Censorship of Wikileaks

[Mentar]

To be honest, I'm still rubbing my eyes. Only a few years ago, I wouldn't have thought it possible, but - we've reached the day when the Russian Pravda can accuse the United States of stifling the free press - and be actually right.

I mean, it's not just that Big Media is corrupted and rotten to its core - that's not news. The almighty dollar decides what's acceptable news and what is not. But we've reached a new level of madness recently.

Lieberman successfully managed to pressure Amazon not to host Wikileak pages anymore. Same for Tableau, who was used to visualize charts.

He also succeeded in getting the DNS entry for wikileaks.org deleted by EveryDNS. The site has since moved to wikileaks.ch

There's an international warrant issued for Wikileaks representative Assange for alleged rape in Sweden. The funny aspect is that this was predicted to happen by Scott Ritter. He's the US official who called the Iraq "nuclear weapons" scam a scam. Well, he would know. In fact, the very same happened to him before.

Free press? Hehe

The Library of Congress (!) has blocked access to the Wikileaks site on its staff computers and on the wireless network that visitors use.

American first-line politicians (Palin, Gingrich etc) are openly demanding that Assange should be assassinated. For "treason". Nevermind that he's not even a US citizen to begin with, he's from Australia. The 51% of Americans who are convinced that he's a traitor according to a poll wouldn't know either, of course. Ignorance is bliss.

I kinda remember the public outcry when Iran had done the same by issuing a Fatwa to have Rushdie killed over a fictional text insulting the Prophet Mohammed. The Wikileaks documents however are obviously factual nonfiction. That makes the American Fatwa a little bit more disgusting in my eyes.

In my eyes, America has just joined the illustrious ranks of the likes of China (censorship) and Iran (instigation for murder). Nevermind the Red Khmer (Torture/Waterboarding) before. Warrantless spying on the citizens (Stasi in East Germany) is old news. And people don't even realize it. How depressing is that?

I can't put the current disgust that I feel about the unmasked monster into words, and it's hard for me to contain it. But I have to say that watching this mad witchhunt made me pessimistic about the current state of "civilization".

[Ending]

Spoiler:

http://torrentfreak.com/avoiding-us-...-china-101202/

In response to the Homeland Security seizures of last weekend and the upcoming COICA bill, many torrent site owners have started to work on backup plans in case they are targeted in the near future.

A few dozen sites have registered alternative domains, including the semi-private tracker Demonoid who already moved away from their .com domain earlier today.

Other torrent site operators have also bought additional backup domains, TorrentFreak has learned. To emphasize the irony of the situation, Chinese domains seem to be favored, but mosts sites have more than a few. One of the torrent site owners who already had a .hk backup domain is isoHunt’s Gary Fung.

Fung, who’s based in Canada where he runs his company, has been fighting the movie industry in US courts for nearly 5 years. Currently, he is appealing a ruling which forced isoHunt to implement a filter of film related keywords for US visitors.

Although this keyword filter was ordered through the normal legal channels, the US authorities have recently stretched the boundaries of commercial censorship. The owner of Torrent-Finder lost control over his .com domain a few days ago, without being informed and without any opportunity to defend himself.

With the COICA bill, this type of censorship is expected to only increase, and isoHunt’s Gary Fung points out to TorrentFreak that this is a worrying situation.

“Countries like China censor for political reason, US with COICA will censor for copyright and commercial reason. It’ll be a chilling parallel put into serious question how the US should still be in charge of the much of the internet infrastructure like the root DNS, or how US can continue to claim as the model example for free-speaking democracy.”

Where China’s censorship is mostly fed by the Government’s concerns, in the US it’s the copyright holders who fuel the fire. Interestingly, the authorities are quite open about the fact that last weekend’s seizures were a direct response to complaints from private companies.

“In general, what we can say is, there are specific complaints from rights holders that these sites were infringing on copyrights,” Erik Barnett of Homeland Security’s ICE said in response to the seizures.

And then there’s Google of course. The search engine that pulled out of China over censorship concerns, announced just a few hours ago that it will censor auto completion on ‘piracy’ related searches worldwide. Apparently censorship is not that bad in some cases.

“We will prevent terms that are closely associated with piracy from appearing in Autocomplete. While it’s hard to know for sure when search terms are being used to find infringing content, we’ll do our best to prevent Autocomplete from displaying the terms most frequently used for that purpose,” Google writes.

