BT

The FBI yesterday seized a pair of UK servers used by Indymedia, the independent newsgathering collective, after serving a subpoena in the US on Indymedia's hosting firm, Rackspace. Why or how remains unclear.

Rackspace UK complied with a legal order and handed over hard disks without first notifying Indymedia. It's unclear if the raid was executed under extra-territorial provisions of US legislation or the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). Provisions of RIPA make it a criminal offence to discuss warrants, so Rackspace would not be able to discuss the action with its customer Indymedia, or with the media.

Rackspace US has issued a statement which says that the investigation "did not arise in the United States", but which sheds very little light on the whys and the wherefores.

In the present matter regarding Indymedia, Rackspace Managed Hosting, a US 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."
Dai Davis, an IT lawyer at London law firm Nabarro Nathanson, said Rackspace's statement fails to clarify the legal basis of the raid. "If it was a RIPA warrant, Rackspace can't refer to it. Most RIPA warrants can be issued by the Home Secretary," he said. "The FBI has no jurisdiction in the UK and would need to act in concert with UK authorities, such as the security services or police," he added.

Net effect
The seizure of Indymedia's servers affects more than 20 Indymedia sites worldwide. The list of affected local media collectives includes Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Nice, several French groups, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), multiple Belgian sites, Serbia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil, the UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site. One of the servers taken down at Rackspace provided streaming radio to several radio stations and served files related to the Blag Linux distribution, among other purposes.

While Indymedia is not exactly sure what prompted the action, the group does have one strong idea. A French Indymedia site last month posted photos of what it believed to be undercover Swiss police officers photographing protesters at a French event. Indymedia received a request from the FBI to pull those photos down, as they "revealed personal information" about the undercover police, said Indymedia press officer Hep Sano.

Rackspace appeared to confirm that the photos were an issue with the FBI.

"I apologize for the delay in responding. I have been trying to get a hold of the FBI agent I spoke with before, but haven't been able to at this time," wrote a Rackspace official to Indymedia earlier this week, according to Sano. "As the request originated with the Swiss police, I can only speculate on what they saw or what they were concerned about. However, at this time, I have received no further communications from either the FBI or the Swiss authorities, so I feel like we can close this this issue."

Still, Indymedia has never sorted out the matter with the FBI.

"They never clarified what they meant by personal information," she said. "The photos were taken on a public street."

Indymedia believes the photos were eventually pulled, but ironically cannot check on this as it no longer has access to the servers or hard disks. The group has not been notified if the FBI is even involved in this seizure or whether or not the servers or just hard disks were confiscated.

"We are still trying to work with the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) to figure out who is charging us and with what crime," said Sano. The EFF did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Reports are now circulating that government agencies in Italy and Switzerland prompted the action against Indymedia.

Indymedia said yesterday's raids were part of a wider pattern of "attacks" against independent media outlets by the US Federal Government authorities over recent months. Last month the Federal Communications Commission shut down community radio stations around the US.

In addition, an article submitted through Indymedia's Open Newswire service identifying the names of delegates to the Republican Convention and where they were staying in New York reportedly led to an investigation by the FBI. The Secret Service used a subpoena in an "attempt to disrupt" the New York City's Independent Media Centre before last month's Republican National Convention in the city. Speculation (on Slashdot) links yesterday's raids with this investigation. Indymedia, however, now clearly believes that the motivation for the server seizure originated outside of the US.

"We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specialising in independent journalism," said Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists. "The way this has been done smacks more of intimidation of legitimate journalistic inquiry than crime-busting."

Indymedia (AKA Independent Media Center) was set up in 1999 to provide grassroots coverage of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) protests in Seattle. It has continued to report on controversial subjects often under-reported in the mainstream media since then; but this week has marked the most controversial chapter in its operations. ®

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xclusive

wow this doesn't sound good at all...

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BT

Vote Kerry

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KRL

BT, thats days old news.

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Fukeneh

whoa, WTO protests in seattle. i was in college in seattle while that was going on, i got gassed and had consusion grenades shot at me, couple of friends took rubber bullets to the legs too.

Fake Nick

no it is not , HE read it yesterday so IT IS news from yesterday

Pleasurepays

i love all the "innocent" rioters who are just victems of "the man"

BT

LOL, I read it this morning so it's this mornings news

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Danny_C

Pretty presumptuous.

Pleasurepays

Hahaha. another candidate for a Darwin Award.

i live in seattle. the worst part about the WTO protests was that they used rubber bullets, water canons and non-lethal force. but at least they made stupidity a little painful for many of them. that experience will help them later in life.

scoreman

I'm curious as to whether this seizure was empowered to the FBI from aspects of the Patriot Act or whether this seizure can from powers granted to the FBI through another means. This seems odd that they would take down the entire server array of a host for the reasons listed in that article. Something is missing here as this doesnt make alot of sense as it was written.

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eroswebmaster

My brother was there on Vacation during the WTO..he had lived their previously and went back to visit friends.

He was walking down a street and got caught up in all the hoopla...was gassed and shot at...he saw people being clubbed...he had to duck into an office foyer at one point just to keep from getting swept up in arrests.

You can get all snide with comments about "innocent bystanders," but you don't know my brother. He's too big a pussy and lazy to stand up for anything political or that means anything...he was just there to party some old friends.

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BT

Sounds like he is having fun

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jimmyf

it would make no Diff. if Kerry were Prez.

they would do the same thing, in this day and times.

