The following comes from "Democracy Now" Radio Station in the US....We ought to be concerned about the violation of democratic rights. In the latest crackdown on the Indymedia network, the FBI with Spanish and Swiss officials oversaw the confiscation of the servers. Indymedia's Internet provider is under a gag order not to talk about what happened. [includes rush transcript] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Earlier this month, two United Kingdom-based Internet servers containing data for more than 20 local Independent Media Center websites were seized A week later, the webservers were returned to Indymedia and their hosting company, Rackspace Managed Hosting. It is still unclear who actually took the servers, the reasons for the seizure, or the legal authority under which they were impounded. Citing a gag order, Rackspace would not comment on what had happened both in the original seizure of the servers or their return. What is known at this point is that the subpoena that resulted in the seizure was issued at the request of a foreign government. Although initial reports suggested that the FBI had taken the servers, the FBI has now denied any involvement. Indymedia and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are planning legal action to find out what really happened to Indymedia"s servers. The seizure has come under heavy criticism from civil liberties and press freedom groups. Aidan White, General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, called it "an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specializing in independent journalism ... [that] smacks more of intimidation of legitimate journalistic inquiry than crime-busting." The full transcript: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/18/1438244 The petition http://solidarity.indymedia.org.uk/