In the specific circumstances of Indymedia, a process that was started in Texas resulted in the removal of servers in London, knocking out numerous Indymedia web sites. According to the US, Inydmedia has no standing to complain about this or to seek redress, or to find out what it was supposed to have been doing, or who said it was doing it. The UK Government insists the whole matter is nothing to do with it, while the US Government says the matter is closed, flashing the T-word to be on the safe side.

Pretty sick.

However, legal wrangles in the US and their hideous implications aside, what really gets to me is the fact that the equipment was seized in the UK by a foreign power on dubious legal grounds and our government doesn’t seem to want to know. It seems that the rest of the world can’t even voice their views over the US election without being told to shut up and mind their own business, but if the FBI wants to waltz over here and help itself to anything it likes they’re welcome and there’s nothing anyone can do or say about it.

In case you’re not au fait with the story, the basics. Indymedia, an alternative media collective, had a large number of their sites hosted in the UK by a US owned company called Rackspace. Last thursday, Rackspace responded to a court order issued by the FBI and handed over hardware containing the Indymedia sites – obviously removing them from the internet in the process. The exact reasons for this are still unclear but appear to involve the Swiss and Italian authorities and may have something to do with pictures of policemen filming protesters that were posted on one of the sites; the exact legal procedure which enabled it is also somewhat fuzzy. Analysis and speculation can be found at the Register and at Statewatch.

I’m glad to see the story being run by major news organisations like the BBC and the Guardian, even if it did take them a few days to pick it up. The fact the independent news and comment sites can be removed from the web without warning in a western country which supposedly supports freedom of speech and the press is alarming to say the least, even if you’re not overly sympathetic with the general ideological slant on most Indymedia sites. The Reg says it better than I can:

…the procedure ought to send shivers down the spine of every publishing organisation on the Internet. It is clearly perfectly possible for their operations to be crippled without warning, without their being told what it is they’ve done, and without explanation.

Let’s hope this one gets a good airing. It needs it, becasue it smells pretty bad right now, even four days on.

Update 2004-10-14

Electronic Frontier Foundation press release.

Servers are returned by the FBI: BBC, EFF.

Update 2004-10-15

The Register: “Indymedia seizures: a trawl for Genoa G8 trial cover-up?”