Authorities shut down U.K.-based news Web sites

U.S. authorities order Web-hosting provider to hand over computer equipment

By Laura Rohde

October 11, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Recommended

IDG News Service - LONDON -- U.S. authorities, participating in an international investigation, have shut down 20 independent news Web sites run by the Independent Media Center (Indymedia) by seizing two U.K.-based Web servers, the group said on Friday.
Last Thursday morning, a federal order was issued to Web hosting provider Rackspace Ltd. requiring the company to hand over the computer equipment, according to the Indymedia Web site. San Antonio-based Rackspace was hosting the Indymedia Web servers in London.
A U.K. spokeswoman for Rackspace declined to comment today, referring instead to a company statement.
Rackspace said in the statement that the order was issued under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. The treaty allows mutual cooperation between countries in investigations into criminal activities such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering.
The company said the investigation wasn't initiated in the U.S. Some local news media outlets reported that the investigation originated in Europe.
"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," the statement said.
Officials from the Home Office in the U.K. and the FBI couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Indymedia said it didn't know why the servers had been seized, since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia. The group, which describes itself as an international media network covering social justice issues, said it "insists that the servers are returned."
The Indymedia site in the U.K. was restored because it was backed up on another server, the group said, though other sites remained off-line today. The Web sites affected by the seizure are located in 17 countries.
Indymedia called it "ironic" that the action came just before it was to participate in the European Forum on Communications Rights being held alongside the European Social Forum, covering issues such as electronic civil liberties and community media.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Legislation/Regulation

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Do You Know the 7 Steps to Successful Data Migration?

Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.

WHITE PAPER

Total Cost of Ownership of Server Computing Vs. PCs

Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.

WHITE PAPER

IDC White Paper: Linux in a Global Recession

Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.