73,000 Wordpress blogs shut down by U.S. Government

[JohnQPublic]

73,000 Wordpress blogs shut down by U.S. Government (http://www.geek.com/articles/news/73000-wordpress-blogs-shut-down-by-u-s-government-20100716/)

Jul. 16, 2010 (12:13 pm) By: John Brownlee

This is alarming. Torrent news site TorrentFreak is now reporting that Wordpress host Blogetery has been shut down by United States authorities… along with all 73,000 Blogetery-hosted blogs.

Although details are still very tentative, here’s what we know: Blogetery’s entire site has been taken down, and the company’s ISP is claiming that they had to terminate Blogetery’s account immediately after being ordered to do so by law enforcement officials, “due to material hosted on the server.”

“This was not a typical case, in which suspension and notification would be the norm,” Blogetery’s ISP said. “This was a critical matter brought to our attention by law enforcement officials. We had to immediately remove the server.”

Although TorrentFreak speculates that this is part of a recent Homeland Security effort to take down file sharing sites, that doesn’t quite make sense: surely in that case Blogetery would have been asked to pull specific infringing blogs, not have the rug yanked out from under them.

No, the extreme response taken here by U.S. Authorities implies some sort of believed terrorist connection or child pornography ring, not just a handful of warez and MP3 blogs. Even so, though, unless Blogetery itself is suspect of harboring terrorists or child pornographers, it’s hard to condone this sort of extreme action that has instantly silenced over 73,000 users, the majority of whom are doubtlessly innocent of any wrong-doing.

Hopefully, we’ll get more details of this developing story soon.

[Book]

Somebody posted something unflattering about Israel.

:oo-->

[Glass]

I was going to put up a blog. I thought I'd find an app that did it. Then I thought I'd just use a hosted one. Hmmmm maybe not.

[Phoenix]

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=964013

Shut down on 7/9 with no warning, and the web host is refusing to provide details or give the admin access so he can backup "non-offensive" data.

I suspect "USA PATRIOT" Act crap issued on orders of some secret "court."

"We are limited as to the details we can provide to you, but note that this was a critical matter and the only available option to us was to immediately deactivate the server."

[hoarder]

Maybe the monolithic media created Blogetery and put up child porn to justify and standardize such actions by DHL.

[Phoenix]

Even if the site was riddled with "child pornography" (what exactly is that?), that's not an excuse to deny the Constitutionally-guaranteed right to Freedom of Expression of the thousands of people who were wholly innocent of engaging in it. Take down the "offending material," but do not crash the entire host with 73,000 personal sites.

[Ponce]

The beginning of the end of the internet as we know it..........next stop, The Twilight Zone.

[Phoenix]

http://gadgetsteria.com/2010/07/16/73000-blogs-taken-offline-isp-remains-silent/

73,000 blogs taken offline. ISP remains silent.
by Mike
Posted July 16th, 2010 at 10:52 am

Looking for a new host to provide your website with hosting service? Avoid BurstNet like the plague. BurstNet is the hosting company that <s>hosts</s> did host Blogetery. Blogetery was a collection of WordPress sites, covering some 73,000+ separate entities. Apparently, something ran against the law as BurstNet is citing “law enforcement requests” as the reason the Blogetery was taken down. If that isn’t a knee jerk reaction, I don’t know what is. I don’t care how bad a website is or the content they cater to, instantly shutting down 73,000+ sites because of a few bad ones (the word is that it’s copyright/IP infringement related) is a gross over reaction.

I know if I were a legitimate Blogetery customer, having my site knocked out with no explanation as to why or a time frame on when it would be back up would end my relationship with them immediately. Adding insult to injury, BurstNet is claiming they’re sworn to secrecy and that the data from the downed sites cannot be retrieved. One vital piece of information that’s lost — the Blogetery owner’s contact information, which I’m sure some 73,000 site owners are probably looking for right now.

There really is no excuse to go to such great lengths over IP/copyright infringement claims. If the content is really so bad, why not blacklist/shutdown/delete the infringing sites’ accounts? Why take down 73,000+? If this is what we can expect from the U.S. government’s new tougher stance on IP infringement and digital laws in general, the future does not look bright. It appears due process is utterly useless now. If this does turn out to be IP/copyright related, we can all assume that since the “fight against piracy” is utter bullshit, the government is simply resorting to shutting down the entire internet small bits at a time.

Stay tuned…

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

And now people will begin to see, the terrorists the gubmint has been fighting aren't hiding in caves in the mideast, they're those attempting to spread truth and thinking with open minds.

