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To: Proud Deplorable who wrote (59902)	10/12/2004 3:47:31 AM
From: elpolvo	Respond to of 89467

ralph- get used to it. the internets are going to have to come down. there's rumors on 'em. BAD ones. and there's also child perverts on 'em. BAD ones... and tourists. this is to protect you. yer welcome. ;-)

To: Proud Deplorable who wrote (59902)	10/12/2004 10:50:10 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 89467

NEWS: U.S. & Italian Neo Fascists behind Seizure of Indymedia Servers posted by Damiano Valgolio (repost) on Monday October 11 2004 @ 06:20PM PDT The Censorers Trace leads to Rome and Zurich Cutoff of Indymedia: FBI agent speaks of "legal aid". Investigations against the internet portal running in Switzerland and Italy. Neo fascists said to be the driving force. Three days after central servers of international news portal indymedia have been seized, the background remains obscure. It seems, however, that criminal proceedings against media activists in Italy and Switzerland are the cause for the cloak-and-dagger operation. Past thursday night, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had ordered confiscation of host systems of internet provider Rackspace in San Antonio, Texas (USA) and London (UK). Along these, dozens of national Indymedia pages were connected. Since then the leftist online media is severely handicapped across about 20 countries world-wide. In many countries, amongst which are Italy and Great Britain, Indymedia has completely vanished from the internet. Last weekend, the FBI has again announced that the seizure was not done on their own initiative but carried out within the scope of a "legal aid" for foreign authorities. "The request came from Switzerland and Italy", senior FBI offical Joe Parris stated towards french news agency AFP. Meanwhile, Switzerland is maintaining a low profile. Daniel Zapelli, senior federal prosecutor of the Genf canton, only confirmed that ascertainments against Indymedia. It is intended to criminalize the coverage in connection with the protests against the G8 meeting in Evian in summer of 2003. Back then, images of two plainclothes policemen who were involved in a media center escalade had been published on the swiss spin-off of the leftist internet platform. Of both executives, who were said to have organized riots as agent provocateurs in the city center of Geneve, names and addresses were published, too. Marc Olderlin, the attorney of the two swiss members of the secret police, acknowledged contacts between swiss federal authorities and the FBI, reports italian newspaper "Il Manifesto". "But, as far as I know, there has not been a request for detention of the Indymedia servers", the lawyer says. Meanwhile, federal prosecutor of Bologna (IT) Marina Plazzi stated that she is investigating against Indymedia because of a possible "support of terrorism". Apparently this is about supposedly positive contributions after an impact on italian soldiers in iraqi city of Nassirija past november. "We asked the FBI for help along the italian department of justice", federal prosecutor Plazzi states. The italian minister of justice, Roberto Castelli, so far refused to speak out on the proceeding of the FBI. Clearly less reticiant are the parlamentarian representatives of the italian government parties. On sunday, Mario Landolfi, spokesman of post fascist "Aleanza Nazionale" (AN), announced the seizure of the computers served "the enforcement of the law". Already in november, 17 AN delegates including the granddaugther of Benito Mussolini had demanded the close-down of Indymedia in a consolidated statement. Back then, Paolo Valentino, state secretary in the department of justice and also a member of AN, had announced a possible cooperation with the USA. In contrary, severe criticism on the repression against the leftist internet portal rooted from the italian opposition. Left wing party member and assitant chairman of the commission of justice of the italian parliament Paolo Cento spoke of a "bad, authoritarian incident" and demanded an immediate comment of the government. Meanwhile, communist E.U. (European Union) delegate Marco Rizzo announced he will add the incident to the EU parliament agenda.

To: Proud Deplorable who wrote (59902)	10/12/2004 10:51:10 AM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Home Secretary David Blunkett challenged over Indymedia website closures 12 October 2004 Reporters Without Borders has condemned the seizure of UK-based webservers, used by some 20 Indymedia websites and has written to Home Secretary David Blunkett, copied to his US, Italian and Swiss counterparts, seeking an explanation for the confiscations. The servers were seized from the US-owned web hosting company Rackspace operating in the UK on 7 October 2004 at the request of the US Justice Department, which apparently acted at the prompting of Italian and Swiss authorities. Indymedia is an international media network that operates without central editorial control and on which users can freely post their messages. Reporters Without Borders, which condemned the seizures and called for the equipment to be returned, said in its letter to Mr Blunkett : "This intervention is the responsibility of the British authorities because it relates to a hosting company operating on their territory. Closure of websites is a serious step, the reasons for which should definitely be made public". The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apparently requested the seizures of the Texan-based Rackspace that hosts Indymedia websites in the United States and in the UK. The company complied with the 7 October court order, shutting down around 20 Indymedia sites including those in France, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Italy, Brazil, Portugal and the UK. Ed Gibson, legal officer at the US Embassy in London, strongly denied to Reporters Without Borders on 8 October tbat the US federal police had played any part. However, according to a statement by an FBI spokesman to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the bureau did order the seizure of the servers but "on behalf of another country". Swiss and Italian authorities were apparently behind the decision, even though they had made no official statement on the subject. The US Justice Department issued the seizure order under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) that allows far-reaching police co-operation in the fields of international terrorism, kidnapping and money-laundering. The Swiss authorities reportedly sought US intervention after some Indymedia sites posted photographs of two Geneva police officers charged with identifying rioters who took part in demonstrations against the G8 summit. The alternative media was apparently also being targeted by the prosecutor's office in Bologna, Italy, since messages were posted in November 2003 fiercely criticising Italian military involvement in Iraq.