Bristol Indymedia server seized tonight

hey you said bristol server was taken but this looks like it's posted on the bristol newswire... please clarify!

Anony mouse, Bristol Indymedia's web address ( http://bristol.indymedia.org) is currently redirecting to Indymedia UK. It is normally a seperate site, I imagine it has been deliberately redirected here because of the server seizure. The Bristol site normally looks like this (Google's cache of the front page, some images missing.)

I don't know anything more that what's visable on the internet, but bristol.indymedia.org is now on an indymedia server called traven ( http://traven.indymedia.org/). This server is in housed at the Seattle Community Colocation Project, ( http://seaccp.org/), and is mainly used as the publishing server for UK & Polish indymedia.

(I'm typing this comment into a page hosted on traven).

If the article above is right, then Bristol IMC up till now has been served from an independant server in someone's home in Bristol.)

Please I hope people have thought seriously about decentralising IMC UK so there is no chance it can be taken out during the G8 protests! It is a vital resource and those bastards will probably be trying to think up a way to disable it...

Also, I hope Scotland's imc server is safe!

The initial post is correct, and was posted onto UK IMC as BIM was down.
Indeed it seems BIM is now being redirected direct to UK IMC - which is sensible.

Regards the arrested BIM collective member, am informed the person has eventually turned up at...Trinity Rd (Bristol) police station! Due to be released 'tonight', charges, if any, unknown.

It is correct that BIM's server was home made/built, and was located in a BIM collective person's home, although that person (the arrested one) had not actually built it.

The struggle continues...

Mark Watson is the scum of the Earth. His actions against Bristol Indymedia are entirely malicious, and he is a self-confessed long-standing police informer. He should be totally ostracised from the movement.

"Bristol Indymedia Server Seized By Police After Touting By Mark ‘Zaskar’ Watson

In the run-up to G8, Bristol Indymedia (BIM) has had it’s server seized by police. Recent press-releases released by the BIM collective are reproduced below. The person responsible for the latest repression against Indymedia is a Bristol-based part-time film-maker, and well-known local trouble-causer and liar, Mark ‘Zaskar’ Watson. Watson recently edited a film for CIRCA, the ‘Clown Army’, and runs his own website at www.zaskarfilms.com He is also well-known for hounding activists and filming them without their permission. While actually working as a nurse, Watson claims to be a journalist and NUJ member, something which is actually untrue, and if he possesses a press card as he claims, it is a forgery. Perhaps more importantly Watson is a former member of BIM, and since being thrown out of the BIM collective, for what he characterises on Urban 75 (see for example  http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=119284&page=1&pp=25) as sexism, he has waged a malicious campaign against BIM and his former colleagues, which has now reached rock-bottom.

The following is a rather incoherent post, which recently appeared on BIM:

stopping them in their tracks?

by s.p.RAY of freshair
alternative panel-beating for oxygen.
with the G8 on the horizon, we looked for a simple yet effective way to stick two fingers up to this oil-addicted society.we found one! a train that carries brand-new cars from portbury dock nr avonmouth through the avon gorge to ashton and bedminster to desperse at temple meads for the rest of the country. Some questions that came into our little minds were:is portbury dock fianancially-competative? [yes], who paid for the tracks and maintance from portbury to parson St bedminster?. has anyone ever seen a passenger train on this route?,and sitting on a hot coach because you can't afford hiked-up train fayres, you see yet more new cars you can't afford to buy being transported by rail,to consume more oil, that our enviroment can't take. So we did an oxygen-grab as a kind of work-out up to the summit.Lifting and then dropping rocks onto useless pieces of metal.[17/06/05] We are feeling fit now for the greedy-ate, we suggest others should take aim and practice. The forth-coming event around gleneagles will not automatically mean a head-on confrontation with the old-bill, they have more spiteful weapons than us, so let us side step them and unbalance them using our minds. good luck stay free, S.P. ray.

