[governance] WikiLeaks website pulled by Amazon after US homeland

[McTim]

Hi,

2010/12/2 Guru गुरु <Guru at itforchange.net>:
> McTim wrote:
>
> Hello Guru,
>
> 2010/12/2 Guru गुरु <Guru at itforchange.net>:
>
>
> It seems that FOE is to be selectively applied / prescribed for the rest of
> the world.
>
>
> I'm not sure this is a FOE issue.
>
> If I hacked IT4Change system and published all documents of yours
> whether sensitive or no, would that be my right to FOE?
>

I note that you haven't answered my question.

>
> The point is, how does a western private entity (Amazon) censor information
> on basis of political pressures in the US, without any due process of law
> being followed - is this not violation of FOE?

I don't know if it was political pressure, more of the threat of a
boycott.  the decision to take wikileaks as a hosting customer clearly
wasn't thought through very well.

Was it a violation of FOE or censorship? probably not.  If it was,
then doesn't this add more weight to the argument NOT to give
governments greater control over Internet policy issues?

If one sees the USG docs as USG Intellectual Property, then its easy
to see how the amazon.com domain could have been seized, as we saw in
other cases last week.  Chilling indeed for a corporation like Amazon.

>
> Secondly, Govts have a larger accountability to the public - this is now
> popular in many countries as 'freedom of information' or 'right to
> information' where the public has a right to government information, with
> specified exceptions - so comparing USG to IT for Change is not useful.

Most of this information would have been blacked out in any FOI
request release...or just not made available period.


My point is that if your org has sensitive (or not) information, do
you not have an interest in having it not released to the public?
Would you not be a tad upset if all of your emails for example were
put online by a hacker?  I think you might.

-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
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