Ahimsa article
goal
If we want to start campaigning in a bigger way about the ahimsa server, and related questions we need one article with the facts and the main questions that arise from it.
a) die fakten dargestellt werden (wer hat wann was gemacht/gesagt).
Wichtig dabei: Wann sind die verschwundenen webseiten jeweils wieder ins
netz gegangen, was ist verloren?
b) eine Diskussion ueber was das fuer internet rights bedeutet, evt.
koennte die leitfrage sein: warum haben so viele uns unterstuetzt?
c) eine Diskussion ueber die Rolle von ISPs, was ja in die Frage der
Struktur des Internet uebergeht.
structure
- Intro: What is Indymedia: open posting. Local collectives in a global network, sharing resources like support, servers and url, but no governing body, and no responsibility for other sites.
- Rackspace and Ahimsa before the seizure
- Server seizure: time line of events, including events in italy and switzerland
- state of things: motion to unseal etc (the section might need updating once in a while
- support by others
- internet rights: who owns the postings, logs, content of sites and admin interfaces? the owner of the url, or the owner of the server? the differenc between a printing press and a server, since the tool to produce a product also contains information about the production.
- rights and responsibilities of ISPs: this might need 3 sections for EU, US and the interaction between both. what kind of obligation does an isp have towards authorities - and towards it's clients. what rights do the client have? the responsibility of a provider who sets ups sites for clients on a server: what do you do when you host 10 sites, and all go down because some authority wants info on 1 site? is that legal? indymedia collectives don't pay for services, but a business could be damaged if their site is down for a week because the provider hosts some ngo on the same server. where does that leave isp and other providers? where does that leave small radical sites?
resources
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/AhimsaOverview
http://jebba.blagblagblag.org/index.php?m=200410
including a list of imc's that were up fast and of those who were still down
Threats against websites and resolutions
http://europe.rights.apc.org/project.html#censorship
Report about biwater case
http://europe.rights.apc.org/cases/biwater.html
ahimsa gone and returned
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/11/300886.html
Letzteres entstand aus dem Wunsch, die wiki-seite
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/AhimsaStatement in einen
zitierbaren Artikel umzubauen.
timeline:
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/AhimsaTimeLine
diese version habe ich aus allen verschiedenen versionen zusammengestellt.
EFF text:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Indymedia/
this text is not completely correct in distinguishing between facts and strong assumptions
LEGAL INCIDENTS
1 On October 7, 2004, hard drives from two Indymedia servers, held under
contract with an Indymedia volunteer (A) were seized from the London office of a
US-owned web hosting company, Rackspace at the request of the US Justice
Department after a request from Italian authorities. The hard drives were
returned on October 13 but it is likely US authorities copied the contents. The
legal basis for the removal is still under contention. Rackspace did not
formally request information about the postings prior to the seizure, which shut
down an Indymedia radio station and 20 different Indymedia websites across the
world. The UK Home Office refused to confirm or deny involvement.
October 8, 2004, Rackspace stated: �In the present matter regarding Indymedia,
Rackspace Managed Hosting, a U.S. based company with offices in London, is
acting in compliance with a court order pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaty (MLAT), which establishes procedures for countries to assist each other
in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money
laundering. Rackspace responded to a Commissioner's subpoena, duly issued under
Title 28, United States Code, Section 1782 in an investigation that did not
arise in the United States. Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and
is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities. The court
prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter.� On Friday, October
20, 2004, Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) filed a motion to unseal the
Seizure Order in the United States District Court for the Western District of
Texas. In the motion, EFF attorneys argue that "the public and the press have a
clear and compelling interest in discovering under what authority the government
was able to unilaterally prevent Internet publishers from exercising their First
Amendment rights."
Italian Judge in Bologna Marina Plazzi made the original request to US
authorities for server IP logs on October 13, 2004. The request related to
postings about an enquiry into four letter bombs that were sent to various
European dignitaries including Romano Prodi were allegedly sent by a group
calling themselves FAI (Informal Anarchist Front) in December 2003. But Bologna
anarchist group, which is actually known as FAI, did not know of the incident
and condemned the action. The right-wing Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which
received identical statements from the alleged FAI group published the
information without any sanctions. Italian authorities have since claimed that
US authorities went beyond the remit of the original request.
Draft
Intro
Indymedia is a network of local, autonomous collectives brought based on the idea to provide a space for open publishing: a space where everybody can post anynomously and without the (prior) controll of an editorial team. All IMCs accept the Pricinciple of Unity, but how and what they do to fill in these ideas in their respective communities and conditions are their autonous decisions. However, a lot of IMCs share resources such as the URL www.indymedia.org where each IMC can get a subdomain (e.g. italy.indymedia.org), server space and tech support. It's not uncommon for a few IMC sites to be hosted on one server together somewhere. However, they don't have access to each others sites, or influence on their editorial policies. The access of the techies to different sites on each server is also restricted. It is the common understanding of what Indymedia is doing that keeps the network together - not a hierachical structure. In this respect different IMC sites are like sites of different organisations, even if they are hosted on one server.
Rackspace and Ahimsa
Rackspace Managed Hosting (
http://www.rackspace.com/index.php) is a US webhosting company, located in Texas, US. They have a subsidary in the UK. [check the legal facts on that: but it should mean that this is a seperate legal entity.] Legally both companies are sperate entities, subject to different laws (US and UK). Legally the actual ahimsa hardware is probably the property of rackspace UK, but that should be checked. The US company might have access to the UK hardware through the setup of the company/ies, but we might need to stress the fact that they are two companies.
J., an Indymedia techie has a contract with Rackspace UK, identical with the master service agreement that can be downloaded from the site [link]. The contract is renting and hostign about a (dedicated) server (called Ahimsa) which was located in the UK under the UK contract.
J. therefore has no legal contract with Rackspace US. The only connection to the US is that the domain indymedia.org is registered in the US, but not by J.
In agreement with J. about 20 indymedia collectives hosted their sites on this server. He also hosted a webmail server, blag and other sites and data on it. (get complete list)
Are Ahimsa 1 and 2, two hard drives or 2 servers?
timeline
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/AhimsaTimeLine
maybe we should try to get the timeline more in a table: with different threads on issues or locations
This is what I got from rackspace:
Thu Oct 7 12:25:13 2004
Hello,
Unfortunately, we have received a federal order to provide your hardware to the requesting agency. We are complying at this time. Our datacenter technicians are building you a new server which will be online as soon as possible. Your account manager will notify you once the new server is online and available.
I apologize for abruptness of this. However, we are required to comply with all federal orders of this nature.
Please let us know if there is anything that we can do to make this easier on you.
Regards,
Jennifer O\x92Connell
AUP Administrator
Rackspace Managed Hosting
The Managed Hosting Specialist\x99
1-800-[CENSORED]
Thu Oct 7 12:52:54 2004
Jeff, I also wanted to let you know that we did attempt to call you. However, your voicemail said that your mailbox was full.
Regards,
Jennifer O\x92Connell
Rackspace AUP
- imc nantes/switzerland
- imc italy
- the actual seizure, marking clearly what are assumptions and what facts
- UK authorities
- EFF
state of things
The US court order (which ever form it might have) is sealed. Does that mean that not even Rackspace in the US knows what it says? The EFF is currently trying to get the courtorder unsealed, so that Indymedia knows what this is actually all about. The following legal steps depend on that.
support
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/AhimsaStatement