This probably means that “thep” will no longer suggest “thepiratebay” and that the word “torrent” won’t be added to movie or music related searches anymore. Yes, that’s yet another successful lobby effort from the entertainment industry, and just a small step from banning ‘rogue’ sites from the search results altogether.

Earlier, the RIAA and MPAA handed in their wish lists for the COICA censorship bill, if it should pass. Judging from the comments from Homeland Security, this means that sites such as The Pirate Bay, isoHunt, RapidShare and MegaUpload may be next, as they were labeled as rogue websites by the movie and music industry representatives.

isoHunt’s Gary Fung was not impressed to see his site included on both lists though.

“For RIAA, MPAA’s slandering of us as rogue websites, it’s political PR and lobbying that has no basis in reality and ignorable. Perhaps they should be educated in the many non-infringing uses of BitTorrent and P2P, or they risk listing every social media and sharing website as rogue,” Fung told us.

The question is whether this lobbying will indeed be ineffective. Recent history offers little reassurance. It only takes a single seizure warning to take a site down, infringing or not. But then again, there’s always China where torrent sites like isoHunt can flee to if needed.

Spoiler:

It's not really a surprise, so it's nice to see that we already have good, alternative domains outside US. E.g: Demonoid moved off from .COM and to .ME, more bound to follow every time the government strikes. I'm more disappointed by the fact that Google gave in to censorship too. While I can't do much about it, I won't be trusting them with my email anymore. They're bound to giving those to curious agents at some point, now that the door has been opened.

Closer to home... they aren't that different from Animesuki. /sarcasm

Spoiler:

Google tweaks to tackle online piracy

Google has said it will tweak its search service in an attempt to tackle online piracy, following lobbying by the music industry.

The search giant will implement four changes, including the removal of words that are associated with piracy from appearing in its autocomplete feature.

However, it will not prevent sites that host illegal copyright material from appearing in its search results.

The music industry said the measures did not go far enough.

"It is encouraging that Google is beginning to respond to our calls to act more responsibly with regard to illegal content," said a spokesperson for the BPI, which says artists lose out on millions of pounds every year because of online piracy.

"However, this package of measures, while welcome, still ignores the heart of the problem - that Google search overwhelmingly directs consumers looking for music and other digital entertainment to illegal sites."

The thoughts were echoed by the Publishers Association, which represents the book and print industry.

"We hope that the measures announced today take effect quickly and that Google could then consider going further, so that illegal sites don't appear in general free search results," said its head, Richard Mollet.

Google is the most popular search engine in the world.

The firm's Simon Morrison said that it "heard from rights holders all of the time" and that the move would help "content owners make money online and help users find legal content".

Word games

The package of four measures will roll out over the coming months.

They include a commitment to prevent Google ads being displayed on sites hosting illegal content, preventing the owner making money from them.

In addition, it would implement measures to make short previews of legal content - such as songs - more prominent in its search results.

"It's a two-fold strategy where piracy will be far less of a problem and there will be more growth in legal online services," said Mr Morrison.

The firm said that the tweaks were "not about altering search results" and that sites hosting illegal material would not be automatically penalised.

However, the firm said that it would introduce new measures to guarantee that sites using Google's own services to host illegal content would be taken down with 24 hours of a request from rights holders. It will also make it easier to file counter claims, said Mr Morrison.

In addition, the search firm will remove key terms from its autocomplete feature, which offers users suggestions of terms as they type in the search box.

For example, typing "Lady Gaga MP3" currently brings up suggestions such as "free download" or "torrent".

Torrents are files that are commonly distributed using BitTorrent software. Although it has many legitimate uses, it is also commonly used to exchange illegal copyright material.

Mr Morrison said the firm would review these suggestions based on its experience of dealing with so-called DMCA requests - a US legal framework that governs the removal of copyright material.

"If you look at certain terms, you can see that they lead to certain sites that produce a lot of these requests," he said.

He admitted that it was going to be a "difficult process" to determine which terms to remove and in which combinations, as many search terms could have multiple meanings.

Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group said it would be asking Google how this would be done.

"We are concerned that words like 'torrent' might be harder to use on Google," he said.

"Many small software groups and movie makers depend on torrents for legitimate distribution. There is no reason why they should be put at a disadvantage."

[james0246]

American first-line politicians (Palin, Gingrich etc) are openly demanding that Assange should be assassinated.

I thought they were only demanding the actual American citizens and army personal who released the information be tried for treason, not Assange specifically?

