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No Freedom of INFO? Swiss rule world

SPINTECK

Turbo Monkey
Oct 16, 2005
1,370
0
abc
This is something that I feel is one of those real issues that you never hear about due to all the emotional distracting pseudo news.

It' scary to think information in this country about banking in other countries can be ordered by our courts to be taken off line. EVen when belgium and India allow it. That's because we are the sheep of the world now. check it out.

WHen some of the smartest minds around the world can post facts anonymously (proven through documents !), the super rich get super scared.

This happened in California, but I wonder why I had to read about in a BBC article?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7250916.stm

Whistle-blower site taken offline

The case was brought by lawyers working for a Swiss bank
A controversial website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US.
Wikileaks.org, as it is known, was cut off from the internet following a California court ruling, the site says.

The case was brought by a Swiss bank after "several hundred" documents were posted about its offshore activities.

Other versions of the pages, hosted in countries such as Belgium and India, can still be accessed.

However, the main site was taken offline after the court ordered that Dynadot, which controls the site's domain name, should remove all traces of wikileaks from its servers.

The court also ordered that Dynadot should "prevent the domain name from resolving to the wikileaks.org website or any other website or server other than a blank park page, until further order of this Court."

Other orders included that the domain name be locked "to prevent transfer of the domain name to a different domain registrar" to prevent changes being made to the site.

Wikileaks claimed that the order was "unconstitutional" and said that the site had been "forcibly censored".

Web names

The case was brought by lawyers working for the Swiss banking group Julius Baer. It concerned several documents posted on the site which allegedly reveal that the bank was involved with money laundering and tax evasion.


The site was founded in 2006

The documents were allegedly posted by Rudolf Elmer, former vice president of the bank's Cayman Island's operation.

A spokesperson for Julius Baer said he could not comment on the case because of "pending legal proceedings".

The BBC understands that Julius Baer asked for the documents to be removed because they could have an impact on a separate legal case ongoing in Switzerland.

The court hearing took place last week and Dynadot blocked access from Friday evening.

Wikileaks says it was not represented at the hearing because it was "given only hours notice" via e-mail.

A document signed by Judge Jeffery White, who presided over the case, ordered Dynadot to follow six court orders.

As well as removing all records of the site form its servers, the hosting and domain name firm was ordered to produce "all prior or previous administrative and account records and data for the wikileaks.org domain name and account".

The order also demanded that details of the site's registrant, contacts, payment records and "IP addresses and associated data used by any person...who accessed the account for the domain name" to be handed over.

Wikileaks allows users to post documents anonymously.

Information bank

The site was founded in 2006 by dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and technologists from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

It so far claims to have published more than 1.2 million documents.

It provoked controversy when it first appeared on the net with many commentators questioning the motives of the people behind the site.

It recently made available a confidential briefing document relating to the collapse of the UK's Northern Rock bank.

Lawyers working on behalf of the bank attempted to have the documents removed from the site. They can still be accessed.

Dynadot was contacted for this article but have so far not responded to requests for comment.
 

Plummit

Monkey
Mar 12, 2002
233
0
The judge's order only affected the domain name, although that almost certainly was not the intention. The site is still up, accessible here.
 

SPINTECK

Turbo Monkey
Oct 16, 2005
1,370
0
abc
So when we talk about billions for healthcare, you speak up. We talk about freedom of information being taken away from us so bank dividend holders can steal billions you yawn???? I really hope you're rich b/c if you work for a living and stilll feel comfortable with all the exploitation, then your arguement is weak. Now if you make your money off dividends while you sit around on RM, then I can not beat your arguement for lack of concern because it's in your favor.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,669
1,713
chez moi
I'd like to see the court's ruling before I get all histrionic.

There could be solid legal reasoning behind it. Ed: IE, the first amendment doesn't give you a right to disseminate the stolen intellectual property of others.
 

SPINTECK

Turbo Monkey
Oct 16, 2005
1,370
0
abc
I'd like to see the court's ruling before I get all histrionic.

There could be solid legal reasoning behind it. Ed: IE, the first amendment doesn't give you a right to disseminate the stolen intellectual property of others.
I'm not sure about that. You can't infringe on a copyright production wise (for profit), but if the information is true, it's up to the company to keep it secret. I think you are only correct with government info, but even then there is the freedom of information act. Remember when the code for the either HD DVD or Blue Ray was leaked??
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,669
1,713
chez moi
Well, you could be right--and in fact, what I wrote was senseless--the first amendment only pertains to government interactions with the private sector, not private-private matters. And I'm no expert on civil law or any potentially applicable criminal statutes.

Just saying I'd want to read the opinion and learn a little before I got up in arms.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,669
1,713
chez moi
Sounds Un-American to me. :disgust::twitch:

You have spent far to long abroad Mike. Your thought processes must have become "tainted" :disgust1:
Luckily, you're here to be patronizing and keep the stereotype scales in balance... :p