[etc]

Try Usenet newsgroups. They used to be big in the 90's. The articles get copied from server to server and are not stored in any central location. Meaning that if an article floats out there, it's nearly impossible to remove it. There is no single point of failure.

[JDRock]

Somebody posted something unflattering about Israel.

:oo-->


yes....but the same gov that banned these sites DEFENDS, ( under the 1st amendment) with our tax $ the "right" for every sheenie owned and operated sicko porno site....this is surreal.

[FreeEnergy]

JQP, don't worry that much. Do backups, that's what important.

If some dimwit sticks their nose in yours, just move it to an offshore server. Servers are a dime a dozen in any country of your choice, including gubbermint beloved offshore and secret funds places like Cayman Islands.

They just can't physically shut down entire internet. It is out of their control.


The worst thing to do is to rely on a third party hosted software product (like Blog*whatever). One point of failure.

[Ponce]

Not all situations are the same so that to remember all that is of no use.......read, study and remember what apples to you according to where you live and as to your present situation........working by instint while firing your rifle is the best thing that you can do, after all, who the heck wants to search for how to adjust your elevation or windage while under fire...............and the same applies to everything else.

The more that you do that will work on it's own the less worries that you will have.....most of my booby traps will work on their own but a few of them where I will have to pull the cord.

For example.....WTSHTF I will not be sleeping in my bed but will be some distance away from where I can monitor most of my property and by using my night visions and super ears no one will be able to sneak into my property and much less into my home........all that they have to do is to go over my inner fence and they will become my target, of course I'll sleep in the day, and even then not in my bed.

[Phoenix]

Try Usenet newsgroups. They used to be big in the 90's. The articles get copied from server to server and are not stored in any central location. Meaning that if an article floats out there, it's nearly impossible to remove it. There is no single point of failure.


Usenet is now a joke, so much spam as to render it useless for any meaningful discussion.

And NNTP can be blocked. And Kill commands issued. Trust me, I was involved BIG in Usenet in the mid-1990s, and dealt with a lot already back then.

[Phoenix]

They just can't physically shut down entire internet. It is out of their control.


This is one of the greatest myths about the Internet.

All this stuff about giving Obama a "Kill Switch"? It's bogus...because the NSA and DHS already have the means to kill the public Internet. Shutting down the Internet within one country is easy. Shutting down the Internet worldwide would be a bit harder, since it would require all the regimes to agree on how to do it (not "if" to do it).

[goldmonkey]

Try Usenet newsgroups. They used to be big in the 90's. The articles get copied from server to server and are not stored in any central location. Meaning that if an article floats out there, it's nearly impossible to remove it. There is no single point of failure.


Usenet is now a joke, so much spam as to render it useless for any meaningful discussion.

And NNTP can be blocked. And Kill commands issued. Trust me, I was involved BIG in Usenet in the mid-1990s, and dealt with a lot already back then.


What do you think about Freenet (http://freenetproject.org/whatis.html)?

[Phoenix]

Try Usenet newsgroups. They used to be big in the 90's. The articles get copied from server to server and are not stored in any central location. Meaning that if an article floats out there, it's nearly impossible to remove it. There is no single point of failure.


Usenet is now a joke, so much spam as to render it useless for any meaningful discussion.

And NNTP can be blocked. And Kill commands issued. Trust me, I was involved BIG in Usenet in the mid-1990s, and dealt with a lot already back then.


What do you think about Freenet (http://freenetproject.org/whatis.html)?


I think people should make contingency plans, now, to re-establish the telephone/modem-based BBS style networks which once dominated cyberspace. The regime won't kill the POTS system (landline telephone network), but could very likely suspend public access to the Internet itself for all purposes.

The Freenet Project looks like it has some good applications for anonymity, but can't overcome "By Order of the President of the United States, all public Internet access has been suspended until further notice for reasons of national security."

[dysgenic]

What did we learn from GIM1? We learned that the badguys will take the public relations hit and swallow the inevitable backlash/outrage from the people in the know. As actions like these continue to pile up we can extrapolate they are also willing to risk the ire of the general public/sheeple. Power hungry occultist egomaniacal control freaks like skyvike don't want their credibility irreparably torched, believe me. But they know they have no other choice as the truth is too powerful and the disinformation campaigns are being systemically dismantled by people like us. Just as I predicted, they can't infiltrate the truth because the truth is self evident.

I hate to say it but FunnyMoney was right. The operative question was "but who will pull the trigger?" Because when the truth gets out there the bad guys need to find murderers as opposed to stooges, and that's tougher by an order of magnitude. But the tragic answer is "the stooges will pull the trigger." The info and the truth will soon be memory holed GIM1 style. It won't be long now. Internet 2 is schedued to role out in 2012.