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Pleasurepays

things like this i dont believe. everyone is a "victem" when the get caught doing something stupid.

i live in seattle and i know exactly how completely out of control things got. its not something you "get caught up in" while you are walking to 7-11 to get a Slurpy.

it was complete mayhem and insanity and you cannot be in danger of being gassed or being shot at as your brother supposedly was, without realizing you are in danger of being gassed or shot at unless your brother is developmentally disabled and a quadrapalegic trying to drag himself out of harms way with his tounge.

jimmyf

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Kick Ass Chat

I just read it now, so it's Current News

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s9ann0

great so US is now shutting down media it doesn't like sounds like some adolf hitler shit

jimmyf

go back and read the post.

Reports are now circulating that government agencies in Italy and Switzerland prompted the action against Indymedia.

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BT

LOL.. no shit

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warlock5

Yup, Clinton did a lot to spread globalisation. I guess when a democrat is president the rightwing likes to side with anti-globalists.

boneprone

what does indy media do?

Never heard of em?

They adult?

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Mr Dickovitch

For President of the UK? That is where this took place.

seeric

What the hell does this have to do with adult? did anyone read the article?

what doesn't look good at all?

for who?

seeric

nah

they are an independant jounalistic source.

BTW, i have been holding your co-branded theatre for a long time.
been trying to email you.

FilthyRob

the reason they seized the servers is really unknown right?

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SmokeyTheBear

Sorry, but your wrong.

I happen to have been in the exact same circumstance's.

I was teargassed and billyclubbed HOLDING MY DAUGHTERS HAND. Minutes after leaving a private function held at a hotel for computer engineers.

Before we left the hotel the hotel manager had told us to exit the building from the back because some people were demonstrating in front and it might be easier to leave from the back of the hotel.
( thats the only warning i got )

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SmokeyTheBear

Doesn't look good for anyone if the government just ganks computers from any country at the request of another country, with absolutely no reason given or warrants or court orders..

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SmokeyTheBear

the servers were in uk but the court order was in the u.s.a.

This line is rather confusing though...

" It said it had received a court order from the US authorities last Thursday to hand over the computer equipment at its UK hosting facility "

I have never heard of a court order that jumps countries like that.

If it indeed falls under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, then i imagine this has something to do with money laundering, or terrorism

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Gynecologist

Yeah, I was there as well. That was one instance where the police where NOT BRUTAL ENOUGH. Thousands of communistic punks swarmed in the the city I lived in and destroyed as much as they could. If those fucks ever try that shit here in Los Angeles the Korean store owners will be out with their guns picking those hooded anarchists off in record numbers.

TheMob

yey, that rocks! vote bush in 04.

TaDoW

here here.

I live here too, and the WTO riot was only about a bunch of anarchist douchebags wanting to lash out a "capitalist scum." Even people who didn't have anything to do with WTO, if they were even in the area they'd get fucked up. The rioters simply targeted the rich as a source for their angst.

My favorite is the footage of the dumbfuck wearing nikes while kicking in the nike sign at nikeworld or whatever the store is.

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Sarah_Jayne

like I said in the other thread - those that argue that 2257 doesn't effect you because you don't live in the US might want to take note of this case.

Pleasurepays

somehow you equate 1000's of rioting anarchists trying to destroy a city and exiting your computer nerd convention as being the "exact same circumstances"?

hmmm.... lets break this down.

the hotel MANAGER (not bell captain, not parking valet, not desk clerk, not a maid) by your own admission, deemed the situation to be serious enough to warn you and suggest and alternate exit for your safety and for that of your daughter.

you pondered the notion for two seconds before realizing that approximately 18 to 20 extra footsteps would be involved and you were afraid of collapsing into the lifeless heap of out of shape computer nerds that tried to make the journey and failed.

then, fearing your daughter might grow up without a father should you attempt a gasping for air, blood pressure raising, heart attack inducing stroll across the lobby floor, you then decided that waiting was not an option. Nor was checking the situation to see if it was safe. not for you. you're clever. you then chose the the only logical decision that a techies mind running for years on HoHo's, Jolt Cola and pizza could make... to walk out the front door into a group of protestors.

good idea using your daughter as a human shield. too bad they snuck a few shots past her.

some questions come to mind...

are you deaf and blind?

were the cops and the demonstrators all wearing ninja costumes and clinging silently to the walls waiting to ambush the first unsuspecting idiot and his child that came along?

Was the hotel manager part of the conspiracy as well?

... or did you maybe you made a terrible mistake that you accept no responsibility for?

WiredGuy

Makes me comfortable to know that my dedicated servers are with Rackspace US and UK.

WG

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seeric

aaah gotcha. thats the u.s. on anything though. they make up reasons and laws as they need them.

dig420

not only that, no government has ever been given a power they won't abuse. They already use the Patriot Act against drug smugglers and 'subversives'.

I can't wait til they start busting pornographers just to shut up these dumb as a fucking monkey conservative pornographers. I'll be in Argentina myself, along with my servers.

jade_dragon

Ummm did anyone of you comprehend this part?

While Indymedia is not exactly sure what prompted the action, the group does have one strong idea. A French Indymedia site last month posted photos of what it believed to be undercover Swiss police officers photographing protesters at a French event. Indymedia received a request from the FBI to pull those photos down, as they "revealed personal information" about the undercover police, said Indymedia press officer Hep Sano.

Rackspace appeared to confirm that the photos were an issue with the FBI.

Sounds like a reason to me, even if it is B.S. it is a matter of national security now. There are some things that do not seem to add up but most likely from the wording used and lack of other information on top of not wanting to get a call from the FBI about listing to much information


And that was one hell of a retort by pleasurepays

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