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Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service

By | December 1, 2010, 12:00pm PST

Amazon Web Services has stopped hosting Wikileaks, according to various reports.

Fox News and Talking Points Memo both quote Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as saying that Amazon has stopped hosting Wikileaks after staffers from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee asked about its relationship with the company.

We have calls out to confirm with Amazon.

The news shouldn’t be all that surprising. For starters, Amazon Web Services has bigger corporate fish to land that could be jeopardize by messing around with Wikileaks. And it certainly doesn’t help matters that Amazon Web Services hosts the high-profile Apps.gov.

How did Amazon get pulled into the Wikileaks flap? For starters, Amazon’s cloud hosting service is self-serve. You just need a credit card. It’s not like Wikileaks called a salesperson who would have freaked out or at least run the contract by a manager.

In any case, Amazon states clearly in its terms of service that it can host you as well as terminate an agreement at will. In the terms of service for Amazon Web Services, it says:

If you use this Site, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your AWS account and password and for restricting access to your computer, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account or password. AWS reserves the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content in its sole discretion.

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Topics

Amazon Web Services, Web Service, Amazon.com Inc., Terms Of Service, AWS, Cloud Computing, Web Services, Enterprise Software, Software, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
birumut Updated - 19th Jun
Great!!! thanks for sharing this information to us!
sesli sohbet sesli chat
View in thread
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
SteveCarr 1st Dec 2010
It was down for me briefly, and is now working fine again - faster than ever, in fact. Seems the boy with his finger stuck in the dike has ended up not stopping the flow for long....
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix 2nd Dec 2010
@kwickset@... The difference as I see it is that a Traitor does something against the people of his own country to gain advantage for himself. A whistle-blower does something against the Government/Management of a Country/Company to gain advantage for the people without exclusive self-gain or no gain at all. In many cases the whistle-blower may experience retribution hated and physical pain and possibly death as a result of his selfless actions to help the people and expose the truth.
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He is a hero
franklin101 2nd Dec 2010
@cobrasixtysix Now, this is the start of the process where government can be held accountable for their actions( we call them terroristic while a heli shoots at civilian? I do believe i read that that was leaked.
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the patriotic Americans will boycott wiki-leaks
Linux Geek 1st Dec 2010
because it is an anti American and terrorist organization run by sex molesters.
In the mean time we can get good and accurate information from Fox News.
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Anyone who seriously challenges the oligarchs
HollywoodDog 1st Dec 2010
@Linux Geek ... will wind up being accused of being a sex molester. Ask Eliott Spitzer about that.

One of the diplomatic cables describes Russia as being a mafia state of oligarchs run by the security services. Lot of that going around.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
RedVeg 2nd Dec 2010
@Linux Geek
FOX News is a terrorist organization which does nothing but 24/7 propaganda lies. Their #2 owner is actually an Arab who FOX News themselves used to "prove" by association that the NYC Mosque is a terrorist front, so by their own reporting, they are themselves a terrorist front.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
nickdangerthirdi@... 2nd Dec 2010
@RedVeg actually you are wrong, they never identified him, it was the left wing nut jobs who called fox out on that. I dont disagree with your comment about faux news, because if they did really care about the facts they would have identified him as the contributor AND their part owner.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
slpmep 2nd Dec 2010
@RedVeg Fox News is owned by News Corp, a PUBLIC traded company. Murdoch own about 1/3, with Al Walee d bin Talal owning about 7%. Fox is very critical of middleeast, so your comments don't make sense. Please explain with facts.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
RedVeg 2nd Dec 2010
@RedVeg
Actually nick, they did identify him on a few of their shows; I saw the clips.
And slpmep, their hypocrisy was one of my points. They slam others for association with some of their biggest backers. There is no news there, only a show for extremists because that is how they make their money; Advertisers love extremists who ignore facts.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
nickdangerthirdi@... Updated - 2nd Dec 2010
@slpmep, the fact being they dont use facts, do you ever watch fox news? you should try verifying their stories once in awhile, if they do use fact, its only half the fact, they leave out the part that negates what they are saying. Im not saying the other agencies are any better, I am just saying they suck too, and when your slogan is fair and balanced, and your parent company donates millions of dollars to republican campaigns and your pundits donate thousands of dollars to republican campaigns you are no longer fair or balanced...
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix 2nd Dec 2010
@Linux Geek because it is an anti American (Government)and (Claimed by the Terrorist American Government to be a) terrorist organization run by (Alleged by the Terrorist American Government ) sex molesters.
In the mean time we (Who's We?) can get good (?)and accurate (?) information (Propaganda) from Fox News. (Good Luck)
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
geralsosbee 1st Dec 2010
Amazon-we know that your firts allegiance is to the assassins of the fbi/cia.
----------------------------------------------
usa- the assassins' nation seeks to divide & conquer all nations and all peoples. Regarding the leaks,
Well, USA-if you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear from the T R U T H.
Be Set Free by admitting to ongoing & insufferable crimes against
H U M A N I T Y .

