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Cryptome to be Terminated by Verio/NTT

George Maschke writes "Cryptome, a website concerned with encryption, privacy, and government secrecy, has received two weeks' notice from Verio that its service will be terminated for unspecified "violation of [its] Acceptable Use Policy." Cryptome has a history of making publicly available documents and information that governments would rather keep secret. For the notice, and a public response by Cryptome webmaster John Young, see Cryptome Shutdown by Verio/NTT."

24 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Re:any good soul? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He might want to host it where he hosted it so far, simply because he is aware of the legal dos and don'ts of the current setup.

  2. No, that only applies in a democratic country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now that you mention it, the US actually *was* a democratic country at one point.

    That was quite some time back though.

    1. Re:No, that only applies in a democratic country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      This has nothing to do with democracy or fundamental rights.

      It doesn't?

      Ask yourself what's more likely, that Verio decided to drop a customer for some REAL contractual failing that for some reason they do not wish to disclose (when all the correspondance shows that both sides were sorting out everything very professionally and amicably over a long period of time, or that Verio was pressured into it and forbidden to disclose the source of the pressure?

      This is VERY much to do with fundamental rights in a democracy. But those fundamental rights are being trodden on every single day, and not only behind the scenes. Democracy and fundamental rights have been left so far behind in this country that those in power no longer even feel the need to cover it up, a lot of the time.

    2. Re:No, that only applies in a democratic country by Threni · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > Either way, it will happen over and over and over regardless of who gets revenge on whom.

      It'll happen over and over while there's popular support around the world for the people wh attack those they consider responsible for problems in their part of the world, certainly.

    3. Re:No, that only applies in a democratic country by daigu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Banter aside, I'll make the argument simple for you.

      1. A leader of a country conducting a war of aggression against another has committed a crime against humanity.
      2. George Bush has conducted a war of aggression against another country.
      C. George Bush has committed a crime against humanity.

      We are looking at 600,000 dead between 2002-2006 as the result. Not to mention the thousands of maimed and dead U.S. soldiers. If the 600,000 people that died were people that lived in the U.S., would you be talking about bicycle chains then?

    4. Re:No, that only applies in a democratic country by kestasjk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That *is* Bush, because he's sits above them. It's so much easier to blame one person for all the country's problems. Much easier than looking for people who are actually to blame.
      --
      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
  3. Re:SIX (6) Years Old by bhima · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No it is *not* 6 years old.

    No everything on the page is not six years old.

    Go back a reread it.

    There is a whole email chain included, on the mirrordot link, stretching back to 2001 (and probably further I did not read the whole chain)

    I doubt cryptome will have trouble finding hosting, honestly I'm sort of surprised that they use Verio/NTT

    --
    Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
  4. Re:Every day... by Anomolous+Cowturd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Bah. People are slowly waking up to the fact that "freedom" never existed to begin with. How do you like your life - nasty, brutish and short or semi-nasty, unfair and long?

    --
    Software patents delenda est.
  5. Long Term Ramifications by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sites like this could simply be 'blacklisted' if no ISP wil pick them up due fears of prosecution.

    Good way to restrict 'evil' information dissemination to the masses.

    What is next, 'hate' sites being cut loose? Or 'independent freedom talk' being removed from the digital landscape?

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  6. Yet, VERIO.NET are happy to host spammers by merc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course, it's VERIO's network, they're free to have whomever they like as customers. I just find it dubious that they're TOS'ing Young for abuse or violations of their AUP when they simultaneously decide to host spamming scum:

    http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/listings.lasso?isp=ver io.net

    --
    It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
    1. Re:Yet, VERIO.NET are happy to host spammers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I'd say VERIO is a pretty bad place to host documents that regularly draw DMCA notices. In one of the posted emails, their legal department notes:

      If you feel that the complainant has made a mistake you may send us a
      counter notification via fax to 303-708-2445. If we receive a counter
      notification that complies with the DMCA, we will allow you to repost the
      materials in 10-14 business days from the date of receipt of the counter
      notification, unless we receive notice that the complainant has filed a law
      suit against you. You may also wish to consult an attorney regarding this
      matter.


