The FBI on Thursday morning seized servers of the global Indymedia (IMC) news network in the UK. The servers were hosted by Rackspace, a US company with offices in London. Over 20 sites of the Indymedia network have been affected.
The Indymedia network, begun at the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999, has been subjected to official attack before. FBI efforts to gain access to Indymedia logs, visits to Seattle IMC volunteers, and raids on IMC protest headquarters (particularly the bloody Genoa G8 raid) show the IMC network to be a threat to power. This attack, however, has been the most successful at shutting down part of the network.
Rackspace, the provider, has said they cannot provide any information about the warrant. This indicates that the USA PATRIOT Act may have been invoked, as it bans agencies who provide information from revealing that they have done so.
This seizure comes at a critical time in the US, less than a month away from the election. Given that the Bush election campaign appears to be swinging into full-smear zone, that people are wondering what depths they will go to win, this attempt to silence one of the most radical voices on the internet is particularly chilling.
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