http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part4-worldinabo.html
questions!
GERAL SOSBEE(956)536-3103
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
sackbut 1st Dec 2010
@geralsosbee You might want to sleep with your eyes open.
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geralsosbee already does
John Zern 1st Dec 2010
I picture his bedroom in lines with land-mines and barbed wire, and sleeps with the map for getting out under his pillow next to the AK-47.
  • Flagged
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I could not agree more.
Tommy S. 2nd Dec 2010
@geralsosbee I wish you are right about the assassins part, cause I would be upset if Assange is still breathing in 2011...
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How upset are you
HollywoodDog 2nd Dec 2010
@Tommy S. ... at the million or so innocent Iraqis who are no longer breathing because of the lies of the US government? Not at all, I assume?
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
KalanStar 3rd Dec 2010
@Tommy S.
I'd be upset if he isn't... Why should the US gov. (or any other gov.) be allowed to have secrets anyway... It doesn't seem very democratic... What's that you say Big Brother, we are now at war with our former allies and have always been at war with them...
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
KalanStar 3rd Dec 2010
@Tommy S.
I'd be upset if he isn't... Why should the US gov. (or any other gov.) be allowed to have secrets anyway... It doesn't seem very democratic... What's that you say Big Brother, we are now at war with our former allies and have always been at war with them...
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
RedVeg 2nd Dec 2010
@geralsosbee
Every time our government wants to wire-tap us, strip search us at the airport, or come into our homes, they say that if we have done nothing wrong, then we have nothing to fear... I say the same about these leaks.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
bspurloc 2nd Dec 2010
u arent getting stripped searched at airports. u r getting molested. big difference. invite me over some day and I will show u the difference on your wife incase u dont see the difference.
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No...
Tommy S. 2nd Dec 2010
@RedVeg I am against the patriot act, the TSA, warrantless wiretapping etc... Thats all internal policy. I also think that calling people terrorist is just silly and I dont morally judge them, Id do the same and much more. I still think that they should hunted down like animals, sad day for them they are on the wrong side.

The wikileak leaking of diplomatic memos serve no positive purpose. Nothing new has been exposed. It was not edited as it should have been. Anyone who knows geopolitic could have guessed 99.9% of what was in those memos. But his is high treason from the part of Manning and he should be hanged if convicted by a court martial. As far as Assange is concerned he should be assassinated since he is much more of a threat than any random radical Islamist can ever dream of being.

What is at stakes? The Yemeni gov is on our side in private, how will that fly with their citizens (radical muslims)?

It MIGHT be a psyop but who knows, everybody call conspiracy on everything these days...
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
RedVeg 2nd Dec 2010
bspurloc, they give you a choice between staring in porn with the video strip search or being molested. And your wife tells me that you are a disappointment, so I'll go elsewhere for a demonstration.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix Updated - 2nd Dec 2010
@RedVeg Its a case of "Do as I say, not, Do as I do" The world needs Assange to help right all the curruption in the world.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
bspurloc 2nd Dec 2010
only in america do they allow lunatics to spew lunacy. grats. go try it in Saudi Arabia son.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
puppetboyx 2nd Dec 2010
@bspurloc Are you saying you want america to resemble Saudi Arabia ?
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No, @puppetboyx
Jeff Dickey 2nd Dec 2010
@bspurloc is pointing out that the current "Taster's Choice" version of the US embodies the real democracy of Saudi Arabia and the theological inclusiveness and respect for personal liberty of Iran, without any of their good points (if there are any) in compensation. There's a reason much of the Free World refers to the GOP reich wing as "the American Taliban."

