[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers in the UK / "extended sovereignty"

[Nabil El-Khodari]

First, I would like to thank Bertrand for the url provided in his response
that provides many explanations to even some of the issues I have suffered
experimenting with running a web server from my PC. In fact, ICANN
directly hacked my computer as proved by my firewall - I live in Canada.
On contacting them, they denied the hacking but told me that I was
investigated because I also ran a name server that my domain referred to.

As for Indymedia, I have used their servers a couple of times for
advocacy-related issues. It is sad to see this happen and I believe we
should look for a radical solution that maintains the spirit of the
Internet and its use as an alternative medium against the hemegomy of
traditional media companies.

My question is, cannot the same servers used by ICANN be replicated
somewhere else in the 'free world', say Germany, France, Switzerland? I
believe this should work. May be it is too late for .com .net and .org
domains, but cannot we start with any 'fresh' domain names?

We have t challenge this control over the internet by providing other
alternatives. It is evident that reasoning, legal actions, etc. will
always fail.

Sincerely,

Nabil El-Khodari
Founder/Treasurer
Nile Basin Society
Tel.: +1 (647) 722-3256
Fax: +1 (647) 722-3273

http://nilebasin.com
http://nilebasin.net
http://nile.ca
108 Waterbury Dr.
Toronto, Ontario, M9R 3Y3
Canada

"If the people will lead, the leaders will follow." Dr. David Suzuki



-----Original Message-----
From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On
Behalf Of Bertrand de LA CHAPELLE
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2004 9:17 AM
To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers in the UK /
"extended sovereignty"


Just one comment on this very troubling story :

It has often been argued that the Internet reduces the
sovereignty of states on their own citizens and territory
(up to John Perry Barlow's vision on the independence of
cyberspace).

What the story below demonstrates is a simultaneous
potential trend in the exact opposite direction towards what
we could call "extended sovereignty" : the power a
government (and in particular the US government) can apply
to a foreign national/entity in its own country. The Patriot
Act being only one among the tools trying to establish this
extension of sovereignty.

An article by John Hines details this challenge in a clear
way : http://www.isoc.org/pubpolpillar/juris.shtml

This is a MAJOR political issue, only emerging but likely to
take a growing importance.

Bertrand de La Chapelle



---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 17:35:49 +0200
>From: "Stephane Koch" <president at isoc.ch>
>Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] FYI : FBI Seizes Indymedia
Servers in the UK
>To: <plenary at wsis-cs.org>
>
>
>FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers in the UK
>http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/WwwFeaturesWorkpad
>Indymedia 7th October
>
>Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to
Rackspace
>ordering them to hand over information hosted on Indymedia
web servers to
>the FBI. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for
more that 20
>Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied by turning
over two
>Indymedia servers to federal authorities, effectively
removing those sites
>from the internet.
>
>Indymedia, a global network of independent non-corporate
media
>organizations, had been asked last month by the FBI to
remove a story about
>Swiss undercover police from one of the websites hosted at
Rackspace. It is
>not known, however, whether Thursday's order is related to
that incident
>since the order was issued to Rackspace and not to
Indymedia. According to
>Rackspace, they "cannot provide Indymedia with any
information regarding the
>order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations
which prevent
>them from informing concerned parties about what is
happening.
>
>It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is
outside US
>jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.
>
>The last few months have seen numerous attacks on
independent media by the
>US Federal Government. In August, the Secret Service used a
subpoena in an
>attempt to disrupt the New York City Independent Media
Center before the
>Republican National Convention by trying to obtain their IP
logs from ISPs
>in the US and the Netherlands. Also, in the past month, the
FCC shut down
>community radio stations throughout the US. Despite these
setbacks,
>Indymedia and other independent media organizations have
enjoyed recent
>victories against Diebold and the Patriot Act.
>
>The list of local media collectives affected by the FBI
seizure includes
>Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts,
Nice, Nantes,
>Lilles, Marseille, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege,
East and West
>Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal,
Prague, Galiza,
>Italy, Brazil, UK, and Germany. Additionally, several
streaming radio
>stations, a Linux distribution site, and other services
hosted on those
>servers were also affected.
>
>-----------------------
>Regards
>stephane koch
>internet society geneva
>
>_______________________________________________
>Plenary mailing list
>Plenary at wsis-cs.org
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