WikiLeaks: Internet backlash follows US pressure against whistleblowing site

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Individuals redirecting parts of their own sites to Swedish internet host amid 'censorship'

Charles Arthur, technology editor
Sunday December 05 2010 14.49 GMT

American pressure to dissuade companies in the US from supporting the WikiLeaks website has led to an online backlash in which individuals are redirecting parts of their own sites to its Swedish internet host.

Since early on Friday morning, it has been impossible to reach WikiLeaks by typing wikileaks.org into a web browser because everyDNS, which would redirect queries for the string "wikileaks.org" to that machine address, removed its support for Wikileaks, claiming that it had broken its terms of service by being the target of a huge hacker attack. (See What is DNS?)

Without a DNS record, it is only possible to reach WikiLeaks by typing in the string of numbers which, for most web users, is too unmemorable to make it feasible. That, campaigners say, points to the principal weakness in the internet's pyramidial DNS setup, where a limited number of site registrars can control whether a site is findable by name or not.

Website hosts are being encouraged to add a "/wikileaks" directory into their sites, redirecting to which redirects to http://88.80.13.160/, run by the Swedish hosting company Bahnhof.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/05/wikileaks-internet-backlash-us-pressure

[aquart]

1. Surprise!

[molly77]

6. Just read on Huff Po comments

that the US Army is not allowed to look at WikiLeaks or any site that posts experts , opinions, etc. Like Huffington Post. Julian Assuage is showing that WE are indeed Fascist.

[jwirr]

8. Wonder if the soldiers of this war are listening any better than the

ones in Vietnam did?

[EFerrari]

20. Viet Nam saw a huge anti-war movement within the ranks.

They weren't only listening, they were organizing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir!_No_Sir!

[Sonoman]

27. Yep.

"Uh,... we ain't going anywhere today, Sir."

Or...

"There's 25 of us and only one of you. Go fuck yourself while you still can."

But the kids in the ME are too programmed and un-informed to pull it off. The military learned from our experience in SE Asia - they will never allow the environment to reach that point again.

Sonoman

[molly77]

34. Another interesting long comment from The Guardian

After 330 years of democarcy it is event that greed is begining to push the US and other so called free countries toward totalitarian systems as the Wilileaks cables show. In the recent years Bush and his conservatives allies droped the pretense of no torture in the Iraq War and inprisioning people for nonpayment of debts is now allowed (if you don't pay your child support) despite the fact that it was one of the fighting points of the Revolutinary War of 1776. Also one person or womans word is enough to have a man sent to prision without any other evidence at all.

Thanks to the Patriot Act some people do not get a lawyer or bail or other benefits of the Bill of Rights. Obama and the liberals are continuing the trend if not leading the way. National Health care is an idea that should have come long ago, but to be threathened with jail if you do not get it...What kind of sense does that make?

Wikileaks publication of the documents that were taken from the government and the government's reaction to that only show how far down the path to dictatorship we are going. We have two choices (just as the Germans in the mid-1930's) fight for our freedoms or go as lambs to the slaughter and wait to see who the next anti-Christ will be?

[No Elephants]

36. "one person or woman's word " WTF? "Obama and the liberals continuing the trend... " WTF?

Since when is a woman different from a person? Or is that a dog whistle reference to the reality that so few rape victims can produce eyewitnesses? (In which case, also WTF?) And since when are liberals in cahoots with Obama to make nations less free?


:wtf:

[xTx]

48. INTERPOL warrant for not wearing a condom? 3 things the banks want you to believe about Wikileaks..

Three things the banks / government entities want you to believe:

--- Assange / Wikileaks are criminals. (so don't empathize with them.)

--- Wikileaks are filled with boring gossip everyone already knows. (so don't read the leaks.)

--- Wikileaks is trying to hurt you. (so don't try and stop us when we kill/imprison them.)

