German cops raid Wikileaks
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Seven police officers in Dresden, Germany, and four in Jena, raided the home of Theodor Reppe, holder of the domain registration for “wikileaks.de”, the German name for wikileaks.org.
“According to police documentation, the reason for the search was ‘distribution of pornographic material’ and ‘discovery of evidence’,” says Wikileaks, going on
Police claim the raid was initiated because Reppe is registered as the Wikileaks.de domain owner, states.
‘ … immediate criminal prosecution’
The site is run by Australian, Julian Assange (right), who’s, “worked as a security consultant, professional hacker, activist and researcher” and who now, “splits his time between Kenya and Tanzania,” said The Age last year.
This won’t be the first time the site has been the subject of unwelcome attention on the part of German enforcement authorities.
In December,2008, the BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst), Germany’s CIA equivalent, promised to direct “immediate criminal prosecution” at Wikileaks with if it didn’t take down all, “files or reports related to the BND”.
Spy boss Ernst Uhrlau (right), “claims to have already engaged the BND`s legal machinery,” said Wikileaks, pointing out, “an international scandal broke out after three BND secret agents were arrested and deported from Kosovo after photographing a bomb site”.
German magazine Der Spiegel described it as a “covert cock-up”.
The spy agency threats made by Uhrlau, “were triggered by the Wikileaks publication of an article by Tom Burghardt, a US journalist, on the BND`s bungled Kosovo operation, together with a classified BND dossier on senior Kosovo figures from 2005 â both of which were specifically named by Mr. Uhrlau,” said Wikileaks.
‘Time of at least 11 police detectives wasted’
This time around, “Police did not want to give any further information to Mr. Reppe and no contact was made with Wikileaks before or after the search,” says Wikileaks, going on »»»
It is therefore not totally clear why the search was made, however Wikileaks, in its role as a defender of press freedoms, has published censorship lists for Australia, Thailand, Denmark and other countries. Included on the lists are references to sites containing pornography and no other material has been released by Wikileaks relating to the subject.
Some details of the search raise questions:
* Wikileaks was not contacted before the search, despite Wikileaks having at least two journalists which are recognized members of the German Press Association (Deutscher Presse Verband).
* The time of at least 11 police detectives was wasted conducting a futile raid on the private home of volunteer assistant to a media organization.
* Police asked for the passwords to the “wikileaks.de” domain and for the entire domain to be disabled.
* Mr Reppe was not informed of his rights; police documentation clearly shows that box to be left unchecked.
* Contrary to what is stated in the police protocol, Mr. Reppe did not agree to “not having a witness” present.
Ultimately, Mr Reppe refused to sign the police documentation due to its inaccuracies.
The raid appears to be related to a recent German social hysteria around child pornography and the controversial battle for a national censorship system by the German family minister Ursula von der Leyen. It comes just a few weeks after a member of parliament, SPD minister Joerg Tauss had his office and private house searched by police. German bloggers discussing the subject were similarly raided.
Mr. Reppe sponsors the Wikileaks German domain registration and mirrors a collection of Wikileaks US Congressional Research Service reports but is not otherwise operationally involved. Mr Reppe is also maintainer of one of the most popular German Tor-proxy servers (morphium.info) but only the connection to Wikileaks was mentioned during the raid.
Wikileaks.de and other Wikileaks domains were unaffected by the raid, says the post.
Wikileaks is a non-profit project, sponsored by transparency groups and investigative journalists.
(Thanks, Marc)
Wikileaks – Police raid home of Wikileaks.de domain owner over censorship lists, March 24, 2009
The Age – The Aussie who`s changing the world of whistleblowers, July 8, 2008
Wikileaks – German spy chief threatens Wikileaks, December 19, 2008
Der Spiegle - Germany`s Failed Spy Mission in Kosovo, December 1, 2008
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March 26th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
any prrof before hand or just
the old perverbeal , we’ll say that and plant evidence later thing.
WE TRUST govt don’t we
March 26th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I saw the headline on the 24th around 11-pm eastern. Then the .org site reverted to headlines showing only the stuf from the 20th.
I went to wikileaks.ca. The .ca showed the same on the 24th, reverted to the 20th.
I went to the wikileaks .de domains and it was the same.
I went to the .se domain and it showed all current.
Then .se reverted to the 20th 9-ish AM eatsren on the 25th
Then all went back to norm later in the afternoon on the 25th.
So something happened that affected certain domains/countries.
March 29th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
This is why I like p2pnet.net Stories that are ignored by mainstream media. Thanks for being around!