Since Indymedia do not retain IP addresses it is not known who posted this, nor is there any evidence of any actual incident occurring. Nonetheless Mark Watson, a self-confessed long-standing police informer, used the posting as an excuse to escalate his campaign against BIM. Without making any attempt to first contact BIM, Watson phoned the police and spoke to DC 1062 Saysell of Temple Meads CID. Since the police routinely monitor Indymedia it is unlikely that they had not already seen the post above, but Watson informed them that he was a former member of the BIM collective, and alleged that BIM kept the IP addresses of contributors and that these could be obtained by seizing the server. He also gave the name, address and contact details of at least one BIM volunteer, including all their employment details.

The details of Watson’s malicious and treacherous actions originally came out on the Urban 75 forum ( http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=119284&page=1&pp=25), in which he initially, and characteristically, lied through his teeth, before proclaiming himself, “An unrepetent grass.” Coming under attack from other Urban posters, Watson, who posts under the name ‘Zaskar’ (and possibly other names), attempted to get his attackers to contact the police, and sent them private messages, asking them to telephone him (on 07861 287069.) Apparently, Watson, is well-known for doing this, and then alleging that people have threatened him.

It should be clear to anyone reading this that Mark ‘Zaskar’ Watson is a self-confessed police-informer, and a malicious individual, responsible for closing down Bristol Indymedia at a particularly crucial time, and for subjecting Indymedia vounteers to police harassment and action. As such, he has no place in our movement, and should at the very least be ostracised. Beware of the tout ‘Zaskar’.


The following are statements from Bristol Indymedia:

Press Release Dated 24/06/05: On Mon 20th June, Bristol Indymedia (IMC Bristol) received an email from the police asking to contact them with reference to a posting on the IMC Bristol newswire. IMC Bristol volunteers appointed a solicitor and started briefing them to contact the police on their behalf. On Tue 21st June, the police contacted an IMC Bristol volunteer asking for IP logs. The subject of the police enquiry was a posting claiming that damage had been done to either some cars on a train transport, the transport itself, or the railway line.
Bristol Indymedia volunteers hid the post (originally posted late in the evening of 17th June) from their main newswire within 24 hours of it being posted - as it violated IMC Bristol editorial policy - and well before the police made initial contact.
When the solicitor contacted CID on the 21st to inform them that they could not have the server, or access to it, the police said that they could go through data protection and legal moves to get the logs or get a search warrant, and that they may arrest somebody for obstructing the course of justice.
At this point, an IMC Bristol volunteer informed IMC UK about the events. IMC Bristol then contacted Liberty, whose legal advisor contacted the police to press them on the issue that this server was considered an item of journalistic equipment and so subject to special provision under the law. The police have yet to confirm this. NUJ and Privacy International have also been contacted.
As of 24th June 2005, IMC Bristol remain in possession of their server. Communications with the police, and between various legal and civil rights organisations continue while technical and legal issues surrounding the case are clarified. Bristol Indymedia is an independent news service. As part of our policy, we will not make non-public information we hold publicly available. We do not permanently store IP addresses. We do not intend to voluntarily hand over information to the police as they have requested, and have informed them of this

(see also:  http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswi...23454/index.php)

They have are also setting up a legal fund, donations:  http://bristol.indymedia.org/mod/in...pport/index.php



"Have just been informed that police visited the home address of a member
of the Bristol Indymedia Collective (BIM) late this afternoon (approx
5.30pm) armed with a search warrant.

They seized from the property the persons personal computer, as well as
the Bristol Indymedia server. The member of the collective has also been
taken into custody, although his partner was told this was just for a
'chat' and he'd be home soon!?

LIBERTY, who have previously been involved in this matter have been
advised of the situation, and action is being taken to contact a local
solicitor to take on the immediate case.

As at 7pm Avon & Somerset police, specifically the Trinity Rd police
station custody suite, have stated that the collective member is not
presently in their custody. It is possible he is being held by Bristish
Transport police?