      It's pretty bad that they force you to take down anything that anyone complains about, no matter if the DMCA notice has been sent by mistake (or in bad faith, but apparently they don't even consider this). As a Verio customer, you have to take it down for at least 10 to 14 business days, i.e. up to 3 weeks. In some of their other emails, they don't even mention counter notices. And what is that "unless we receive notice that the complainant has filed a law suit" part? It's news to me that filing a law suit would require taking down anything - if a law suit is filed, it's a problem entirely between the complainant and the receiver of the DMCA notice, and if a judge decides that the material has to be removed, he can oder VERIO's customer to take it down, no need for VERIO to get involved (unless they are named in the order). I personally would not want to host anything with VERIO, and most certainly nothing that would ralate to any business of mine, lest anyone could take it down whenever he pleases for at least 2 weeks.

  7. Re:Every day... by plaxion · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or Allow?

  8. Re:any good soul? by iminplaya · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If people are dumb to know about things like this I suspect we sholdn't go out of our way to tell them.

    Don't be like that. Those are the people who need the most help. They really can't help it. It was part of their conditioning as they grew up. It actually is very difficult to overcome. Believe me, I know. We all need help more than ever now.

    Some people think you can delete things off the Internet.

    We show them otherwise and problem solved. But we must show them, however graphically as necessary and by whatever means, that the internet is not to be controlled by any particular person or group. Keep the controls within your own network. Leave the public net alone. We must insure that the individual reigns supreme, at all costs.

    --
    What?
  9. Freedom to dissent? by k1e0x · · Score: 5, Insightful



    We don't allow this kind of dissent in Soviet Amerika. If your not with us your a terrorist.

    Ok so that's a bit over the top but really what's this coming to? Where do we draw the line on Police state America?

    --
    Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
  10. Argh! This sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Cryptome has been an indispensable ally in many wars against secrecy, ineptitude, corruption, and evil-doing conspiracies all over the place. John mirrored a couple of separate batches of stuff I had a minor involvement in, and in both cases the world was made (in a tiny way) a less crappy place by his actions.

    It's also a sad day in it's message that there is now, ultimately, no genuine free speech left on the net. If the state really really wants to suppress your message, it can do so. It's slow, labour intensive, and expensive for them to do this, so they don't usually bother; but when they need The System to function, it does.

  11. Re:any good soul? by fwr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's even worse than that. You don't actually need a "valid" copyright notice in the US anymore. Works are copyrighted automatically. It certainly helps to have a copyright notice. It also helps to have your works registered with the government, but that is usually not necessary unless you are about to sue someone (just like Novell and SCO scrambled to register their claimed copyrights in the Unix source; funny they didn't feel the need to register them before the lawsuits).

    Now one can argue that as soon as the owner places a work on a publicly accessible location, such as a blog or on Slashdot, that you implicitly grant others the right to copy that work. That may be a stretch, and would depend on the situation. If the acceptable use policy of the site says that all submissions are reproducible that is much different than if you have a site in which you have to login and pay a fee in order to retrieve documents or other works (think DRM free pay music sites). However, just because some information is "leaked" one way or another, such as the LDS document sited, it does not mean that the owner of the work gave the permission or relinquished their rights. Hence, even the "fair use" of a small part of their work may not pass muster. One could argue that their internal documents on how they treat homosexuality are not only copyrighted, but in fact Trade Secrets, and there is no fair use of Trade Secrets. As long as they took reasonable steps to protect those items the leaking of them does not change their status. So it could be said that the web site should not have published the documents has they done something as simple as read the beginning which indicated they were confidential internal documents.

