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http://burning.typepad.com/burningman/2005/03/fbi_pressures_a.html

It's all getting very real. The administrator of flag.blackened.net, a 
major anarchist internet host, has gone public with a harrowing account 
on FBI thuggery.

According to the report on their discussion forums, two comments were 
posted to subdomains hosted by the server, including Infoshop.org, 
which claimed responsibility for "propaganda of the deed." Although the 
administrator "Dave" is under some kind of government gag order, he did 
say this: "Both incidents involve topics which are completely out of 
line for consideration here at flag and really I can only view them in 
two ways. Either people are simply ignorant about the murderous history 
of the FBI, or, as is my belief in one case, they are trying to make 
flag vulnerable to government intrusion."

Under threat of imprisonment, the administrator appears to be leaning 
towards cooperation with the FBI. He is the sole provider for his 
family and is afraid of losing his home. He has also chosen to go 
public with this decision. Regardless of the right or wrong in his 
cooperation with the FBI political investigation, the  administrator 
must be commended for his public honesty about the situation.

"I feel like a coward and traitor to my comrades, even in the face of 
what is essentially a coerced decision. I'm the last one who will 
criticize or disagree with any of you who want to deride me. I'm also 
aware that this will probably cause quite a few of you to lose faith in 
me, flag, and it's subdomains. This can't be avoided and it's something 
I weighed into my decision. I post this mainly to inform you all and 
give you opportunity to make your own decisions as to whether I've 
handled this correctly and whether you wish to use flag or it's 
subdomains in the future."

Infoshop.org, the Institute for Anarchist Studies  and the Institute 
for Social Ecology are all hosted by this server. There are also 
significant international anarchist sites and archives.

Government coercion is real. That said, concern for personal property 
is not a justification for cooperating with political police. Just 
because it is understandable does not mean it is justified or 
acceptable. If these are the times we are living in, it's time to get 
straight on the basics. Don't talk. Comrades must look out for each 
other, and that includes caring for the family of people who go to 
prison. It's been done before by people in harder situations that we've 
had to face yet. Nobody said this would be easy.

March 31, 2005 07:13 AM