The background to this situation is that on approx 17 June an anonymous
post to the Bristol Indymedia newswire reported an 'action' in which
objects were dropped onto a freight train carrying new cars somewhere near
Avonmouth (I think). The action was contextualised as highlighting climate
change/car use/over-consumption etc in the run up to the G8 summit.
Rumours suggest the action caused around 100k damage. One regular poster
to Bristol Indymedia, and expelled ex-collective member, Mark Watson (of
Zaskar films) then posted a comment saying he morally disagreed with the
action, that the post breached BIM guidelines, and that he had contacted
the police & advised them BIM kept IP info (since denied by BIM). There
was then a period of dialogue between BIM, Liberty & the police, in which
Liberty/BIM argued that any info on the server was in any case subject to
special rules covering journalistic info, and the server could not be
seized using a standard search warrant (see BIM press release 24/6/05
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/06/314820.html). No links to Bristol
Indymedia are included here as the site is presently down!

Whatever the legal case, the cops have now gone ahead and seized the
server. This differs from the recent instance when UK Indymedia's servers
were seized from their 'host' Rackspace, as BIM have their own stand-alone
server. This poster sincerely hopes they have some mirror servers to back
it up!

This poster is also trying to contact the rest of the BIM collective to
discuss/find out what action can be taken to defend Indymedia.

As the G8 summit approaches, threats to our freedom of expression, and
action, appear to be increasing rapidly."

All donations towards new server / legal costs will very much appreciated.

Other methods of donating may follow shortly. For the moment it's the old-fangled cheque / postal order way of doing things.

Cheques can be made out to:
Bristol Indymedia. Box 3. 82 Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5BB

Thanks.

I would have expected this story to be picked up by the corporate media. That it is not reported suggests that a DA-notice has been applied to it.

I suggest that people lay off Zaskar. It is unrealistic to assume that Bristol Indymedia was not regularly monitored by the police. Wouldn't they have seized the server regardless of whether Z contacted them?

MnK. Don't let the bastards get you down.

The corporate news media is not reporting this story suggesting the operation of a DA-notice e.g. there is nothing on the BBC website, not even at BBC Bristol.

I suggest that people should lay off Zaskar. It is unreasonable to assume that the cops were not regularly monitoring Bristol Indymedia's site. Wouldn't they have seized the server and volunteer regardless of Z contacting them?

MnK. Our thoughts are with you.

does anyone have any idea when bristol indymedia will be back up?
as to zasker, i think the earlier comments where right when they said the police would be monitering bim anyway. (especially at this close to the g8) i'm not sure that can be used to justify zasker's actions. i'm not having a go at him myself, just saying that the 'police would have been looking anyway' isn't a defence.

What's a DA?
Doubt whatever it is has been issued as BBC Bristol were asking BIMC to contact them this morning on this very site...

i have no doubt that the police regularly monitor indymedia sites.

the point is, why did the police act to secure the server *in this instance* and not others? was the original post so beyond the pale, that it - more than any previous bim post - necessitated the police to intervene?

...or was it a pretext?

regardless of whether mark 'zaskar' watson's actions precipitated any police intervention that would not otherwise have happened, he certainly provided them with the justification to go sniffing around indymedia's equipment and volunteers.

Come on folks. You've been through this sort of thing (at least) once before. Why on earth is the Bristol Indymedia server in Bristol? The magic part of the internet is that it makes the physical location of a computer less important. Why not keep it on a different continent? In exchange, you look after a server for somebody else. Yes the police can still seize your computer, but it makes it a lot harder, and so it takes more time.

IMC admins are trying to keep interpersonal exchanges and personal attacks in the comments section to a minimum. Sorry if your comment has been hidden in these efforts.

Running a website is expensive. Running a website from a server in a different country is very expensive.

