Monday, January 26, 2009

Police Seize UK Indymedia Server (Again)


On 22 January 2009 an Indymedia server was seized by the Police in Manchester. The warrant was issued by a Judge to Kent Police. This was probably related to postings about the recent SHAC trial.
Kent Police had e-mailed imc-uk-contact in the morning requesting that personal information about the judge in the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) trial be removed from the site.
However this information had already been quickly removed in line with IMC UK policy. The e-mail also requested information relating to the poster be retained. Indymedia as an open posting news service does not log such information about its sources.

The warrant, as yet not seen by Indymedia, was we believe, specifically for this one server colocated in Manchester which is a mirror of the site. So it can only be concluded that the judge didnʼt check the legality and validity of the request to remove it, and that the police wanted to attack the infrastructure within the UK.

Other sites that have been affected as a result of this seizure include London Indymedia, the global Indymedia documentation project server, la Soja Mata – an anti-GM soya campaign focusing on South American development, Transition Sheffield and a Canadian campaign against the 2010 olympics.
NWN:
We may not like those at Indymedia, but the same police state aggression could be exacted against any of us. Be vigilant!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.kawther.info/wpr/2009/01/26/names-and-photos-of-israeli-war-criminals-in-gaza

E. N. Ronn said...

As the experience of Indymedia on the one hand and Sheppard and Whittle on the other shows, it is crazy to use a British server for politically controversial material

Sheppard's American ISP refused all co-operation with the British police, as did the Federal Court, on First Amendment grounds

Anyone hosting a controversial site should use a server in a jurisdiction that takes freedom of speech and client confidentiality seriously. The USA is not a bad choice. There are others. EU member states are not amongst them.

Anonymous said...

"Anyone hosting a controversial site should use a server in a jurisdiction that takes freedom of speech and client confidentiality seriously. The USA is not a bad choice. There are others. EU member states are not amongst them.

26 January 2009 12:37"


Absolutely!

Tartarus said...

"The posting has nothing to do with this govt's campaign to seize web site servers which is what the article was about !!"

Sincere apologies. We have reason to believe that Collett and his dogs are spamming the site to muddy the waters for the upcoming BNP leadership challenge

Anonymous said...

Paedo Collet is just another kid and money grabbing kike