Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
Summary: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has invoked the Patriot Act on Wikileaks' domain registrar, in a bid to access information on founder Julian Assange.
DNS hoster Dynadot has received a Patriot Act request by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to produce information held about WIkileaks founder Julian Assange, in a fully-fledged "espionage case".
In a tweet by @wikileaks, the whistleblowing organisation confirmed the news.
(Image via Twitter)
The order seeks "all available information" on not only Assange, but Wikileaks also, held by the DNS hoster. The information will be handed to the U.S. grand jury in Alexandria, Virgina.
A Wikileaks press release has been issued:
"The Order demands Dynadot handover the following information for the time period November 1st 2009 to present, within three days of the date of the Order:
1. Subscriber names, user names, screen names, or other identities; 2. mailing addresses, residential addresses, business addresses, e-mail addresses, and other contact information; 3. connection records, or record of session times and durations; 4. length of service (including start date) and typos of service utilized; 5. telephone or instrument number or other subscriber number or identity; including any temporarily assigned network address; and 6. means and source of payment for such service (including any credit card or bank account number) and billing records.
Also:
1. records of user activity for any connections made to or from the Account 2. non-content information associated with the contents of any communication or file stored by or for the account(s), such as the source and destination email addresses and IP addresses. 3. Correspondence and notes of records related to the account."
The full order can be found here [PDF].
Dynadot, based in California, is responsible for hosting the domain name wikileaks.org along with IP addresses belonging to Wikileaks.
Last year, Amazon removed Wikileaks from its hosted service citing reasons that it broke the terms of service, while EveryDNS also removed the site after a series of sustained denial-of-service attacks.
Dynadot was ordered to shut down the wikileaks.org domain in February 2008, after the Julius Baer Trust and Bank brought an injunction against Wikileaks. This forced Wikileaks to roll out alternative domain names -- such as wikileaks.de and wikileaks.cx.
The same judge reversed the injunction citing First Amendment issues a month later.
Use of the Patriot Act to access data within the United States is not uncommon. However, earlier this year, ZDNet exclusively reported that Microsoft, as well as other cloud service providers in Europe and further afield, handed European data in EU-based datacenters, back to U.S. law enforcement -- breaching European data protection laws.
The Patriot Act revised and consolidated counter-terrorism laws post-9/11 to enhance domestic law enforcement investigatory authority, including sweeping surveillance and search powers -- while, some claim the elimination of judicial oversight to ensure these powers are not abused.
Shortly after Microsoft's admission, the European Parliament demanded answers from the United States -- sparking a diplomatic outrage over the disparity in data protection laws.
Europe's Data Protection Directive was brought into law in 1995, and forms the basis of each member state of the European Union's data protection laws.
It has long believed that the United States' Patriot Act outweighs the European data protection laws.
Related content:
- Microsoft admits Patriot Act can access EU-based cloud data
- EU demands answers over Microsoft's Patriot Act admission
Also read ZDNet’s Patriot Act series:
- Summary: ZDNet’s USA PATRIOT Act series
- Part 1: USA PATRIOT Act and the controversy of Canada
- Part 2: Safe Harbor: Why EU data needs 'protecting' from U.S. law
- Part 3: How the USA PATRIOT Act can be used to access EU data
- Part 4: USA PATRIOT Act: The myth of a secure European cloud
ZDNet's Wikileaks series:
- Part 1: Wikileaks: The diplomatic cables release and media reactions
- Part 2: Wikileaks: A brief history, pre-2010
- Part 3: Wikileaks: How the organization functions and operates
- Part 4: Wikileaks: How ‘Anonymous’ subverted the most powerful governments
- Part 5: Wikileaks: How the diplomatic cables were leaked
- Part 6: Wikileaks: How the diplomatic cables sparked the 2011 Arab Revolutions
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
THIS..what business does US have in asking for data from EU companies that don't do business with USA?
Don't be so surprised - it works both ways
You don't think the EU would give access to data to the US if they didn't already have a similar agreement in place where the US gives access to data on US soil to the EU, did you.
It's how it works.
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
Read the article - Europe is complaining about American companies operating in Europe providing information on European individuals and companiea to the US government
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
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RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
You really think that US jurisdiction is world wide, don't you ?
Not quite right !
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
But I have heard that lots of countries have these neat things called extradition treaties.
The U.S. is the "defense dept" of the world, so, those countries are stuck
It's not what you and a lot of other people might want to hear or agree with, but it's a reality of life in the world. Being dependent upon the U.S. means that, those countries don't really have very many choices.
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
Last I heard was that the US was dependent on money from China.
P.S. Many European countries, not all, are doing MUCH better than the US, when it comes to economy.
Some even have a budget SURPLUS.
One small European country, Norway, has had a budget surplus for decades and the surplus is SAVED for later.
Reality is that AT PRESENT the US is a lot more dependant on other countries than vice versa.
It was not always like that, but it IS now !
hkommedal: Think again...
And there's not a European country that is not dependent upon the U.S. for their defense, and that includes the major countries and the lesser ones. We are their defense, and they've become almost completely dependent upon the U.S. to stop all threats, even with a weakened economy.
BTW, there isn't a single economy in Europe that is any better off than the U.S. Europe already has a few economies which, for all intents and purposes, have collapsed or are ready to collapse. And even Norway will feel the domino effect for the rest of Europe once they all start collapsing.
The U.S. still has a chance to recover, and there are many pockets of good growth in several states, like Texas. What Texas does, can be done in many other areas, and it's just a matter of the federal government, with Obama at the helm, to decide to stop the madness which has made our economy almost as bad as those in Europe.
No matter how you look at it, as goes the U.S., so goes the world, and that includes China and all of Europe.
BTW. if the U.S. economy does collapse, where will the Europeans find the money to build their own defense forces? One of the biggest reasons that some European countries have been left unscathed up to now, is that, most of them don't spend any significant money on defense, turning instead to the U.S. to cover that area for them. Nice, huh?
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
Using a "non-U.S. web server" wouldn't change a thing
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
RE: Wikileaks: Homeland Security invokes Patriot Act on Assange; seeks server data
So Switzerland and Russia would be good choices then.
Franciscus: The Patriot act also something that the U.S. allies
hkommedal: Going with a country that is not part of the agreement to share information according information, might be an option, but going with a country such as Russia might be the same as swapping a demon for the devil.