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Update: Indymedia Server Seizure - Hardware Returned but Plot Thickens

Help Indymedia's legal campaign by signing the IMC solidarity petition.
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On Wednesday, 13 October 2004, Indymedia's seized hardware was mysteriously returned in the same way it disappeared -- without any information provided as to who took it or why, and on whose orders. An employee at Rackspace, the US-based web hosting company that handed over Indymedia's disks the U.S. government on October 7th, emailed an Indymedia volunteer to say that the disks were returned and that "the court order is being complied with... I will pass along any more information that becomes available and that I am allowed to."

  • Read: Wired News: Indymedia Gets Its Servers Back | EFF Press Release: Indymedia Servers Mysteriously Reappear, But Questions Remain

    Today, October 14th, IMC-Italy learned that an investigation in Bologna may have precipitated the FBI's order for the seizure of Indymedia's hard drives.

    Marina Plazzi, a Public Prosecutor for Bologna investigating the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI) and alleged "bomb-threats" delivered to the President of the EU Commission Romano Prodi, apparently issued a request for information (RFI) to U.S. authorities concerning posts published on italy.indymedia.org, one of the 20 odd indymedia sites hosted on the U.K. server. The FBI, going beyond the requirements of the RFI, then issued an order seize the drives.

    Despite this new information and the return of the hard drives many questions remain: Who, exactly, took the hardware and for what reason? What does the court order entail?

    "The fact that the authorities' actions are shrouded in mystery leaves Indymedia in the Kafkaesque position of not knowing the identity of its accusers or the nature of their claim," says David Dadge, editor for the International Press Institute.

    Indymedia is now calling for supporters to sign a solidarity declaration and petition denouncing the hard drive seizure as an unacceptable attack on press freedom, freedom of expression, and privacy. Indymedia is demanding a full disclosure of the names of organizations and individuals involved in the seizure, a copy of the court order, and an independent investigation into any violations of due process.

    Related Links: Electronic Freedom Foundation | IFJ Calls for Investigation | EFF Challenges Secret Government Order to Shut Down Media Websites | Reporters Without Borders Condemns Seizures | Alternative Network's Internet Servers Confiscated | IMC-UK (backup server ) | IMC-Nantes | IMC-Italy | Global IMC | SF Bay IMC | NYC IMC | Infoshop coverage (scroll down) | Democracy Now!
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