[saigon68]

43. Been there Done that

[No Elephants]

44. Different times. Sadly, the country has moved much to the right since then.

[EFerrari]

51. Way, far to the right and surrounded by Democrats

who keep justifying more rightward motion. It's unreal.

[Doctor_J]

55. No, they are fed Limpballs lies

indoctrinated much better than the VN grunts.

[Enthusiast]

10. But they are allowed to listen to Limbaugh.

WTF?

[Boudica the Lyoness]

17. Really!

My Democrat son was pissed off when he heard Limbaugh in Iraq!

[aquart]

13. Then you need a refresher in fascism.

[Wednesdays]

18. So, OFF to the re-education camp with you, Molly!

And we won't let you out until you get with the program!

[abqmufc]

26. Fascism defined...we seem to fit the bill.

Sure 12 years of political science studies in universities has my views skewed. However, if you need a refresher on the definition here it is.

I'd say the USA is well on the way....

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascist

[axollot]

39. Agreed. The only dif between the US and Mussolini's Italy is

he installed CEOs as government heads. In the US the CEOs paid for their government officials. Both do the bidding of a corporation so yep - well on our way. CU by SCOTUS was like the final nail.

Cheers
sandy

[No Elephants]

46. Mussolini installed CEOs as govt heads. Here, CEOS install politicians as govt heads, and

then write legislation for their minions to pass and sign.

[axollot]

50. LOL I thought that was what I had said? Same page clearly. n/t

[texastoast]

59. Review the list and check, check, check

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism ("Fascism Anyone?," {this list came out in 2003, as I recall} Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The excerpt is in accordance with the magazine's policy.

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.


Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.


Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.


Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.


Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.


Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.


Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.


Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.


Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.


Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .


Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.


Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.


Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.


Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

[onager]

14. Ditto for Americans working overseas. The embassies...

...are sending out dire warnings via e-mail. I was working overseas myself until 2009, and still hear from people I worked with.

Apparently the embassies are threatening Americans with treason charges if they even READ any of the leaked cables. Or even try to read them.

:rofl:

Yeah, good luck with that.

[molly77]

23. Guardian comment..it is long but killer

ikileaks has exposed the "fascism in disguise" attitude of the United States government within the past couple decades. I mean look at whats happening over this, Joe Lieberman has scared paypal, amazon and everydns.com into terminating there services with Wikileaks. As if it would stop information this big.. People running for government jobs have been sent emails threatening them by not allowing them a job just by reading the cables. We have stooped lower than China. Seriously china couldn't even see this address right now, because of what it includes. For a country to be so "in your face" about democracy and the rest of the world, this is FAR from democracy. Wikileaks has showed that the U.S. is just feeding the public crap, while doing whatever they want behind closed doors. Like someone said, even though he is Australian he is indeed a true American hero. He is giving the public what they want, the truth. You are idiotic if you believe democracy is voting and electing your government. There's much more to it. You know the Nazis had elections for officers, and such?

To the guy that said whats wrong with being anti-American. I tell you why, because 99.9% of American civilians DO NOT encourage, support, believe, nor care about what our government does or says. Its not that we truly dont care, its that no matter what we think, they will do as they please. If we want our voice heard, we must gather at the minimum a couple thousand people who share the same counter argument and present it to the supreme court or something of the sort, only to be turned down after a couple years of work, because in the end its what they say. Thats why Americans have an attitude of not caring.. Because no matter what, it doesn't matter to the people who have more "power" than us. So we just try to do our own thing. America is filled with a great diversity of people, and not one believes, thinks, looks, or acts the same as the next. To hate us because of what our Fascist, in your face government is ignorant and judgmental that shows a lot about yourself. I'm so sick of traveling and getting shit from half of the population because of what my government says or does. In the words of the crappy pop group "Outkast" "I know you like to think your sh!t dont stank, but lean a little bit closer and see that roses really smell like poo-poo." The funniest part about all these countries judging us, Is our country is actually a gathering of all the people who hated your countries in the first place.. There is only about 6-8 generations of actual "born in America" Americans. Its so diverse in fact, that the Caucasians which used to be the majority, is now a minority.