  12. Re:It's "you're" you stupid illiterate fuck. by k1e0x · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Im gonna risk it and respond to this. I think I have found the lowest rated ./ user out there.. believe it or not this is not the first time he has made coments like this.. I'm ahh also going to type like I talk to make ya even MORE pissy.

    I'm going to assume from "you're" (har har) comments that ya'are a Republican. Its that or you'r just a spelling natsi.

    So at what point do you think we are safe enough? How many freedoms must we loose? Will you allow the government to post guards in shopping malls and night clubs? Do you want CCTV on every corner? Will we implant tracking devices on every man woman and child? Where does it end?? This is not a valid question to ask? ... To me a nation of freedom is not "what your government allows you to do" OR "whar you hide from the government" Its a nation where men do not impose their will over other men.

    A free nation means, you can do what you want so long as your not hurting others. You want to smoke pot.. its a free nation, smoke your pot and uhh dude, enjoy it too. You want to look at pr0n, really nasty shit.. I cant think of nobody that would be hurt from that.. you are free in my nation to do this. Want to ride a croch rocket without a helmet you are "free" to do that too.. (dumbass)

    Now that "you're" (haha) aware of my illiterate nature.. prehaps you can kill me.. but bewarned Libertarians own guns.

    --
    Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
  13. Re:Freenet Anyone? by DeadChobi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Which is great until Freenet decides to host someone's kiddie porn collection on your computer. Then you get to smile at the nice FBI agents as they escort you to your court date. It's great that someone's thought of encrypting and decentralizing what gets published to the internet, but it's not practical until I can have control over what gets put on my node. Their FAQ handwaves the hell out of this essentially by suggesting that true freedom means I have to host something I find personally disgusting or that will get me in trouble. In other words, I would be substituting one owner for another. Currently I find my government's views on what is acceptable to be a better compromise than Freenet's views on what is acceptable.

    Sorry, no dice.

    --
    SRSLY.
  14. Re:Pcik a new ISP by arcade · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not to be rude or anything... but cryptome has been around for some years, and should be well known in geek circles.

    Your UserID (805747) suggests to me that you haven't been around for long.. maybe you should read up a bit on cryptome? :)

    --
    "Rune Kristian Viken" - http://www.nwo.no - arca
  15. Re:Pcik a new ISP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cryptome IS watched by various intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement agencies.

    Yes it is, and so now the burning question is which document of the
    thousands on Cryptome caused someone at one of those agencies to turn
    some powerful-enough screws to make Verio pull the plug without
    breathing a word about which document it might be.

    We must find what the government wishes to keep hidden and shine a
    spotlight on it, because that's how free and open nations remain so.

  16. Re:Oer the land of the unfree and the home of weas by NormalVisual · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The ISP just weasely pulls the plug without negotiation just because some guy with a British accent rings up?

    I don't think that's what happened. I suspect what happened was that someone in the US government saw something they didn't like, and sent a National Security Letter or other such silliness to Verio. Verio of course can't legally disclose that, but given that Verio had been always been very forthright with John Young in the past but is being tight-lipped about the situation now, I think it's quite possible that something like this is behind Verio's actions.

    Gotta love living in a nation where the government makes you do their own damn police work against someone else against your will, and then threatens you with jail if you say anything about it.

    --
    Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
  17. Re:Freenet Anyone? by nuzak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Aside from the morality and legality of all the kiddie porn on Freenet, such content amounts to a crapflooding sort of DOS attack. A bedrock principle of press freedom is being free to choose what to publish and what not to. Freenet forces you to be part of what is basically an already wrecked commons. Decentralized torrents seem to me to be a much more palatable alternative.

    --
    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
  18. Re:Move to NearlyFreeSpeech.net by birdboy2000 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It's nice, but is there anywhere for those of us who can't afford to pay for our speech?

  19. National Security Letter by Zelucifer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a NSL require immediate takedown? Or at least the removal of a specific page. It seems like a webhost would be in legal jeopardy if they received a NSL and didn't act within a very short period of time.

    --
    The corner of a round room