Rachel Shabi, Monday October 11, 2004<\/p>\n
The Guardian<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/online\/news\/0,12597,1324419,00.html<\/a><\/p>\n American authorities have shut down 20 independent media centres by seizing their British-based webservers.<\/p>\n On Thursday a court order was issued to Rackspace, an American-owned web hosting company in Uxbridge, Middlesex, forcing it to hand over two servers used by Indymedia, an international media network which covers of social justice issues and provides a “news-wire”, to which its users contribute.<\/p>\n The websites affected by the seizure span 17 countries.<\/p>\n It is unclear why, or to where, the servers have been taken. The FBI, speaking to the French AFP, acknowledged that a subpoena had been issued but said this was at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities.<\/p>\n “It is not an FBI operation,” said its spokesman, Joe Parris.<\/p>\n Rackspace told Indymedia that it had been served with a court order under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, under which countries assist each other in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering<\/p>\n It is unclear why such a treaty would apply in this context. A UK Indymedia journalist said: “The authorities may just be using this as a trawling exercise. We don’t know.”<\/p>\n It is also unclear if the Home Office was involved.<\/p>\n The Metropolitan police said it was not aware of the move.<\/p>\n The UK Indymedia site is now working, because it was backed up on another server, unlike others which are still shut down.<\/p>\n One of the servers was to be used to stream web radio coverage of the European Social Forum conference in London next week.<\/p>\n Aidan White, the general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, condemned the “intolerable and intrusive” action .<\/p>\n Tim Gopsill of the NUJ said: “If the security services of the UK or US can just walk in and take away a server, then there is no freedom of expression.”<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/online\/news\/0,12597,1324419,00.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rachel Shabi, Monday October 11, 2004 The Guardian http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/online\/news\/0,12597,1324419,00.html American authorities have shut down 20 independent media centres by seizing their British-based webservers. On Thursday a court order was issued to Rackspace, an American-owned web hosting company in Uxbridge, Middlesex, … Continue reading