[mindovermatter]

what makes me most mad out of the recent censorships of the internet was google deleting piracy terms off of google instant. It's not googles job to try to control what people search for.
and yeah...I used to think that wikileaks was wrong for doing what they're doing...but I realized that they're just keeping the government accountable and transparent. I'm sure they wouldn't care if it were Chinese or Iranian documents leaked. I think the real reason why the government targeted all those torrent sites without legal authority was because they are afraid of wikileaks, and a lot of what wikileaks has is shared and spread over torrent sites.
Some small island country is going to make big bucks off of selling uncensored and unmonitored server space.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by james0246

I thought they were only demanding the actual American citizens and army personal who released the information be tried for treason, not Assange specifically?

Palin used her Twitter account to compare Assange to Bin Laden and started a rant why he isn't pursued with the same intensity.

Gingrich demanded that Assange be declared "enemy combatant, a total enemy waging war against the United States" who must "not feel comfortable for the rest of his life".

Joe Lieberman basically announced: I am Homeland Security and you are to cease being involved with this organization which many say is a Terrorist group and Enemy Combatant.

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by james0246

I thought they were only demanding the actual American citizens and army personal who released the information be tried for treason, not Assange specifically?

Nobody is saying Assange should be tried for treason. He isn't a United States Citizen so he doesn't fall under that description.

Assassination is a whole 'nother story.

Now the guy who sold out this information to Assange, he should be facing a firing squad. However, I don't see it happening with the current people in Political Power here in the U.S.

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by Mentar

Lieberman successfully managed to pressure Amazon not to host Wikileak pages anymore. Same for Tableau, who was used to visualize charts.

It was also against the Amazon TOS and was under a significant DDoS. As much as I'm sure Amazon loved the bill it was racking up, I'm sure they'd rather just use their TOS escape clause since it gets everyone off their back.

He also succeeded in getting the DNS entry for wikileaks.org deleted by EveryDNS. The site has since moved to wikileaks.ch

Neither of these are actually censorship.

There's an international warrant issued for Wikileaks representative Assange for alleged rape in Sweden.

There seems to be some confusion over what Interpol did:

Originally Posted by Interpol

An Interpol Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant.

The Library of Congress (!) has blocked access to the Wikileaks site on its staff computers and on the wireless network that visitors use.

Now this would be censorship.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by justinstrife

Nobody is saying Assange should be tried for treason. He isn't a United States Citizen so he doesn't fall under that description.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...ieve_wikil.php

Multiple followup links within this article, who was exactly calling for what.

Assassination is a whole 'nother story.

So what's your position on that? Yes or no?

Now the guy who sold out this information to Assange, he should be facing a firing squad.

With or without trial? Just asking.

However, I don't see it happening with the current people in Political Power here in the U.S.

Let me quote one of the few GOP politicians that I really respect here: "When Truth Becomes Treason We're In Big Trouble."

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by bayoab

It was also against the Amazon TOS and was under a significant DDoS. As much as I'm sure Amazon loved the bill it was racking up, I'm sure they'd rather just use their TOS escape clause since it gets everyone off their back.

Let's not play stupid. I don't care what excuse they finally pulled. It was clear that they took it down in reaction to an inquiry of a Lieberman staffer who demanded to know "if there are any plans to take it down".

And don't get me wrong: Amazon aren't the bad guys here, merely spineless wimps. It's that political pressure is applied to suppress informations not for evil terrorists (they'll get it by other means), but for the American public. You don't consider this worrisome?

(about the DNS deletions) Neither of these are actually censorship.

Of course they are. It's the clear intention to make the site unavailable to the people.

Now this would be censorship.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...ks.php?ref=fpa

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by Mentar

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...ieve_wikil.php

Multiple followup links within this article, who was exactly calling for what.



So what's your position on that? Yes or no?



With or without trial? Just asking.



Let me quote one of the few GOP politicians that I really respect here: "When Truth Becomes Treason We're In Big Trouble."

Read your own articles Mentar. The person responsible for the leak should be tried for treason. Not Assange.

Until I have a chance to discuss the wiki-leaks contents with a couple of my friends who work for Intelligence and/or homeland security, I am staying neutral on whether he should be assassinated or not. What my comment said though, was accurate. Assassination and shot for treason are two different things.

And of course after a trial by Military Judges.

Just because you respect someone, doesn't mean I have to respect them or their opinions.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Mentar

So what's your position on that? Yes or no?

while it would satisyinh to some the last thing the US wants/Needs is to turn this guy into some sort of martyr.

With or without trial? Just asking.

He should be given a very fair trial where he will be found guilty of treason and immediately put in front of a firing squad.

