[WSIS CS-Plenary] Balancing Free Speech

[Milton Mueller]

Ralf:
Thanks for the additional info, I stand corrected.
Can you point me to any articles reporting on the "other"
Indymedia incident?

On the posting of personal information about the convention
delegates, I note the parallels with the discussion we have 
been having about Whois data. 

It would seem that the anonymous poster to Indymedia 
did nothing different from what hundreds of thousands
of people do every day with Whois data accessible via the
Internet. S/he gathered private contact data and published
it on the Internet. Why is one action considered threatening 
and legally actionable, and the other considered a sacred right
of IPR lawyers and law enforcement agencies? Maybe Nabil 
would like to take up this question.

Why is the Law solicitous of personal
privacy when the target is a delegate to a political convention
(many of whom were publicly elected and will select a nominee
to a public office) and not supportive of the personal privacy
of an individual who happens to register a domain name
and/or run a web site? Yes, this is relevant to WSIS/WGIG.

--MM

>>> bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de 10/17/04 04:29PM >>>
Milton Mueller wrote:

> The Indymedia action had absolutely nothing to do with the Republican
> national convention. It originated in concerns about revealing the
> identity of Swiss undercover police.

There have been two different Indymedia incidents recently, and only the
Swiss / Rackspace case got big attention. 
There was another case where Indymedia got under Secret Service
investigation in the US, because someone anonymously posted the names
and personal information about thousands of delegates to the
Republication National Convention on an Indymedia website. I've pasted
an article about it below.

Interesting here is how differently the cases were handled by the
government agencies (no seizure here) and by the ISP (no turning over of
information without a federal grand jury subpoena). 
So, coming back to the WSIS-related stuff: Internet governance (well:
"internet policing" here) seems to be more intrusive abroad, at least
for US government agencies. A good reason for global legal protection
standards, and something to be dealt with in the WGIG.

Regards, Ralf

------------------------------

<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2004-08-31-indymedia-posts-addys_x.htm>

Posting of GOP delegate data investigated

By Curt Anderson, Associated Press

WASHINGTON ― The Secret Service is investigating the posting on the 
Internet of names and personal information about thousands of delegates 
to the Republication National Convention in New York, officials said
Monday.

The probe focuses on anonymous postings on a Web site operated by the 
Independent Media Center, which describes itself as "a network of 
collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate and 
passionate tellings of the truth."

The American Civil Liberties Union, whose lawyers are representing the 
Web site's administrators, gave the Secret Service the e-mail addresses 
of the administrators in a letter Monday. But the ACLU pointed out that 
they are not responsible for postings of lists of GOP delegates because 
the site guarantees anonymity to anyone who wants it.

"This type of investigation is really a form of intimidation and a 
message to activists that they will pay a price for speaking out," said 
Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal counsel. "The posting of publicly 
available information about people who are in the news should not 
trigger an investigation."

Secret Service officials would not comment beyond confirming that the 
investigation was continuing. But federal law enforcement officials, 
speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe is active, said 
there were concerns that posting of the delegate lists could subject the 
delegates to harassment, acts of violence or identity theft.

There are several lists of Republican National Convention delegates 
posted on the Indymedia site, including one listing more than 2,000 of 
them. Included are names, home addresses, e-mail addresses and the New 
York-area hotels where many are staying.

"The delegates should know not only what people think of the platform 
they will ratify, but that they are not welcome in New York City," said 
one posting, first reported Monday by The New York Times.

A federal grand jury in New York has subpoenaed a Web hosting service, 
Calyx Internet Access, for Indymedia contact information. Calyx 
President Nicholas Merrill said he refused initially to voluntarily give 
the information to the Secret Service, asking instead for the subpoena 
to protect clients' privacy. Calyx is also being representing legally by 
the ACLU.


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