FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers
Indymedia — which I respect for its ideals and avoid for its unprofessionalism and skewed, sloppy reportage — has become the subject of a vague investigation by the governments of Italy and Switzerland. Cnet News reports that as part of the investigation at least two web servers* have been confiscated at the request of the FBI. FBI spokesman Joe Parris told France’s AFP news agency, “It is not an FBI operation… Through a legal assistance treaty, the subpoena was on behalf of a third country.”
The Independent Media Center believes the investigation may be related to previous FBI requests to remove a story about Swiss undercover police from one of its servers. The organization characterizes the seizure as another example of the mounting pressure it has seen from government agencies lately, such as an attempt by the Secret Service to disrupt IMC operations prior to the Republican National Convention by requesting IP logs from an Indymedia ISP.
Ordinarily this would be where I’d rant about government violation of freedom of the press, but these other countries don’t necessarily have such protections. As for the allegations regarding the Secret Service and the RNC, I’ve seen some pretty extremist stuff posted on Indymedia web sites in the past and I can’t say I blame the Secret Service for keeping their eye on them. One could reasonably argue that attempting to subpoena IP logs from a press organization’s ISP doesn’t constitute a First Amendment infringement, since it doesn’t keep you from continuing to publish whatever you want.
Update: Dan Gillmor of SiliconValley.com reports that Indymedia has gotten its servers back, but little is still known about why they were taken in the first place. Read more at Wired News.
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