[synaesthetic]

The person responsible for the leak ought to be given a fucking medal.

Anything that keeps the US government from doing something on a monumental potential-to-start-World-War-III level of stupidity is a good guy. With this info out, it'll be a lot harder to justify bombing Iran.

Edit: If things keep going at the rate they are--the TSA bullshit, COICA and ACTA, censorship of Wikileaks, more and more totalitarian behavior from the US government, we just might live to see Civil War Two.

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

The person responsible for the leak ought to be given a fucking medal.

Anything that keeps the US government from doing something on a monumental potential-to-start-World-War-III level of stupidity is a good guy. With this info out, it'll be a lot harder to justify bombing Iran.

Edit: If things keep going at the rate they are--the TSA bullshit, COICA and ACTA, censorship of Wikileaks, more and more totalitarian behavior from the US government, we just might live to see Civil War Two.

Create a thread on that. Be interesting to see everyone's thoughts about a second American Civil War, who would be fighting on both sides, and what the outcome would be.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

The person responsible for the leak ought to be given a fucking medal.

Anything that keeps the US government from doing something on a monumental potential-to-start-World-War-III level of stupidity is a good guy. With this info out, it'll be a lot harder to justify bombing Iran.

Edit: If things keep going at the rate they are--the TSA bullshit, COICA and ACTA, censorship of Wikileaks, more and more totalitarian behavior from the US government, we just might live to see Civil War Two.

Originally Posted by justinstrife

Create a thread on that. Be interesting to see everyone's thoughts about a second American Civil War, who would be fighting on both sides, and what the outcome would be.

no civil war but i do see fragmenting into several different chunks

Pacific States Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Colorado

New England + Great Lake States.

Texas

Alaska

Gulf Coast States

South East States

Florida

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

no civil war but i do see fragmenting into several different chunks

Pacific States Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Colorado

New England + Great Lake States.

Texas

Alaska

Gulf Coast States

South East States

Florida

Where does Arizona and New Mexico fit into all of this? It wouldn't be going with California, I can promise you that.

[Xellos-_^]

on there own, i doubt Texas would be stupid enough to take them either. Same with states like Utah and Idaho (which at least has potatos).

[synaesthetic]

While I admit mass fragmentation is the most likely result, I hope that a second civil war would be The Assfucked American Public vs. The Government, The Corporatists and the Crooks.

But I'm just dreaming here...

[flying ^]

wikileaks is still accessible u know

http://213.251.145.96/
http://wikileaks.nl/
http://213.251.145.96/
http://wikileaks.ch/

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Edit: If things keep going at the rate they are--the TSA bullshit, COICA and ACTA, censorship of Wikileaks, more and more totalitarian behavior from the US government, we just might live to see Civil War Two.

Originally Posted by justinstrife

Create a thread on that. Be interesting to see everyone's thoughts about a second American Civil War, who would be fighting on both sides, and what the outcome would be.

Oh that would defiantly be interesting to see the United States go into a second Civil War, especially with all the totalitarianism that seems to be vastly spreading through the US government. But we would probably just see lots, and lots of riots going around with people getting awfully pissy. But if it did get more serious then mere riots, then the US government might as well get overwhelmed by all the other angry states that despise what they are doing. Of course these are mere speculations.

But of course, situations will not grow "this" serious... Well... I hope not

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

While I admit mass fragmentation is the most likely result, I hope that a second civil war would be The Assfucked American Public vs. The Government, The Corporatists and the Crooks.

But I'm just dreaming here...

You are.

Nearly a 140 years ago, over half a million people died to keep the Union together.

I doubt anyone is going to let a guy like Assange break it apart, regardless of the leaks that are coming out.

In my eyes, America has just joined the illustrious ranks of the likes of China (censorship) and Iran (instigation for murder). Nevermind the Red Khmer (Torture/Waterboarding) before. Warrantless spying on the citizens (Stasi in East Germany) is old news. And people don't even realize it. How depressing is that?

Ironically Wikileaks was created to expose the bad things and spread news in regards to countries like China.

I can't put the current disgust that I feel about the unmasked monster into words, and it's hard for me to contain it. But I have to say that watching this mad witchhunt made me pessimistic about the current state of "civilization".

I'm quite surprised actually by some of the reactions. Some of these things I had thought about or known about or suspected. I mean these leaders and such are human afterall and there's no way I am alone in that aspect.

IMO the guy is just an attention seeker. Sooner or later this is going to bite him back in the butt and his name will get destroyed.