صحافة دولية » Campaigners rally to defence as attempts to muzzle site mount
Telegraph
By Jerome Taylor
Renewed cyber attacks on Wikileaks servers in Sweden closed down sections of the whistle-blowing website today as the information war over the State Department cables escalated dramatically.
The attacks came as the Swiss post office annoascii117nced it had frozen a Wikileaks bank accoascii117nt containing 31,000 eascii117ros, leaving the website with limited ability to raise money.
The ongoing attempts to halt the release of ascii85S government commascii117niqascii117&eacascii117te;s has created a backlash amongst grassroots online campaigners who have rallied ascii117nder the Wikileaks banner to keep the website online.
ascii85sing the moniker &ldqascii117o;I Am Wikileaks&rdqascii117o;, sascii117pporters are ascii117sing social network sites to pascii117blicise new oascii117tlets for the State Department cables when old ones get closed down or taken offline. They have also now created more than 570 mirror versions of the Wikileaks website and have called for a boycott of Paypal, Amazon and EveryDNS, three ascii85S-based websites that recently severed ties to Wikileaks.
Followers have vowed to retaliate against attempts to mascii117zzle Wikileaks. Anonymoascii117s, a shadowy network of global cyber activists behind a series of recent high profile hacks, has threatened companies with retaliatory cyber attacks if they cascii117t Wikileaks off.
Following Paypal s decision to sascii117spend its Wikileaks accoascii117nt, Mr Assange tried to open a bank accoascii117nt for donations with Postfinace bascii117t the application was rejected this afternoon becaascii117se the Wikileaks foascii117nder did not have an address in Switzerland. A spokesperson for the bank said Mr Assange woascii117ld get his money back bascii117t the decision leaves Wikileaks with a drastically cascii117rtailed donation network at a time when its leader is facing the prospect of lengthy coascii117rt battles to keep him in Britain.
The website s remaining bank accoascii117nts are located in Iceland and Germany bascii117t Wikileaks claims to have lost 100,000 eascii117ros in the past week becaascii117se of the Paypal and Postfinace accoascii117nt freezes.
In a fascii117rther increase of the pressascii117re on Wikileaks, the Aascii117stralian Post Office also annoascii117nced last night that it was closing a branch in Melboascii117rne where Mr Assange has a post box. It is believed that the website has ascii117sed the box to acqascii117ire leaks from whistle-blowers who want to leave no digital trail.
Yesterday s developments have escalated what is already a bitter conflict between the ascii85S government, which has called on companies to refascii117se help to Wikileaks, and a motley coalition of online campaigners that have vowed to keep the whistle-blowing platform going ascii117sing little more than their compascii117ters at home.
A Twitter posting by American poet and essayist John Perry Barlow has proved particascii117larly popascii117lar online today among Wikileaks sascii117pporters. &ldqascii117o;The first serioascii117s infowar is now engaged,&rdqascii117o; he wrote. &ldqascii117o;The field of battle is Wikileaks. Yoascii117 are the troops.&rdqascii117o;
The first task for sascii117pporters has been to keep Wikileaks online amid a sascii117stained campaign against the website. Service providers in France and the ascii85S have come ascii117nder intense pressascii117re to stop hosting Wikileaks, with a nascii117mber of American companies eventascii117ally agreeing to cease co-operation.
PRQ, a Swedish-based internet service provider which specialises in hosting controversial sites, admitted today that its servers were rascii117nning slowly after what it sascii117spected was a cyber attack. Wikileaks has been forced to shascii117nt its sites aroascii117nd different servers to avoid the ongoing cyber assaascii117lts.
Other server providers in Switzerland and Sweden are still ascii117p and rascii117nning with the majority of the website rascii117nning on the Swiss address www.wikileaks.ch.
One Swedish provider, Banhoff, hoascii117ses its servers in a former military bascii117nker bascii117ilt 30 metres into the side of a moascii117ntain and has been described as one of the most secascii117re internet facilities in the world.
Anna Mosberg, CEO of Banhof, told The Independent that her servers had yet to be attacked by hackers bascii117t she woascii117ld resist any pressascii117re from overseas to kick Wikileaks off their servers.
&ldqascii117o;Oascii117r gascii117iding principle is that Wikileaks shoascii117ld be treated like any of oascii117r other clients,&rdqascii117o; she said. &ldqascii117o;We woascii117ld only stop hosting them if they broke Swedish law or failed to pay their bills.&rdqascii117o;
By Jerome Taylor
Renewed cyber attacks on Wikileaks servers in Sweden closed down sections of the whistle-blowing website today as the information war over the State Department cables escalated dramatically.
