On Thursday morning 7/10/04, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet. Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Read more here.
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A bit more about Indymedia seizure
INDYMEDIA PRESS RELEASE
On October 8, 2004, Indymedia learned that the request to seize Indymedia servers hosted by a US company in the UK originated from government agencies in Italy and Switzerland. More than 20 Indymedia sites, several internet radio streams and other projects were hosted on the servers. They were taken offline on October 7th after an order was issued to Rackspace, Inc., one of Indymedia's web hosting providers. The reasons for the court order or who actually holds the servers now are still unknown to Indymedia.
According to Italian news agency reports and an Agence France-Presse (AFP) interview with FBI spokesman Joe Parris, the FBI acted on Italian and Swiss requests. "It is not an FBI operation," Parris told AFP. "Through a legal assistance treaty, the subpoena was on behalf of a third country." (1)
On October 8th Rackspace published a statement that they turned over the servers in response to an order under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). The MLAT establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations regarding international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter. (2)
An Indymedia system administrator stated: "We do not know if Rackspace is under a gag order, or what legal restrictions were imposed requiring them to act this way, or whether their legal department had enough time to study the request."
Aidan White, the General Secretary for the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) had this to say. "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specialising in independent journalism. The way this has been done smacks more of intimidation of legitimate journalistic inquiry than crime-busting." (3)
Indymedia condemns the fact that one week after two entire servers were taken down, Indymedia is still not getting any information of the reasons for the order.
By taking down 2 servers more than 20 Indymedia sites were affected in different countries globally as well as several unrelated projects. Indymedia considers this extremely invasive operation a a serious threat to the Freedom of Speech worldwide.
Indymedia insists that the servers are returned because each day they are inoperable and Indymedia's irreplaceable data is unaccessible means greater material damages to the Indymedia operation worldwide.
It is ironic that that this happens now, just days before Indymedia is due to participate in the European Forum on Communications Rights being held alongside the European Social Forum and several other days of discussions about electronic civil liberties and community media. Several sessions will now deal with this extraordinary attack. For more information on these events see www.efcr2004.net
Note to editors:
(1) AFP report
(2) Statement from Rackspace, 8 Oct. 2004: "In the present matter regarding Indymedia, Rackspace Managed Hosting, a U.S. based company with offices in London, is acting in compliance with a court order pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), which establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. Rackspace responded to a Commissioner's subpoena, duly issued under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1782 in an investigation that did not arise in the United States. Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter."
More from Indymedia on the seizure
* News from Indymedia *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2004
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@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/