But ZDNet knew this would be troll bait when they posted it.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix 2nd Dec 2010
@geralsosbee Good post, I wouldnt be surprised by anything anymore, seems the whole world has gone stark raving mad and none madder or more manipulating than the American Government.
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attracting syn floods is cause for termination.
bspurloc 2nd Dec 2010
sorry lieberman your almighty ego isn't it.
If a client is attracting syn floods that means the site u r hosting is exceeding the bandwidth u agreed to not exceed, and therefore u r terminated. simple as that. all hosting sites have this clause. to not get this means u just need to step away from the keyboard before u hurt yourself.
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Good for Amazon...
garyleroy@... 2nd Dec 2010
While I don't like censorship in general, or politicians in general, private conversations should remain just that. I'd imagine the Wikileaks founder has had plenty of private conversations he wouldn't want made public, so besides being a sleazebag he's also a hypocrite.

Just because you "can" do something doesn't mean you should...that's where judgment, common sense, and decency come in to play, and more and more of these nuts that lack any of the above are just posting anything they can get their hands on, without realizing that they themselves wouldn't look so great if someone did the exact same thing to them.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
nickdangerthirdi@... 2nd Dec 2010
@garyleroy@... I dont like censorship either, but this wasnt really censorship, it was a company making a business decision, now if the government had told Amazon that they needed to quit hosting the site, THAT is censorship....
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For all we know
franklin101 2nd Dec 2010
@nickdangerthirdi@... The government might have threatened Amazon if they didn't remove it. In some time, when this is leaked, we may find out the government censored the page. We wouldn't be surprised.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix 2nd Dec 2010
@garyleroy@... I totally agree about keeping Private conversations Private, but these conversation were between government officials about government business and so is Public business.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
mlandr1 2nd Dec 2010
Hang the Wiki guy and shoot the private.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
Tommy S. 2nd Dec 2010
@mlandr1 Sounds like a plan to me! But we got to court martial the private before we shoot him.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix 2nd Dec 2010
@Tommy S. Shoot everyone, then court marial the remains.
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This is how liberty dies, not with a whimper but with the roar of the crowd
Jeff Dickey 3rd Dec 2010
@milandr1 AND @Tommy S. ??I can fairly confidently make two assumptions about both of you clowns: you've never served in active-duty military, and you've never lived outside your personal echo chambers, safe and comfy inside what once was the U. S. of A. If you had served and/or lived most anywhere in the outside world, you wouldn't be so full of yourselves? unless you were a politician of the Lieberman stripe, who loves to beat his chest and thump the war drums, but conveniently was elsewhere when other American boys were heeding our nation's call.

But my greatest contempt is reserved for the writer and editor (if any) of this particular post, who should have known that it was pure troll bait and only hemidemisemiquasirelevant to the industry.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix 2nd Dec 2010
@mlandr1 I think we should just hang everyone, its patently obvious that we as a race are not compatible with this planet.
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
kwickset@... 2nd Dec 2010
Can anyone possibly explain the difference between a whistle-blower and a traitor?
And, is using your country's soldiers as canon fodder patriotism?
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
cobrasixtysix 2nd Dec 2010
@kwickset@... The difference as I see it is that a Traitor does something against the people of his own country to gain advantage for himself. A whistle-blower does something against the Government/Management of a Country/Company to gain advantage for the people without exclusive self-gain or no gain at all. In many cases the whistle-blower may experience retribution hated and physical pain and possibly death as a result of his selfless actions to help the people and expose the truth.
As to your last question, I think we all know the answer.
0 Votes
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
geralsosbee 8th Dec 2010
Well girls I see in your *images below the dilemma facing you & all Living Dead: How to maintain control over your half witted associates and at the same time pretend that you are human. Sackbut, as you are leader of the decadent 3 here, your name and effort at anonymity reflects your cowardly and sick character.
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/statement.html
0 Votes
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RE: Amazon Web Services takes down Wikileaks; It's in the terms of service
birumut Updated - 19th Jun
Great!!! thanks for sharing this information to us!
sesli sohbet sesli chat

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