I really respected the Guardian. For an editor to post this, is just ludicrous. YOU WERE THE ONES TO FIRST RECEIVE THE CABLES, IF YOU FORGOT ALREADY. This is the beginning of the info wars.

[molly77]

25. The Guardian's online comments are unbelievable.

Very well informed.

[Doctor_J]

56. Where are the comments?

I can't find the link @ article

[No Elephants]

37. IOKIODI

It's O.K. if Obama does it.

[greiner3]

2. Once all the files reach a few Torrent sites;

The US will have lost this battle.

[bemildred]

5. That part is already over.

The argument at this point is about two things:

1.) Administration of punishment to the disobedient.
2.) Preventing future releases.

This effort is almost certainly futile, even if successful, which remains in doubt, because the idea is now out there and the barriers to entry are low. The cat is out of the bag, it has been shown that it can be done. I would wager that Wikileaks is doing nicely in the fund-raising department at this point too, so it can be rewarding. Mind you, I am not suggesting Wikileaks is all about money, I'm just pointing out that there will be plenty of people who will find that idea motivating.

The idea has been around for a while actually, Smoking Gun for example, but Wikileaks has taken it to a new level.

[backscatter712]

11. Fundraising could be a problem. Pay"pal" yoinked Wikileaks' account.

My bet is that there are other donation arrangements going into place, but this is gonna hurt their finances.

[defendandprotect]

21. Here's the way to donate to Wikileaks ....

http://wikileaks.ch/support.html

[tinrobot]

31. Page Load Error

[defendandprotect]

62. Guess that was good news ... ??? The link is working now ....

[Grinchie]

33. Don't look now, but lots of Torrent sites were shut down last week for Copyright infringement...

That's right, the Attorney General premptively shut down a bunch of file sharing sites in a transparent effort to quash the outflow of the Wikileaks dump..

It was all hidden in plain site as a bunch of Hackers pirating songs and software being shut down by redirecting the DNS to a scary web page.

[axollot]

40. They have before each leak there have been insurance dumps on torrent sites..

Remember the week b4 the 'big release' the DoHS came after torrent sites and closed them down in the name of HS. It's all a dog n pony show.

Cheers
Sandy

[LongTomH]

3. A friend sent me this link to CableSearch Beta

Cable Search Beta is an ultra-fast search engine for already published documents from WikiLeaks.

[Turborama]

4. Thanks for that link. I've also posted an OP which shows how you can download a fully formatted

... version of everything that had been released up until the time of posting: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9693332

:thumbsup: ;-)

[snot]

28. Thanks!

[villager]

7. Oh -- the same U.S. where that "transparency" guy won the last Presidential election?

n/t

[SoapBox]

9. Welcome to the new America...aka China, Russia, the old East Germany, Iran...etc. etc.

...where the dictators rule and everyone else best be quiet.

[NoodleyAppendage]

12. Where to get the Wikileaks "Insurance" file? I'd like a copy before it too is disappeared.

Anyone have a URL for the "insurance" files?

J

[keepfreespeechalive]

16. Here is the torrent tracker

https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5723136/WikiLeaks_insurance

Enjoy your free speech!

[axollot]

41. You will need to download a program like bittorrent to d/l the file. n/t

[keepfreespeechalive]

15. Blocking Wikileaks is not about preventing information from getting out

it's about preventing the people from reading it.

[defendandprotect]

22. Exactly .... and if Assange gets away with this, imagine how many more will try???

Nothing new in US's foul and vicious behavior -- but imo they'll take this

very seriously for that reason.

[defendandprotect]

19. Thanks for the info and links ...

hadn't caught up with the original stories --

[Odin2005]

24. Yiu will not win, you Fascist bastards!

[No Elephants]

45. Look around. They've already won. And very few care enough to turn off the TV or computer and

actually do something about it.

P.S. I really enjoy your posts.

