‘More Intimidation Than Crime-Busting’ Says IFJ As Police Target Independent Media Network
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, today called for an investigation into the action by [apparent] police in Britain in co-operation with other agencies that led to the temporary closure of 21 of the more than 140 Indymedia web sites worldwide.
"We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against
a network specialising in independent journalism," said Aidan White IFJ General
Secretary. "The way this has been done smacks more of intimidation of legitimate journalistic inquiry than crime-busting."
The IFJ believes that the authorities may have abused their powers in carrying out the action, which is said to have been carried out at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.
Yesterday police seized two web server computers in London used by the Indymedia network. The servers were located on the premises of the Rackspace company, which is now not giving out any information.
Initial reports suggested FBI officers themselves had seized the servers. The seizure follows visits by the FBI to Indymedia personnel in the US inquiring about the publication on the French site Indymedia Nantes of photographs of Swiss undercover police photographing protestors. The photographs remain available on other websites.
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.
The IFJ believes the seizure may be linked to a September 30 court case in San Jose California, in which Indymedia San Francisco and two students at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania successfully opposed an application by Diebold Election Systems Inc to remove documents claiming to reveal flaws in the design of electronic voting machines which are due to be used widely in the forthcoming US Presidential election.
Although Indymedia UK was back in operation within hours, several of the other 20 sites affected remain silenced today.
"The seizing of computers and the high profile nature of this incident suggests that someone wanted to stifle these independent voices in journalism," said Aidan White. "We need a full investigation into why this action took place, who took part and who authorised it.”
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, today called for an investigation into the action by [apparent] police in Britain in co-operation with other agencies that led to the temporary closure of 21 of the more than 140 Indymedia web sites worldwide.
"We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against
a network specialising in independent journalism," said Aidan White IFJ General
Secretary. "The way this has been done smacks more of intimidation of legitimate journalistic inquiry than crime-busting."
The IFJ believes that the authorities may have abused their powers in carrying out the action, which is said to have been carried out at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.
Yesterday police seized two web server computers in London used by the Indymedia network. The servers were located on the premises of the Rackspace company, which is now not giving out any information.
Initial reports suggested FBI officers themselves had seized the servers. The seizure follows visits by the FBI to Indymedia personnel in the US inquiring about the publication on the French site Indymedia Nantes of photographs of Swiss undercover police photographing protestors. The photographs remain available on other websites.
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.
The IFJ believes the seizure may be linked to a September 30 court case in San Jose California, in which Indymedia San Francisco and two students at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania successfully opposed an application by Diebold Election Systems Inc to remove documents claiming to reveal flaws in the design of electronic voting machines which are due to be used widely in the forthcoming US Presidential election.
Although Indymedia UK was back in operation within hours, several of the other 20 sites affected remain silenced today.
"The seizing of computers and the high profile nature of this incident suggests that someone wanted to stifle these independent voices in journalism," said Aidan White. "We need a full investigation into why this action took place, who took part and who authorised it.”
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
Server seizures
08.10.2004 17:15
reporter
URL
08.10.2004 18:21
info
Re: any comments
08.10.2004 18:26
Yeah, I don't believe you.
Who are you and what's all this about "reports suggest".
What 'reports'???
Tell us where you got this information. Or admit that you just made it up.
Ozymandias
fine...
08.10.2004 19:01
2) The IFJ article contains inaccuracies that reflect that there are conflicting stories about where the order originated and why it was issued...
3) My sources still think the targets were Islamic hate sites also hosted on Rackspace...
reporter
islamic hate sites? what reports?
08.10.2004 20:15
and what reports? where can we read them?
or are you just making this up reporter?
disbeliever
'reporter' whats are these 'reports' you refer to?
08.10.2004 20:18
there is no B3 bomber
No need for the hostility.
08.10.2004 22:40
qal3ah.net
imamsadrnews.net
fatehorg.org
nasrollah.org
al-fateh.net
palestine-info-urdu.com
I don't know which site, if any, was the intended target. The reason might have been qal3ah.net, which I'm told was an active forum used to co-ordinate bombings and kidnappings and was definitely up until the server was pulled.
reporter
All wrong.
08.10.2004 23:34
None of them is currently running on rackspace. al-fateh.net was until May, but now it's on Corbina.
Time to fire your sources, reporter. I hope you didn't pay for that info. :)
Ian
The missing bit
08.10.2004 23:58
tech
clarification on the difference between rackspace and two indymedia racks
09.10.2004 00:51
rackspace are a very professional company with pretty much direct access to the intercontinental Big Pipe between the US and Europe. they are located in that impressively futuristic black cube if you're on the highway from the eastend out direction dsei. they host a zillion organisations and charge very good money for it. a lot of "professional" web companies have racks there because they have an immense pipe and charge per usage. you just open a direct debit with them and they will suck out your bank account depending how many people are downloading your stuff.
but we're talking here about the seizure of TWO of the probably thousands of racks rented out - in this case we're talking about the indymedia racks. any rack or domain name is unique and identifiable to one company, organisation or person who pays for it. that's rackspace's business model.
i want to see proof that any of these "islamic hate sites" were hosted on the two seized racks.
rackspace don't communicate to any questions as they're clearly under a gagging order. after much hassling they provided this terse statement, provided to US indymedia:
so again, reporter, who are your 'sources'? no hostility intended. just say - is it the spooks, the sun or who?
otherwise you're simply not credible.
[nb: note to the imc admin who said lets hide this - please don't... let reporter come up with something - if s/he can...]
disbeliever
...
09.10.2004 10:55
As for my sources, what do you want, their names and phone numbers? If I'd been copying this stuff from slashdot I would have given you the URL. And no, I haven't paid anyone.
As for deleting the thread, anyone can see how it has developed and make a judgement as to the likelihood or otherwise of a particular interpretation of the story.
-end-
rep
Inaccuracy vs. speculation
09.10.2004 11:24
"The IFJ believes the seizure may be linked to a September 30 court case..."
So they haven't reported anything inaccurately. If they had said "The seizure was linked...", that would have been inaccurate.
In fact, we still don't know whether or not the seizure was linked to the Diebold case, even if the actual orders didn't originate in the US.
You, on the other hand, have reported something inaccurately here:
"Rackspace were hosting all of the following..."
You were claiming to be right about that, and the Netcraft data above prove otherwise. Would you like to make a retraction?
spanner