German Wikileaks Domain Suspended Without Warning 215
mb writes to mention that Germany has gone one step further in impeding access to Wikileaks. Germany's registration authority, DENIC, recently suspended Wikileaks.de without notice. "The action comes two weeks after the house of the German WikiLeaks domain sponsor, Theodor Reppe, was searched by German authorities. Police documentation shows that the March 24, 2009 raid was triggered by WikiLeaks' publication of Australia's proposed secret internet censorship list. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) told Australian journalists that they did not request the intervention of the German government."
Is this really censorship? (Score:4, Interesting)
I read about this story on Wikileak's site (http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Germany_muzzles_Wikileaks)
This seems like Germany improperly suspending a domain name, but I don't think they are censoring any information in this move.
Re:work around (Score:2, Interesting)
Handful?
The situation in Germany is insane.
Being from Sweden, I've gone on several booze runs to Germany.
I speak a very neutral English (along with four other languages), and can easily pull off various accents to the point where I've had people:
*) Ask iIf I'm from Edinburgh
*) Ask if I'm from England
*) Ask if I'm polish
*) Ask if I'm australian
*) Called me "a fucking New York dick"
*) Ask me if I'm Canadian
I've tried talking to germans.
I've tried asking ~25 year olds for directions -- you'd expect "the Internet generation" to at least understand the language, right?
Wrong.
This is what comes from having every fucking TV show neutered by /dubbing/ it.
Jack fucking Bauer is dubbed.
Re:No sympathy for trust breakers (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you sure you understand what Wikileaks is all about? It is precisely about getting information that has been concealed from the public out so that knowledge of the truth of the world can be available. Most people live in a pretty strange dream world where there are "good guys" and "bad guys" and some really strange notions that are used to divide the world into factions that intend to kill one another.
As to your allegations of making information available for "identity theft" you are out of your head. There is a bigger problem. No one can steal an identity. What people can do is make others think that they are someone else. That is not "theft." That is fraud. The people being stolen from through the use of fraudulent means are the people who most depend on a system of identification that puts numeric tags on everyone for the purposes of tracking and controlling them. And when someone pretends to be someone else in order to fool someone else into giving them money, goods or services, in what bizarro world is it the "fault" of the person whose identity was forged or mimicked? "Identity theft" is the name given to fraudulent activity to make it seem as though the "victim" is the person whose identity was copied when the actual victims are those who were fooled by the fraudster. All of this is facilitated by these numeric tags and data records that are assigned to people. This system was created to make it easier to track and trust individuals for business purposes and somehow, the burden and the risk of managing such a system whose primary designers and beneficiaries are government and big money institutions has been placed on the shoulders of the individuals.
You might think your identity lies in the numbers and data records assigned to you. If you do, then you have bought into their game hook line and sinker. I don't. Stay out of debt and you will stay off of their system. People can attempt to "steal my identity" all they want, but since I stay out of debt, there is no way I can be harmed. (Yes, I know that increasingly employers and governments are using credit scores to determine if someone can be trusted... what a big dumb idea that is!)
This is why EU must fix itself before new members (Score:2, Interesting)
This is why I think we have to wait before we let Turkey join the EU. We've got to clean up our own house first, and the more nations are added that exhibit such behaviour (Turkey for example was somewhat recently in the news for banning richarddawkins.net) the harder the cleansing is going to be.
Re:Yeah, right (Score:2, Interesting)
If wikileaks is such a fan of transparency, I urge them to post their own contributors IP addresses, full names, and addresses; as well as everyone who provides them with any services or money or other support.
Re:Godwin's Law Bait. (Score:3, Interesting)
But, to be honest, I heard the jackboots on concrete as well...
It's scary how many posters here apparently can't tell the difference between (a) censoring a list of links, mainly to child porn, that is, rightly or wrongly, illegal to redistribute in the country concerned; and (b) killing or incarcerating millions based only on racial/religious prejudice. I guess making comparisons with the Nazis because this particular unpopular decision was made in Germany makes a certain type of person feel good. Irony, thy name is Slashdot.
