several things from the Indymedia servers.

“Bytemark don’t have any choice about compliance with court orders, but we have never been keen on them.”

A source close to Bristol Indymedia said the first they knew of the seizure was when their web hosts contacted them while the warrant was being executed. They said that they had not seen a copy of the order “or know of the contents of it”, adding that they were unaware of any of the supporting evidence and were not informed of the application.

The legal position is that while normal search warrants can be granted ex parte, without the chance to contest them, this type of special material production order must have both parties informed and present.

In a recent Supreme Court case involving Sky News this principle was reiterated, with a previous decision to allow supporting evidence to be given in secret overturned as unlawful. It is not known what process was followed here.

Mr Bloch also said the web host did not “hand over hard discs or offer up physical access” to the police, saying that they “follow the letter of each order, painstakingly extracting and filtering the information ordered, accessing the bare minimum, even if that takes much more time.”

This isn’t the first time Indymedia have found themselves the subject of raids. In 2005 the British Transport Police seized a server and other IT equipment from the same Bristol group. This was believed to be over a posting to the site that referenced direct action against a freight train, which suffered £100,000 in damage.

In 2009 police in Manchester seized a server after personal information about the judge on an animal cruelty trial was posted to another Indymedia site and in 2004 the FBI seized hardware from their London branch for reasons unknown. Indymedia described police actions as an “attack on their infrastructure in the UK.”

Avon and Somerset Police said: “We have obtained a production order in order to access the server of a website as part of an ongoing inquiry.

“The action was taken to investigate claims made on a website about possible crimes committed in the Avon And Somerset force area. No arrests have been made in connection with this incident.” When asked whether proper procedure had been followed, the force declined to comment due to the “ongoing investigation”.

This latest move by police in the protracted case will prove controversial. After the 2005 Bristol raid the National Union of Journalists and pressure group Liberty condemned the force’s decision, arguing that journalistic material exemptions should have been engaged. Although on this occasion a special procedure material order was obtained, its legality could be challenged with claims of no prior notice of the application.

In a statement posted to the Bristol Indymedia site after learning of the raid, organisers said “we consider this server to be compromised” and that it was “unlikely that open publishing of news items will ever be re-enabled”.

In the further post to the main website they say that are now “closing down” and said “the power of the State when threatened can be immense and we have seen that this week.”​

"However, a statement on the national site claiming to be on behalf of the Bristol group reads: “Regretfully owing to an administration error by one of the techies all IP address details for the past 16 months were still stored on the server and these have been recorded by the police.” "

And which particular techie would that be then? If true this sounds very much like a stitch up. Does no one remember a meeting in Bristol and the sheer derision levied at someone else over IP logging, even selective logging? Any clarification on the citation would be most welcomed.

@BraddersPersonaNoGrata see the addition to this feature:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2014/08/517810.html?#additions the claim about 16 months of IP addresses being on the server was made up by a troll.

This is vastly ironic on several counts:

1) During 2002-5 Bristol's Venue magazine hosted a very large scam, linked to the targeting of people in the city over decades, computer crime of the more obvious variety and burglary, Operation Ore and what would become Yewtree suspects, a commercial media network, one I have so far been the only person to document.

2) The events changed Bristol at that time, and altered its media landscape; Venue and the Post were directly involved in these events, aggressively running a localised harassment program with a hub built ón a magazine more like something published by Lyndon LaRouche and Reagan at a festival, and Venue was linked to crimes including the theft of thousands of pounds in goods in 2010; the magazine closed after loss of revenue, and the Evening Post lost its printing operation, got sold to Local World and renamed, and was ultimately added to Trinity Mirror's collection of regional papers.