For this same reason, there aren't mirrors etc... as this would be too expensive. Eventually I think we as a community will have to get such equipment but at present it is not cost effective...

Why is it that there are so many lying police officers ? Why dont surrey police like me ?.
http:/www.surreypolice.org

Come one people, think. The post by someone claiming to have damaged cars on a train could have been posted by anyone, that means anyone wanting to perpetrate a hoax, or police trying to push buttons and see what happens, or a provacateur to use such as an excuse to investigate BIM and/or seize the server.

Likewise the posts on BIM and other sites could also be by anyone trying to discredit this person, or to deflect attention to him. Name calling and finger pointing on web forums will not solve any issues.
Just practice good security culture, keep calm, and don't let the opposition divide and conquor!

Peace

Hi

A DA(Defence Advisory) notice is basicly the government gagging up the press. The DA 'committee' hides its self under a so called 'voluntry' system which 'suggests' that the press dont publish such and such.
This used to be called "slapping a D Notice on" somthing.

 http://www.dnotice.org.uk/notices.htm#notices


I recon there is a DA notice on this story under DA1 (1a), DA4(1b) and DA5(1a). But its interesting to see the Register carry it, yet BBC and co havent.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4629399.stm

So it seems as though Blair , Blankett and now Clarke are going to be credited with building the new labour police state. Perhaps in near future we shall have to ask Blair if we can go have a S****.

Fred

There is a news story emerging that may be relevent to the Bristol Indymedia server and arrest. thor posted to Bristol Indymedia and was probably the last message posted before the seizure.

In the days before the BIMC server was seized an 'unofficial emergency response network' was publicised on BIM in anticipation of the seizure. The re-routed  http://bristol.indymedia.org page to an extent, thankfully, makes this less necessary, but it doesn't have such a Bristol / South West focus.

So...

The Bristol Social Forum & Bristol Stop-The-War message boards have now been opened up so that anyone can currently post to them from any email account (although posts will continue to be moderated and there may be a delay of a few days on the Bristol Social Forum so that emails can be sent out in more user friendly batches direct to people's inboxes.)

As it has a subscription base of 350+, it is a valuable outlet.

Bristol Social Forum. (Bristol / South West focussed posts please)
Anyone can post to:  bristolsocialforum@yahoogroups.com
Visit:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bristolsocialforum/
You can also subscribe if you like, instructions at bottom of page.

Bristol Stop The War. (National level posts are also welcome here)
Anyone can post to:  bristol-stop-the-war-coalition@yahoogroups.com
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bristol-stop-the-war-coalition/
99% of subscribers only receive the monthly newsletter direct to their inbox, but it is widely publicised as a public message board too, so it has it's uses.

Bristol Indymedia Is Back!
 http://www.bristol.indymedia.org

The delay in getting it back up was partly caused by us being right in the middle of testing a new (and apparently infintely better) codebase when it got seized (that and G8 summit distractions.)

There seemed little point plugging the old clunky DADA code back in, but the new Oscailt code is still a little under tested.

We're also currently missing the archive, partly because CID are in possession of it, and partly because getting our DADA back-ups to be compatible with the new Oscailt set-up is a job in itself.

So, here you go, BIM is back! If you find any bugs please do let us know, there's bound to be a fair few, and some bugs will show up on some packages and not others, so it is very necessary to have your feedback.

Please email us with any bug reports:
 imc-bristol@lists.indymedia.org

"threats to our freedom of expression, and action, appear to be increasing rapidly."

Oh come off it - throwing rocks at moving trains is NOT an action that we should be defending.

Doesn't anyone else realise how serious an offence that is? What if the driver had been killed, or his train crashed into another and scores of people had died? What if the driver was your dad, or brother?

I think Zaskar/Mark Watson did absolutely the right thing in reporting this crime.

Throwing a slab at a train is not about fighting climate change - it is a violent, aggressive act that deserves no place on Indymedia.