Switzerland wants to seize computers and asks the FBI to seize servers in the UK.
Indymedia: Italy and Switzerland Requested Indymedia's Server Seizure: October 8, 2004, Indymedia has learned that the request to seize Indymedia servers hosted by a US company in the UK originated from government agencies in Italy and Switzerland. More than 20 Indymedia sites, several internet radio streams and other projects were hosted on the servers. They were taken offline on October 7th after an order was issued to Rackspace, Inc., one of Indymedia’s web hosting providers.
Indymedia: Italy and Switzerland Requested Indymedia's Server Seizure
Globalization of police-state mentality, that’s what it sounds like to me. 😢 In Switzerland you cannot take pictures of policemen (undercover or not) while working, eg. at demonstrations, because it might endanger them. On the other hand, not allowing the taking of pictures makes lawsuits against abuse by the police much harder. **The question is, what kind of trade-off do you want to make in order to maintain the checks and balances?**
We’re being watched by closed circuit cameras most of the time, but we never get to look back. Looking back is what allows DavidBrin to propose his TransparentSociety. Small, portable cameras have given us the option. We can at least make our own records, now. How do we want to handle this as a society? Let people publish these records? Give certain groups a right to have these records taken off-line? I can imagine that certain people would be happy if society were not allowed to publish any kind of visual records online – if you’re a whistle-blower, or if the publishers are Nazis, etc. So I agree that there is some talking that needs to be done. *Deliberation*.
The first step would be to explain why the servers have been seized. The next step would be to restore services and only remove the material in question. The next step would be to quickly decide whether there is any real danger to health and life of the subjects. If not, the contested content should be put back online until the courts have decided.
Granting blanket power to effectively remove any content by *default* is a bad idea. Those who have the money can control the media by just starting lawsuit after lawsuit. This kind of trade-off is not the one we need.
#USA