Free Speech Deficits and WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks shutdown calls spark censorship row | Media | The Guardian

This time, the Web is dying. When a website is literally pulled from hyperspace only because of what it published, that’s it. It does not happen in China, but in the US, where WikiLeaks was abandoned to its fate when Amazon.com’s refused two days ago to provide its services to host the site. What’s worst, Amazon did so likely from pressures from the US givernment. Go, freedom!
So, WikiLeaks recurred to France. Read what a French official is saying, it’s very instructional on the meaning of liberté (quote from The Guardian):

France joined international calls for WikiLeaks to be closed down, warning that it was “unacceptable” for a “criminal” site to be hosted in the country.
[… And just to confirm the Government’s liberal vision,]
Leslie Phillips, communications director for the [US] Senate homeland security committee, disputed any parallel with China’s censorship of the internet. “It is not at all the same,” she said. “In China, there is a fiat from above.”

Sure, it’s not at all the same. Shame on all those who are killing the open Web. And btw, here’s the few working addresses of WikiLeaks as of December 3rd (ET).

http://Wikileaks.fi
http://WikiLeaks.ch
http://WikiLeaks.de
http://WikiLeaks.nl
http://213.251.145.96/

Then, of course, the US Library of Congress (a **library!*) followed suit, censoring WikiLeaks from its premises.

Read an interview with Assange from The Guardian.

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About Antonio Vantaggiato

Professor, web2.0 enthusiast, and didactic chef.
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