[e-privacy] De-secretati i documenti circa il sequestro dei server Indymedia (UK)

[Andrea Glorioso]

Ciao a tutti.

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http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_08.php#003862

Secret Documents About Indymedia Server Disappearance Unsealed

Government Order Demanded  Only Logs; Web  Host  Rackspace Handed Over
Server

San Antonio, TX - The  Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) last  week
won a motion allowing  it to access  sealed court documents  about the
mysterious disappearance of two web servers used to host news websites
for Indymedia, a global collective of Independent Media Centers (IMCs)
and thousands of journalists.  After six months of secret  litigation,
EFF obtained  a copy of the federal  court order that  resulted in the
October 2004 handover of copies of Indymedia servers to the government
by Indymedia's web  host. That handover  resulted in  the silencing of
more than 20 news websites and radio feeds for nearly a week.

However, the unsealed  documents reveal   that the  government   never
officially demanded the computer servers  -- the subpoena to Rackspace
only requested server log  files. This contradicts previous statements
by the    web  host that  it  took  the   servers  offline because the
government had demanded   the hardware. The documents also  contradict
Rackspace's claim that it had been ordered by the court not to discuss
publicly  the  government's demand.  It  cannot be determined from the
unsealed documents whether or not  the government informally pressured
Rackspace to turn over the servers. By giving the government more data
than  it requested,  the  company not  only  violated  the privacy  of
Indymedia journalists whose information was housed on the servers, but
also undermined  the free  flow of  information by taking  Indymedia's
websites offline.  Moreover,  the logs that  the  government requested
didn't exist,  so  Rackspace should never  have   given the government
anything at all.

"When Rackspace received  a government  demand  to  examine logs  that
didn't  exist, it  had  a responsibility to the  customer   and to the
principles of freedom of the press to fight the order and resolve this
without taking more than  20 news sites  off the Internet," said  Kurt
Opsahl, EFF staff attorney.

"Rackspace may   claim    to provide its   customers   with 'fanatical
support,'  but in this  case it looks like it   was more interested in
serving the government," added Kevin  Bankston, EFF attorney and Equal
Justice Works/Bruce J. Ennis Fellow. "Despite these new revelations, a
key question remains: Did  government agents intentionally mislead the
web host into  thinking it  had to  hand over complete  copies of  the
Indymedia servers?"

The court order served on San  Antonio-based Rackspace Managed Hosting
was issued  based on a treaty request  from  the Italian government as
part of an ongoing criminal investigation in that country.

EFF was  assisted  in this  case by James    A. Hemphill and  W.  Reid
Whittliff with Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody in Austin, Texas.

[...]

Contacts:

Kevin Bankston
Attorney, Equal Justice Works / Bruce J. Ennis Fellow
Electronic Frontier Foundation
bankston at eff.org

Kurt Opsahl
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
kurt at eff.org
Posted at 02:32 PM
	
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Ciao,

--
Andrea Glorioso		andrea at digitalpolicy.it
                        +39 348 921 4379
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