In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Link: ‘Legal Aid for Whistle-Blower Site’
Background: Judge orders Wikileaks shut down
Key Players: Wikileaks.org, Julius Baer and Jeffrey S. White
Opinion & Analysis: Unconstitutional ruling and an expensive mistake
Reference: Wikis and domain registration explained
Related Topic: Who is John Shipton?
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Wikileaks.org Gets Help from ACLU
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Several groups have come to the legal aid of Wikileaks.org after a court ordered the domain name disabled. Critics call the ruling unconstitutional.
30-Second Summary
The BBC reports that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation will argue on behalf of Wikileaks.org during a Feb. 29 court hearing.
Ann Brick, an ACLU attorney, said that “blocking access to the entire site in response to a few documents posted there completely disregards the public's right to know.”
Wikileaks.org used to be the home of a wiki site that invites users to post confidential documents exposing corporate and government corruption.
But since Feb. 15, the day San Francisco Judge Jeffrey S. White ruled in favor of Julius Baer Bank and Trust and ordered Internet domain registrar Dynadot to disable the Wikileaks.org domain name, the address produces only a “server not found” message.
That, however, does not mean Wikileaks’ content has disappeared from the Internet.
Because the ruling ordered Dynadot to shut down just one domain name, it does not prevent the site from publishing its content on other Web addresses.
The site is now being hosted on SunshinePress.org, and can still be found at its original Internet Protocol address. But a temporary restraining order issued by Judge White prohibits Wikileaks and Dynadot from distributing the Julius Baer documents.
Wikileaks was not represented in the first court hearing because the identities of the site’s founders remain unknown—although the site was registered to a John Shipton in Nairobi.
In fact, anyone can anonymously register a domain, with many domain registrars offering to replace the registrant’s contact information with their own.
So long as the site complies with the rules and regulations of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, private registration is legal.
Opponents of White’s decision say that it violates the First Amendment. And Wikileaks has released a statement arguing that Julius Baer’s decision to pursue this lawsuit has drawn more attention to the confidential documents than they would have otherwise received.
Ann Brick, an ACLU attorney, said that “blocking access to the entire site in response to a few documents posted there completely disregards the public's right to know.”
Wikileaks.org used to be the home of a wiki site that invites users to post confidential documents exposing corporate and government corruption.
But since Feb. 15, the day San Francisco Judge Jeffrey S. White ruled in favor of Julius Baer Bank and Trust and ordered Internet domain registrar Dynadot to disable the Wikileaks.org domain name, the address produces only a “server not found” message.
That, however, does not mean Wikileaks’ content has disappeared from the Internet.
Because the ruling ordered Dynadot to shut down just one domain name, it does not prevent the site from publishing its content on other Web addresses.
The site is now being hosted on SunshinePress.org, and can still be found at its original Internet Protocol address. But a temporary restraining order issued by Judge White prohibits Wikileaks and Dynadot from distributing the Julius Baer documents.
Wikileaks was not represented in the first court hearing because the identities of the site’s founders remain unknown—although the site was registered to a John Shipton in Nairobi.
In fact, anyone can anonymously register a domain, with many domain registrars offering to replace the registrant’s contact information with their own.
So long as the site complies with the rules and regulations of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, private registration is legal.
Opponents of White’s decision say that it violates the First Amendment. And Wikileaks has released a statement arguing that Julius Baer’s decision to pursue this lawsuit has drawn more attention to the confidential documents than they would have otherwise received.
Headline Link: ‘Legal Aid for Whistle-Blower Site’
The BBC writes that 18 different organizations have pledged their support for the Web site in documents submitted to the court that will hear the case.
Source: The BBC
Background: Judge orders Wikileaks shut down
On Feb. 15, Judge Jeffrey S. White ordered that Internet domain name registrar Dynadot disable the Wikileaks.org site. However, because the ruling allows the site to republish its content at other Web addresses, it “suggests that the bank, and the judge, did not understand how the domain system works,” The New York Times reports.
Source: New York Times
Judge White issued an injunction to have Dyandot lock the Wikileaks.org page and prevent the site from transferring that domain to another registrar. The order also requires Dynadot to hand over to the court all administrative and account records related to the Wikileaks.org account. The New York Times provides the document as a PDF.
Source: The New York Times
Judge White also issued an amended temporary restraining order requiring Dynadot and Wikileaks.org to stop circulating the Julius Baer documents. The New York Times provides the order as a PDF.
Source: The New York Times
Key Players: Wikileaks.org, Julius Baer and Jeffrey S. White
Wikileaks.org
Wikileaks’ professed aim is to develop “an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking and public analysis. Our primary interests are in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we expect to be of assistance to peoples of all countries who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations.” The site is now hosted at SunshinePress.org (along with various other Web addresses).
Source: Sunshinepress.org
While the creators of the Wikileaks.org site choose to remain anonymous, Wikileaks does have an advisory board with names and photos disclosed.
Source: Wikileaks’ Internet Protocol address
Julius Baer Bank and Trust
Julius Baer Bank and Trust is part of the Swiss-based Julius Baer group founded in 1890. The finance institution’s holdings include banks, asset and wealth management and other financial services. It has offices around the globe, with the documents in question leaked from the Cayman Island branch.
Source: Julius Baer
Judge Jeffrey S. White
Judge Jeffrey S. White was nominated by George W. Bush to a seat in the U.S. Federal District Court in 2002.
Source: Federal Judicial Center
Dynadot
Dynadot is a domain name registrar founded in 2002 and based in San Mateo, Calif.
Source: Dynadot
Opinion & Analysis: Unconstitutional ruling and an expensive mistake
CounterPunch writer Stephen Soldz compares the censorship of Wikileaks to the Nixon administration's attempts to censor the Pentagon papers in 1971. Soldz calls the ruling “unconstitutional,” and writes that “all who value freedom should stand ready to offer whatever support they need.”
Source: CounterPunch
ZDNet published a statement from Wikileaks that calls the attempt to censor the site “a very, very expensive mistake for Baer” because of Baer’s recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to have an IPO for their U.S. operation. The statement points out that through this lawsuit Baer has put itself under the microscope of the media.
Source: ZDNet
Reference: Wikis and domain registration explained
Wikis
A wiki is a Web medium that allows users to create collaborative pages that can be edited by anyone online. Because wikis are constantly changed and potentially unregulated, their content is not always a reliable source of information.
Source: findingDulcinea
How domain registration works
In order to create a Web site with a unique address, a person needs to register the domain name with an accredited registrar. A registrar is a company that files for the registration of a domain name on behalf of a client. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers provides a link to a list of accredited registrars in its definition of registrar.
Source: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Private registration
In 2002, major domain registrants (beginning with GoDaddy affiliate Domains by Proxy) started providing anonymous registration so that users could keep their own contact information out of the public WhoIs database.
Source: The Register
Related Topic: Who is John Shipton?
Although Wikileaks went without representation in the court case and the site claims to be untraceable, John Shipton is listed as the registrant of the domain name Wikileaks.org.
Source: DomainTools
A CNet blog entry by Declan McCullagh discusses the anonymity of the site’s creators, pointing out that although the site was previously registered anonymously, it is now registered to John Shipton in Nairobi.
Source: CNet
Although Dynadot allows its customers to register domains privately and use the company’s contact information in place of their own, Dynadot still requires that its registrants use their own names. This means that although Wikileaks.org was originally registered anonymously, the name associated with the registration was provided by someone connected with the site—pseudonym or not.
Source: Dynadot
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