Re:Is this really censorship? (Score:5, Interesting)
Then German law is improper. To say that it is illegal to tell the public what sites have been blocked, indeed, disappeared by another government is beyond fascist. The child pornography gambit has always been a ruse to allow censoring whatever the tyrants don't want us to see.
The reasoning is ever-expanding: child rape -> child sex -> child molestation -> child nudity -> teenage nudity -> clothed children in "arousing" poses -> breast-feeding photos -> clothed teenagers in "arousing" poses -> making photographs -> making drawings -> selling pictures -> sharing pictures -> posting pictures -> downloading pictures -> looking at pictures -> thinking unapproved thoughts about otherwise legal pictures -> linking to sites that have posted pictures -> linking to sites that link to sites that post pictures -> posting which sites are censored by your own government -> posting which sites are censored by other governments -> pointing out that some censored sites are not anarchist-communist-terrorist-liberal-necro-copro-sado-boogyman kiddy porn.
And if a policeman or prosecutor claims that you have gotten too close to doing any of the above, she can take down your whole site, especially the bits that are exposing government criminality, seize the domain name, take all your stuff and lock you up. Now there is no way of knowing what they have censored or redressing the intentional or sloppy misuse of the thoughtcrime statutes by the private companies that implement the secret laws. But - think of the children! It's for the children! Anyone who claims otherwise must be a anarchist-communist-terrorist-liberal-necro-copro-sado-pedophile-boogyman!
Re:Is this really censorship? (Score:2, Interesting)
Did you miss the ever-expanding list of things they can do to you?
take down your site -> seize your domain name -> lock you up -> take all your stuff -> take the stuff from all the people in the general vicinity [slashdot.org] of yours -> lock up everyone you discussed the site with -> lock up all people who associated with you in any way
Re:Is this really censorship? (Score:1, Interesting)
You know your comment may be far reaching - but isn't too far from the truth. A friend of mine was driving down the street with his little bother (he was 17 at the time, and the little bother was about 8) and they were playing 'punch buggy'. Just happens that the moment my friend socked his little brother in the arm, a child services rep was driving by in the other lane. Next thing you know, there are 3 police officers and 2 child service agents at their house, they have detained the 8 year old in state custody, held the parents and children for questioning overnight, and forced them to hire a VERY expensive lawyer to basically say "USE YOUR FUCKING COMMON SENSE IDIOT STATE OFFICIALS". Real story - and this was 10 years ago.
The great FW is not supported by Australians (many (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't know anyone who feels the need for this intrusion into civil liberties. It's step on of a new world order... 'shut the fuckers down'.
Re:Is this really censorship? (Score:2, Interesting)
Not all that surprising in a population of apes.
fnord
Re:work around (Score:3, Interesting)
But I don't complain too much, my German is still pretty bad, since I don't get lots of practice. Everyone here speaks ok English.
Re:No sympathy for trust breakers (Score:3, Interesting)
Employers also prefer to hire those with no family who can pledge their soul to the company and nothing else.
It's like they think they buy you when you sign the dotted line for IT jobs these days including scrutinizing many aspects of your personal life that are frankly none of their f**king business. I'm to the point now that I've declined to take urinalysis tests a few times because I'm tired of being treated like a criminal. And yes, I have clean urine.
I've got a job, it doesn't pay well, but I can afford to hold out for a company that lets me do my job in exchange for a paycheck, not meet their hypocritical moral standard, take abuse, have orders barked at me or generally be treated like a serf.
Last I checked they were simply renting a block of my time. They demand complete loyalty and devotion to the company but then you are the first to get harshly laid off with little or no notice and escorted out of the building because you're a potential threat. Never mind that you were a model employee and devoted your life to the company, they don't care. Never mind that you were well liked and never showed signs of vindictive behavior.
I guess there's a reason I'm teaching now.