News US seizes independent media sites

Rackspace gets raided by the Feds... In London?! This from the Beeb:

The FBI has shut down some 20 sites which were part of an alternative media network known as Indymedia.

A US court order forced the firm hosting the material to hand over two servers in the UK used by the group.

Indymedia says it is a news source for the anti-globalisation movement and other social justice issues.

The reasons behind the seizure are unclear but the FBI has reportedly said the action was taken at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities.

More here

Apparently the FBI can do this under the "Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty"...

 

This is getting crazier.

Servers in the UK have been seized by FBI due to a US court order due to requests from Italian and Swiss authorities ?

Edit :: Just saw that Rackspace is a US company with offices in London. So they would probably cooperate to avoid problems.

 

LOL

Most of the site is back up and running already anyway.
All they have done is bought IndyMedia to the mass public now with all the news coverage.

EDIT:

For more information and IndyMedia's side of the story click here

 

So, from what I've read, there's no actual reason? Doesn't a site have the right to know why it is being destroyed? I mean, the U.S. can't take my house from me without at least giving a reason why. They can enter it if a warrant is issued... and IIRC they can buy it from me "at a fair price" for a city project if it's voted... But I think this is more like the first, and the site should at least be notified of what law it is suspected of breaking...

unless I'm completely in the wrong world...

 

Maybe they just said something bad about Dubya, hence law and common sense does not apply

More seriously though, yeah according to what they say on their site they still don't know why their servers were taken down.

 

Well, it seems that the FBI have been kind enough to return the servers now.