3) Behind that scam and its messages were decades of organised stalking and related criminal activity including one reported sexual assault and one knife crime; criminal methods including rootkit computer crime and break-ins; one local Ore arrest the online events and magazine describe before it happened, while another successfuly conviction took place around the corner; Yewtree convictions Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris, years before they got into the news; data theft and information that provides a limited clarity over what is present and who is involved; a 'map' of years of social contact in Bristol, in messages the work of few hands; a media network that links Venue, the Post, The Guardian, The Mirror, ad agencies and the BBC, most obviously. Despite all this the 'social media', as far as I know, behind a website the magazine controlled and played hub to the online and offline scam, and was hosted on the Post's servers, and the messages that run into hundreds that monopolised the magazine for well-over a year, were never investigated, and continued to hide their IPs, names, addresses and payment methods that would help explain why they knew about impending Ore arrests or the actitvities of Savile and Harris, why they were coming into people's homes, how they knew about police contact relating to knife crime, and how they got the dossier of information about people in Bristol, in my case extending to the age of six, from ex-girlfriends to remarks at anti-Poll Tax meetings, that the messages and magazine deploy. The Indymedia server siezure and IP logging warning are noted in the light of this stark absence of interest in data that would divulge years of stalking in the city akin to the infiltration of protest groups in other contexts (and my parents were once linked to them).

4) To my surprise, as it unfolded, none of this was ever reported on independent media sites, and none of it has ever been independently reported on or investigated, instead buried by the commercial media behind the scam and that can be traced, in information flowing both from and to media, and in the tracks of stolen data, to the likes of the British press, scandalised or not, British television and entertainments media, etc. At the time, Indymedia Bristol profiled Bristol's media landscape, now changed, and ran a single article claiming Ore founded upon blackmail, which the magazine in part styled, linking to a notorious Irish website run by Brian Rothery called 21st Century Inquisition, and nothing else. The independent media 'blackout' has aided the official biases of commercial media, who say one thing and do something else, and the censorship that accompanies it, and the typical predilection of press reaction and policing for blaming political tendancies like 'Anarchists', who in turn have furnished nothing, in turn aided by the political illusions and false flags of black-clad fashions unconvincing to me, and the sad state of actual mainstream left and protest politics that has duped a country or so. Venue pose as socialists (God, perhaps that's true) and blamed radicals while they targeted the children of left radicals in Bristol.

I was stalked and watched for decades, had letters stolen from my desk, was stalked online, and have been stalked and watched to destruction since, a crime conducted in the name of itself, commercial media and the politics with which they associate. Perhaps Anarchists should stop popping up in The Grod to help to sell it? And perhaps an independent investigation of Bristol's events might help too, other than that by me alone.

When you're not looking, The Grod print stuff like this:

 http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/sep/08/police-dog-twitter-tweeting-smithy

Clue: The police believe, or will tell you, in keeping with media propaganda, that all the trouble is the work of 'Anarchists', not helped by the Guardianite cyberstalkers responsible for an online computer scam linked to credit cards, child porn, Ore, Yewtree, and a network of commercial media, with decades of stalkers and spies that made Bristol look like a North Korean restuarant franchise, and not helped by 'people dressed in black', Hitler-Bush dolly waving, and the leftist posturing behind an attack on a lone woman and child from a radical Marxist background in the name of global commecial power and organised crime, and an innocent adult, me, forced to change locks, leave the city and deprived of thousands of pounds in all we had (including more pamphlets than you've got). That Venue manipulated class, rely on a social media, or posture as socialists that in turn show linked to the actual Labourites and unions, between the LaRouche imperialism, Reaganite cowboy dollar jacuzzi politics and violent invasion, aids this impression for sad reasons. Long have I invited independent media and activism, of any kind, to buck the blanket blackout of commercial power, NGOs, and the privacy and human rights fobbers, and investigate and expose, and long have I invited they do something about the fob-Anarchism that has sadly come to characterise sectors of the 21st century Stasi and likely even reconstituted and colonised it until you can't tell the difference. Moot, then, is the complaint of censorship or vanishing independence if you will not decensor and confront responsibly. I am sick of looking at these prats.

After the events of Bristol I lived through, and what I found underneath (years of targeting, planning, commercial networks and the media mainstream, etc.), and what I have been observing myself, it is guaranteed that mainstream media will simply assimilate and profit from what it continues to run. Escalation, from selfish and strategic standpoints, is only costly to some, insurance business notwithstanding; but ideas are so much more important than money.

Remember this?

 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/apr/02/art

Or these:

 https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/27/thebritartfire.arts1

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/4326286.stm


Were there any doubt that my parents were activists, see my father's (very limited) obit, a document profitable and informative to the Venue scam (just don't take it for biblical); witchhunt indeed; a letter from the author went missing from my desk in 1999. Bristol is a long, lost story.

 https://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/LinebaughGoneToGlory.pdf