[Odin2005]

47. Naw, they only think they have won.

:hi: :evilgrin:

[Kaleko]

58. Agreed. Their world-domination schemes are crumbling before our eyes.

The system is breaking down. The fallout is such that no eyes will stay dry, but they have lost the information war.

[snot]

29. K&R'd

[defendandprotect]

30. kicky

[Shining Jack]

32. K&R

When I thought that it couldn't get worse...



How naive.

[Democratic Purist]

35. donations to WikiLeaks

If you really support WikiLeaks dump your Amazon.com, Paypal and Ebay accounts. It's something you can do and it doesn't cost you a dime.
if even a million people did that? That's noticeable!

[No Elephants]

38. Paybal is well worth dumping. If your vendor is a cheat, tough luck, unless you know in 30 days.

If it's a case of non-delivery and your vendor has been stringing you along with "I'm checking with my supplier' type emails, you're SOL with Paypal. A major credit card works with you on fraud.

P.S. I told them I was closing my account bc Paypal had cut off wikileaks. If you don't hear from me after a few weeks, try writing no elephants, c/o Gitmo.

[varelse]

49. Note to self

1) Cancel Paypal & Amazon accounts when I get home from work
2) find alternative payment method for monthly DU donation

Thanks for the heads up :)

[Hubert Flottz]

42. The cat is out of the bag...

"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you"

Looks like our Bible Thumping leaders never really gave a shit about the "Golden Rule." Their "Faith" is a stage prop. A weapon they use to deceive the foolish.

Blocking the internet sounds like shit China would do.

[FraDon]

52. Obviously the wrong Golden Rule …

Their true operating principle is the self-serving, self-dealing other Golden Rule:

☞ Those with the gold make the rules.

… because they're certain that we can't handle the truth; as you say, "shit China would do."

[ElsewheresDaughter]

53. "They" are so afraid of these truths being revealed to the people of China and India they will do...

anything and everything to prevent it....they are more afraid of a revolution from these people against their elite corporate asses. They want to control what these people think/know about them. They don't want the people in these giant developing economies to get all uppity on their asses and start demanding good clean water, good health and safe environment ....they need to keep them ignorant of the toxins that these manufacturing jobs will have on their children lives.

They don't give a fuck what Wikileak's reveals to the U.S. citizens beyond their fears of how much we can communicate to the rest of the world's citizens of the contents of these documents and the extent of the evil these rich elite fuckers will go to get more more more wealth even at the cost of every human life

I just know that they don't care what we learn from these files and that they fear more what the rest of the world finds out about all of the world leader's dastardly deeds.

[mikelgb]

54. I hope DU and I helped start the trend:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9683466

you can point unused urls too, rather than just a section of your site.

www.mikelbrowning.com

[ElsewheresDaughter]

57. they don't care what we learn from Wiki files. they fear more what the rest

of the world finds out about all of the world leader's dastardly deeds. They fear the world seeing that their leaders are all evil bastards who will get richer and richer at the cost of every human life on the planet.


"They" are so afraid of these truths being revealed to the people of the world especially China and India

They want to control what these people think/know and do. They don't want the people in these giant developing economies to get all uppity on their ass and start demanding human treatment such as good clean water, good health and safe environment some dignity ....they need to keep them ignorant of their dastardly deeds and the poisons/toxins that their manufacturing jobs will have on their DISPOSABLE lives.



They don't give a fuck what Wikileak's reveals to the U.S. citizens beyond the fear of how much we can communicate/spread it to the rest of the world's citizens.

the contents of these files/documents expose the extent that these rich elite evil fuckers will go to get more more more even at the cost of every human life

I feel like I'm losing my mind

[Dems2002]

60. Hmmm

This is interesting. It makes me feel like they haven't learned anything. I was happy to be lazy and read the press reports rather than the documents themselves. Now, I'm much more inclined to read the documents because the government is working so hard on the attack.

[kgnu_fan]

61. USA is isolated more and more... people of the world know