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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Crime & Police : Government Secrecy : International Relations : Media : UCIMC |
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Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our Websites" |
Current rating: 0 |
by Global Indymedia via Sascha Meinrath
Email: sascha (nospam) ucimc.org (unverified!) |
11 Oct 2004
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Evidence is beginning to mount that the authorities of at least four countries (Switzerland, Italy, U.K. and U.S.A.) are involved in last week's seizure of two of Indymedia's servers that brought down more than 20 of the Indymedia network's web sites and several internet radio streams. Indymedia has yet to receive any official statement or information about what the order entailed or why it was issued. |
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Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our Websites"
Evidence is beginning to mount that the authorities of at least four countries (Switzerland, Italy, U.K. and U.S.A.) are involved in last week's seizure of two of Indymedia's servers that brought down more than 20 of the Indymedia network's web sites and several internet radio streams. Indymedia has yet to receive any official statement or information about what the order entailed or why it was issued.
An FBI spokesperson, Joe Parris, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the FBI issued a subpoena to the provider who hosted the Indymedia servers in the U.K., but that it was "on behalf of a third country." (1) Daniel Zapelli, senior federal prosecutor for Geneva (Switzerland), confirmed that he has opened a criminal investigation into Indymedia coverage of the 2003 G8 Summit in Evian. (2) Zapelli will provide details of that investigation at a press conference on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutor of Bologna (Italy) Marina Plazzi has also stated that she is investigating Italy Indymedia because it may "support terrorism." (3) Plazzi says she will provide more information on Thursday, October 14th.
Meanwhile, international journalist associations have come forward in support of Indymedia. "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specialising in independent journalism," said Aidan White, General Secretary for the International Federation of Journalists. (4)
Indymedia is consulting with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on how to retrieve its servers and prevent further government attacks on free speech. "EFF is deeply concerned about the grave implications of this seizure for free speech and privacy, and we are exploring all avenues to hold the government accountable for this improper and unconstitutional silencing of independent media.," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. (5)
As of Monday, October 11, five of the downed websites have been restored, including Brasil, Euskal Herria, Poland, UK and Nice. Indymedia volunteers are working around the clock to restore the remaining sites, however at least four of them - Uruguay, Italy, Western Massachusetts and Nantes - have suffered data loss as a result of the governments' action.
"This FBI operation gives us even more reason to continue with what we have been doing for several years," says an activist from Italy Indymedia.
"Uruguay has a long history of media repression. We don't have the money to pay for web hosting, and so we rely on the solidarity of other countries. Actions like the seizure of the servers make the whole world insecure for free media," says Libertinus, an Indymedia volunteer from Uruguay, one of many Indymedia web sites that was caught in the FBI actions as a bystander. "Uruguay's national elections will take place on October 31st. It's a bad time for this to happen."
For more information, visit www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi, email
press (at) indymedia.org, or call:
Tomasso at +39 3383903806 (Italy)
Hep Sano at +1-415-867-9472 (San Francisco)
David Meieran at +1-412-996-4986 (Pittsburgh)
* Notes to the editor *
(1) On October 7, 2004, Rackspace, a web hosting provider based in San Antonio (USA), turned over two servers at its London officer after it was issued a court order under the Mutual Legal Assistence Treaty. Rackspace officials claim that the order prevents them from divulging the reasons for the seizure and to whom the servers were actually given. They stated, "Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities." See more details on www.indymedia.org/fbi and on the press releases from 8 and 9 October: http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/111999.shtml and
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/112047.shtml
(2) For more examples see: http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi.shtml
(3) AFP report: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1509&ncid=738&e=6&u=/afp/20041008/tc_afp/us_internet_justice
(4) International Federation of Jounalists:
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2734&Language=EN
(5) Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): http://eff.org/ |
Related stories on this site:
Really Untold News: The Recent Global Assault on Independent Media
indy vs fbi
IL PMLI CONDANNA IL SEQUESTRO DEI DISCHI DI INDYMEDIA
Alternative Network's Internet Servers Confiscated
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This work is in the public domain. |
Comments
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Re: Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our Websites" |
by XX
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
11 Oct 2004
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Well you guys love the unelected U.N., the international criminal court etc.
You have no right to complain about this if you support and promote the U.N.
