Oct 27, 2004 : Motion Filed to Unseal Seizure Order

📅 October 27, 2004 - According to reports, a motion was filed in San Antonio court last Friday to unseal the federal order that led to the seizure of Rackspace Managed Hosting (rackspace.com 👉 Total Reviews: 16
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The motion comes in the midst of international outcry over the incident, which occurred earlier this month. Free speech advocates and media organizations have expressed their concerns over foreign governments being able to enlist the help of the US to shut down independent news sources. They claim the action is tantamount to censorship.
The motion was drafted by Kevin Bankston, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of digital rights. According to the EFF, the motion seeks to discover which agencies and governments are responsible for the seizure and shed light on the grounds for the action taken. In the motion, lawyers for the EFF argue ?the public and the press have a clear and compelling interest in discovering under what authority the government was able unilaterally to prevent Internet publishers from exercising their First Amendment rights."
Earlier this month, servers housed in the London-based data center of Rackspace Managed Hosting, were turned over to US authorities under a federal order. The servers were returned a week later, but neither Rackspace nor representatives for the US government have commented on the reasons for the seizure, which caused over 20 of Indymedia's 140 Web sites to go offline.
The seizure took place after posts were made on an Indymedia Web site that included photographs of two police officers investigating the anti-globalization riots that occurred during the G-8 in 2003. The photos were reportedly posted anonymously and included the name and address of one of the officers. Several reports said the US ministry of justice made the order on behalf of Swiss and Italian authorities.