[Imc-uk-network] [Imc-communication] [Fwd: FBI not involved?]

[Tony]

from global comms list

>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 11:20:00 -0300
>From: Pablo Ortellado <paort at uol.com.br>
>To: imc-communication at lists.indymedia.org
>
>Subject: [Imc-communication] [Fwd: FBI not involved?]
>
>
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject:	[caravan99] [Pga_europe_resistance] indymedia under attack
>from the FBI
>Date:	Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:56:38 +0200
>From:	Global Solidarity <globalsolidarity at gmx.net>
>To:	Caravan99 <caravan99 at lists.riseup.net>
>CC:	<pga at lists.riseup.net>
>
>
>     I contacted the FBI twice today and they would only give me an
>     official Quote in the second conversation.
>
>     "Not our matter, we're not involved"
>
>Lloyd Hart
>
>     Feds seize Indymedia servers
>
>By John Leyden
><http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2004/10/08/fbi_indymedia_raids/>
>Published Friday 8th October 2004 18:44 GMT
>
>The FBI yesterday seized a pair of UK servers used by Indymedia
><http://www.indymedia.org>, 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 30 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 confirmed 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.
>
>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
><http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/07/204217&tid=153&tid=219>)
>links yesterday's raids with this investigation. This remains
>unconfirmed but Rackspace's comment that this is to do with "an
>investigation that did not arise in the United States" doesn't fit with
>this theory. Indymedia also believes that the Republican Convention
>problems have passed and are not an issue in this week's server raids.
>
>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. ®
>
>
>       http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/08/fbi_indymedia_raids/
>
>
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