"The New World Order will be replaced by The New World Order."
-Hypertiger

dys

edit to add: "Denial is not a strategy."
-Funnymoney

[Heimdhal]

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=964013

Shut down on 7/9 with no warning, and the web host is refusing to provide details or give the admin access so he can backup "non-offensive" data.

I suspect "USA PATRIOT" Act crap issued on orders of some secret "court."

"We are limited as to the details we can provide to you, but note that this was a critical matter and the only available option to us was to immediately deactivate the server."


Sounds awfull familiar....

[FunnyMoney]

...I think people should make contingency plans, now, ....


I'm not sure if BBS will survive. I also do not believe HAM radio will be free from intruders and/or blocking.

When the big SHTF time comes, if it does, or when the slow road to serfdom finally reaches its' end I do not believe communication will be reliable. If you find some form of communication still working it could easily be disinformation or a trap mechanism.

It will be very difficult for truth and knowledge to survive what TPTB have in waiting for the world. While we can hope, hope and denial of the awesome power already in place by way of fiat money and corrupted mechanisms will not be a good strategy.

Teach your children and those who are very close to you. Prepare for the worst and pursue a strategy that more important than anything ensures preservation. Things are likely to get much much worse prior to any future chance at reviving liberty. Make sure you and yours are around and in a position to grab that chance when it finally arrives.

[Ponce]

Suggestion...........let's start a second site known only to us (current members) and if by any wild chance they close this site we can move over to the new one, after we are there we will then open another site and so on........they would have a hell of a time catching up with us.....................unless..................... one of "them" is already here ready to tell them where we are.

No use to bitch about something if you don't do something about it...........specially when you can do something about it.

[Cebu_4_2]

Suggestion...........let's start a second site known only to us (current members) and if by any wild chance they close this site we can move over to the new one, after we are there we will then open another site and so on........they would have a hell of a time catching up with us.....................unless..................... one of "them" is already here ready to tell them where we are.

No use to bitch about something if you don't do something about it...........specially when you can do something about it.


Umm.... are you suggesting closet forums? I question the very name of that sort of thing Ponce.

[Ponce]

Cebu, once we are in the other forum and have prearranged the next forum then we can go public with the new one........and so on... it would be something like myself where I always have a plan behind the plan.

[Twisted Titan]

Keep hard copies of as much as you can.

Keep a small laptop that is portable with vital info as a secondary back up.

Invest in as much tangibles as you can.

Time is getting short

[General of Darkness]

Keep hard copies of as much as you can.

Keep a small laptop that is portable with vital info as a secondary back up.

Invest in as much tangibles as you can.

Time is getting short


TT your so right on target about this. Things are moving quickly. The economy is getting worse by the hour, I suspect they'll deflect attention with another 9/11. I won't apologize for sounding paranoid, but TPTB have no soul nor do they fear reprisals.

[Hatha Sunahara]

Phoenix--Looks like you took your mitts off.

Are you no longer dealing with hot topics? Or are you just dealing with them with your bare hands?

Just ciurious.

Hatha

[Glass]

Try Usenet newsgroups. They used to be big in the 90's. The articles get copied from server to server and are not stored in any central location. Meaning that if an article floats out there, it's nearly impossible to remove it. There is no single point of failure.


Usenet is now a joke, so much spam as to render it useless for any meaningful discussion.

And NNTP can be blocked. And Kill commands issued. Trust me, I was involved BIG in Usenet in the mid-1990s, and dealt with a lot already back then.


What do you think about Freenet (http://freenetproject.org/whatis.html)?


For some reason I came across Freenet recently. I did a search and turned up this thread.

Freenet (http://freenetproject.org/whatis.html): same link as above.

It was not what I was looking for but I thought it was interesting. It looks like you can have private subnets within the Freenet network. So for example if GSUS wanted to take to hosting it's own web sites with valuable material it could do so. GSUS members would be the only participants in the private subnet and no one outside of GSUS would be able to see the web sites.

Issues that I see; hosting of web sites and files would be on members own PC's and I don't know how anonymous that can be made? Is there a way to have a couple copies of web sites linked about so if someone is off line, material is still likely to be available? If it used the p2p model it would be better because there would be a few copies of everything spread about.

Thoughts?

It's an interesting idea. I was actually looking for a free wireless internet network that is supposed to operate in my town. Goes by the same name. I think if I can locate an access point, a directional antenna might get me in there. It will be slow but possibly provide some kind of access if other networks were down. There are a few BBS's operational around here on various radio bands which I should get linked to including the freenet network.