This is all you will get, if you support global government.! |
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To XX |
by K. Porta
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Oct 2004
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I personally have a certain amount of respect for the UN. I am somewhat in awe of some of the projects that the UN has undertaken. I have reservations and do not support some foci and actions of the UN that seem short-sighted and/or narrow focused and/or more destructive than beneficial, and some, like trying to skew the facts of radiation and metallic poisonings, I find downright repulsive,
but
I reserve “love” for living things and their environments, and neither offer it nor apply it to organizations. This is where I feel that love is most justly focused and effectively placed.
Perhaps another would like to answer for “you guys”. Me, I personally do not know anyone else as well as I do myself.
Here is wishing you a happy and healthy one, XX.
K. Porta |
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Re: Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our Websites" |
by xx
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Oct 2004
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The UN is basically an unelected, world dictatorship wanna be. Under the UN world government you have no rights, no juries, no nothing!
Therefore when they take your servers under international global dictatorship law, you can not complain! You have been asking for this to happen for years! Why complain, you have been flying that world UN flag for years. Be happy in your new world dictatorship.
No complaints, you got you what you screamed for. Its here! Be very happy!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1861763.stm
Sex-for-aid under UN spotlight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1842512.stm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/GUA108A.html
British firm accused in UN 'sex scandal': International police in Bosnia face prostitution claims
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/163052.html
Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing business in Bosnia.
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9911/22/rwanda.crimes.01/
Rwandan officials have refused to issue an entry visa for the U.N. war-crimes prosecutor, in protest of the ordered release of a major suspect in the genocide of 800,000 people.
http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/ccpdc/pubs/rwanda/frame.htm
Within three months, UNAMIR was reduced to 450 personnel;4 between 500,000 and 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsi, were dead; 500,000 Rwandans were displaced within the country; and over two million Rwandans had fled to surrounding countries. More human tragedy was compressed into three months in Rwanda than occurred in four years in the former Yugoslavia.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/01/17/wleon17.xml
UN troops accused of 'systematic' rape in Sierra Leone
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Kosovo/Story/0,2763,770954,00.html
UN 'ignored' abuse at Kosovo mental homes
Oliver Burkeman in New York
Thursday August 8, 2002
The Guardian
Patients at United Nations mental institutions in Kosovo have been raped and physically attacked under the eyes of UN staff, held in "filthy and degrading" conditions, and threatened with punishment if they report the abuses, according to a damning investigation published in New York yesterday. |
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Re: Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our Websites" |
by K. Porta
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Oct 2004
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Good links, xx. Your passing them on says to me that the stories told in them are not realities that you want to deny. I also like to face facts, and tend to believe the slavery and sexual abuse of victims by those in positions to serve and protect.
Such realities are not isolated to events under UN jurisdiction, though, and I’m sure that you are aware of that. That’s another fact that I wont make excuses for, it’s criminal and worse, the abuses tear at the foundations of whatever civilization we may yet have these days.
Have you updates on the charges and any trials or conclusions ? I notice that the reports are all several years old.
The author of the report on criminal activity by DynCorp employees has done some follow up.
It looks to me like this story is related :
http://www.insightmag.com/news/335810.html
And here’s another one on DynCorp and human trafficking :
http://www.insightmag.com/news/415933.html
National Geographic on 21st century slaves :
“There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The modern commerce in humans rivals illegal drug trafficking in its global reach—and in the destruction of lives.”
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309/feature1/index.html
The Polaris Project has anti-trafficking toolkits for Law Enforcers, Service Providers, Community Members, Academics and Elected Officials. I do not know how effective the databases and toolkits of HumanTrafficking.com are, but am sure that without concerned people they are entirely ineffective. HumanTrafficking.com :
http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/ |
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Absolutely Nothing to Do with the UN |
by just the facts, please
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Oct 2004
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The seizure of Indymedia severs has absolutely nothing to do with the United Nations. The seizures occured under something called MLAT, which is strictly a series of bilateral agreements between indivividual countries.
Someone has obviously been drinking the far-right nutjob Koolaid if they think this has anything at all to do with the UN (not to mention that Indymedia has no relationship with the UN itself). We are a global organization, but we have never said that we support "support global government". In fact, we support just the opposite -- the elimination of government everywhere in favor of worker-organized collectives.
And we always have the right to complain. That is the point of most of what we do -- supporting the rights of people to protest and survive worldwide. |
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Re: Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our Websites" |
by Gwydion
GwydionMW (nospam) aol.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
12 Oct 2004
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THousands of us hadn't really taken much notice of Indymedia before the recent seizure. About par for the Bush administration!
It indicates that what they can do to Arabs today, they can do to anyone tomorrow. |
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