October 10, 2004

In the extended entry I have copied a letter I am sending out today to the leaders of all main political parties in this country and several other related parties. I would like to ask that, if you all feel the same way I do about protecting independent media sources that you link to this post or trackback it to help promote the injustice here.

UPDATE: here are some links to various other imc posts/news about the loss of the server:

• main clearing house for fbi info
• main clearing house for ahimsa (the server) info
• uk imc story

Rt Hon. Tony Blair, PM
10 Downing Street,
London,
SW1A 2AA

October 11, 2004

Dear Sir,

I would like to draw your attention to recent alarming events affecting the Independent Media Center (IMC).

Last Thursday, October 7th, a court order under the context of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty forced an ISP to the IMC to relinquish two servers used by the group. This caused the loss of websites and services spanning 17 countries, including one specific service, which was set to provide streaming coverage of the European Social Forum conference this week.

The seizure of the servers occurred without any notification to the IMC, and a spokesman for the FBI (the seizing authority) has said that the subpoena was authorized at the request of the Swiss and Italian authorities.

The IMC describes itself as “a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth. [They] work out of a love and inspiration for people who continue to work for a better world, despite corporate media's distortions and unwillingness to cover the efforts to free humanity.”

I appreciate that, in this post-innocent society we live in, where we have to deal with the constant threat and exposure of countless terrorist organizations around the globe acting against our cultures and our own survival, from both hidden and visible sources, certain measures which curb our freedoms and civil liberties must be taken to ensure our safety.

But to seize a primary distribution method for a global organization wholly concerned with broadcasting open and free media, campaigning for democratic transparency and other worthy causes, smacks of the kinds of liberal suppression exhibited by Former US Senator Joseph McCarthy – and is a serious threat to the freedom of speech that we share as expressive human beings.

I implore upon you to involve yourself wherever possible with resolving the action taken to seize this data. By rebuking and standing out against such liberal suppression, and by doing all you can to prevent such control being abused in such a massive way again, we can ensure balanced, free and open media can continue without the shackles of censorship that such actions threaten.

Respectfully awaiting your response,

James Cox

CC:
Rt. Hon. David Blunkett, MP, Home Secretary
Rt. Hon. Michael Howard, MP, Leader, Conservative Party
Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy, MP, Leader, Liberal Democrats
Rt. Hon. David Davis, MP, Shadow Home Secretary
Boris Johnson, MP
Mark Prisk, MP
Laurie Lee, Private Secretary, 10 Downing Street

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