The event, which cribbed it's name from Minister Louis Farrakhan's Black nationalist Washington DC rally 10 years ago (which actually live up to it's name, attendance-wise), had been billed by many left wing labor activists as a great turning point for militant US unionists...kinda like a latter-day Flint Sit Down Strike crossed with the Selma to Montgomery march.

[Also See DC IMC Coverage]

The computers contained highly sensitive information, including the party's financial information, names and personal phone numbers of hundreds of party members, candidates, and volunteers.

October 13-- A Rackspace employee stated via email, "I was just told that the court order is being complied with and your servers in London will be online at 5pm GMT. I will pass along anymore information that becomes available and that I am allowed to."

It has been verified that the returned hard-drives are the originals, but the circumstances of the seizure still remain unclear. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, "who took them, why, and under what authority? Citing a gag order, Rackspace would not comment on what had happened both in the original seizure of the servers or their return. All that is known at this point is that the subpoena that resulted in the seizure was issued at the request of a foreign government, most likely with the assistance of the United States Attorney's Office in San Antonio. Although initial reports suggested that the FBI had taken the servers, the FBI has now denied any involvement."

The hard-drives will be treated as "hacked" (compromised) and as a result there will be delays in restoring the sites that are still down.

[Also See IMC Solidarity Petition]

An FBI spokesperson, Joe Parris, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the FBI issued a subpoena to the provider who hosted the Indymedia servers in the U.K., but that it was "on behalf of a third country." Daniel Zapelli, senior federal prosecutor for Geneva (Switzerland), confirmed that he has opened a criminal investigation into Indymedia coverage of the 2003 G8 Summit in Evian. Zapelli will provide details of that investigation at a press conference on Tuesday.

Federal prosecutor of Bologna (Italy) Marina Plazzi stated that she is investigating Italy Indymedia because it may "support terrorism." Plazzi says she will provide more information on Thursday, October 14th.

Geoffrey Blank of the No Police State Coalition goes back to 100 Centre Street on October 19. It’s not his favorite place in the city, but over the past few months, Manhattan Criminal Court is where the 30-year-old activist and teacher has done some of his best work.

The FBI acknowledged yesterday that a subpoena had been issued by a U.S. District Court and served by the FBI, but claimed it was at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities. "It is not an FBI operation," Bureau spokesman Joe Parris told the Agence France Press. [Good Analysis of the Cross Border Legal Issues From statewatch.org]

The reasons for the court order or who actually holds the servers now are still unknown to Indymedia, according to a statement on the Global IMC site.

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"In the present matter regarding Indymedia, Rackspace Managed Hosting, a US based company with offices in London, is acting in compliance with a court order pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), which establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. Rackspace responded to a Commissioner’s subpoena, duly issued under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1782 in an investigation that did not arise in the United States. Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter."

According to The Register, however, "Dai Davis, an IT lawyer at London law firm Nabarro Nathanson, said Rackspace's statement fails to clarify the legal basis of the raid." Indeed, there is still no hard evidence definitively proving that the FBI is the law-enforcement agency involved in the seizure. Democracy Now noted today only that " a U.S. governmental agency ordered the company to hand over the servers."

Also, online accounts of a recent visit by FBI agents to the Seattle IMC surfaced late last night. Several IMC's hosted by Rackspace remain offline.

(from the Open Newswire): Recently, someone in the forums commented that WTC arrestees are “never satisfied,” suggesting that we should be content with the dismissal of the charges against us. In a sense he or she is right, the District Attorney’s choice to drop the charges does not satisfy us. Whether or not we like it, the civil suit is the only mechanism in society that will provide accountability for the city’s conduct at the WTC and other arrest locations. As a likely plaintiff I expect and hope that my "compensation" will be very small monetarily, but very high in other ways. In my opinion, there are better uses of public money. That said, public censure of the police and of their prescribed method of preemptive arrest is important not only to "teach them a lesson," and provide redress to the named plaintiffs, but to inform the brass that there are consequences when they act in violation of citizens' rights, which may possibly alter their policy at future demonstrations.

Saturday, October 9th, 5pm at 339 Lafayette Street (corner of Lafayette and Bleecker). Ring buzzer #11 for the A.J. Muste Room (third floor).
(F train to Broadway/Lafayette, 6 train to Bleecker St.)