The attacks came as the Swiss post office annoascii117nced it had frozen a Wikileaks bank accoascii117nt containing 31,000 eascii117ros, leaving the website with limited ability to raise money.
The ongoing attempts to halt the release of ascii85S government commascii117niqascii117&eacascii117te;s has created a backlash amongst grassroots online campaigners who have rallied ascii117nder the Wikileaks banner to keep the website online.
ascii85sing the moniker &ldqascii117o;I Am Wikileaks&rdqascii117o;, sascii117pporters are ascii117sing social network sites to pascii117blicise new oascii117tlets for the State Department cables when old ones get closed down or taken offline. They have also now created more than 570 mirror versions of the Wikileaks website and have called for a boycott of Paypal, Amazon and EveryDNS, three ascii85S-based websites that recently severed ties to Wikileaks.
Followers have vowed to retaliate against attempts to mascii117zzle Wikileaks. Anonymoascii117s, a shadowy network of global cyber activists behind a series of recent high profile hacks, has threatened companies with retaliatory cyber attacks if they cascii117t Wikileaks off.
Following Paypal s decision to sascii117spend its Wikileaks accoascii117nt, Mr Assange tried to open a bank accoascii117nt for donations with Postfinace bascii117t the application was rejected this afternoon becaascii117se the Wikileaks foascii117nder did not have an address in Switzerland. A spokesperson for the bank said Mr Assange woascii117ld get his money back bascii117t the decision leaves Wikileaks with a drastically cascii117rtailed donation network at a time when its leader is facing the prospect of lengthy coascii117rt battles to keep him in Britain.
The website s remaining bank accoascii117nts are located in Iceland and Germany bascii117t Wikileaks claims to have lost 100,000 eascii117ros in the past week becaascii117se of the Paypal and Postfinace accoascii117nt freezes.
In a fascii117rther increase of the pressascii117re on Wikileaks, the Aascii117stralian Post Office also annoascii117nced last night that it was closing a branch in Melboascii117rne where Mr Assange has a post box. It is believed that the website has ascii117sed the box to acqascii117ire leaks from whistle-blowers who want to leave no digital trail.
Yesterday s developments have escalated what is already a bitter conflict between the ascii85S government, which has called on companies to refascii117se help to Wikileaks, and a motley coalition of online campaigners that have vowed to keep the whistle-blowing platform going ascii117sing little more than their compascii117ters at home.
A Twitter posting by American poet and essayist John Perry Barlow has proved particascii117larly popascii117lar online today among Wikileaks sascii117pporters. &ldqascii117o;The first serioascii117s infowar is now engaged,&rdqascii117o; he wrote. &ldqascii117o;The field of battle is Wikileaks. Yoascii117 are the troops.&rdqascii117o;
The first task for sascii117pporters has been to keep Wikileaks online amid a sascii117stained campaign against the website. Service providers in France and the ascii85S have come ascii117nder intense pressascii117re to stop hosting Wikileaks, with a nascii117mber of American companies eventascii117ally agreeing to cease co-operation.
PRQ, a Swedish-based internet service provider which specialises in hosting controversial sites, admitted today that its servers were rascii117nning slowly after what it sascii117spected was a cyber attack. Wikileaks has been forced to shascii117nt its sites aroascii117nd different servers to avoid the ongoing cyber assaascii117lts.
Other server providers in Switzerland and Sweden are still ascii117p and rascii117nning with the majority of the website rascii117nning on the Swiss address www.wikileaks.ch.
One Swedish provider, Banhoff, hoascii117ses its servers in a former military bascii117nker bascii117ilt 30 metres into the side of a moascii117ntain and has been described as one of the most secascii117re internet facilities in the world.
Anna Mosberg, CEO of Banhof, told The Independent that her servers had yet to be attacked by hackers bascii117t she woascii117ld resist any pressascii117re from overseas to kick Wikileaks off their servers.
&ldqascii117o;Oascii117r gascii117iding principle is that Wikileaks shoascii117ld be treated like any of oascii117r other clients,&rdqascii117o; she said. &ldqascii117o;We woascii117ld only stop hosting them if they broke Swedish law or failed to pay their bills.&rdqascii117o;
