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                Date: 1999-11-26
                 
                 
                Zensur: FBI holt Y2K-Video vom Netz
                
                 
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      Filmemacher stellt y2K Video ins Netz, sehr zum Missfallen  
der gesetzlich ermächtigten Behörden. Erst wird der Künstler  
unter Druck gesetzt, dann sein Provider - schon ist das Video 
wieder weg. So einfach geht das sogar in einem Land, das  
Meinungsfreiheit als eines der höchsten Güter schätzt.   
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.. 
In a highly unusual move last week, FBI agents called mike  
zieper, an independent artist who goes by thename Mike Z.,  
and "requested" that he remove his site from the Internet.  
When he declined, the FBI worked in tandem with the U.S.  
Attorney's office to persuade his Web host and its server to  
pull Zieper's site18 days after it went upwithout having a  
subpoena or court order of any kind.  
 
Mike Z.'s Web site showed an eerie but amateur video that  
purports to be a military briefing. The clip opens with fuzzy  
shots of Times Square, over which an unseen male voice  
describes a secret army plan to incite a race riot on New  
Year's Eve. "First Team," he says "you're all here by oh?four  
hundred," and he then instructs undercover black agents to  
"Give them a little of the Amadou shit, agitate it."  
.. 
The FBI's call came when Mike Z. was at a friend's house  
last Thursday watching his UPN 9 interview. Suddenly, his  
pager hummed, and when he called the number back, it  
turned out to be the local New Jersey sheriff's department at  
his front door with two FBI agents in tow, wondering if they  
could come in for a chat. 
.. 
Instead, Z. contacted attorneys and put his computer in  
storage. But the agents made an end run around him. When  
Z. refused to pull his site, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's  
office contacted Z.'s host, BECamation, the next day. And  
that was all it took. "I had no choice but to pull the site down  
completely or I would have lost my business," says Mark  
Wieger, BECamation's president, who feared that his own  
ISP would cut him off. Lisa Korologos, an assistant U.S.  
Attorney, requested that Wieger "remove the content so that  
it could not be distributed," Wieger says. (Both the U.S.  
Attorney's office and the FBI had no comment.)  
.. 
While Internet service providers are commonly subpoened by  
law enforcement officials, an attorney who specializes in  
cyber liberties at the ACLU could not recall a similar case in  
which the officers acted without a warrant. "I've never heard of  
anything like this involving the FBI," said Ann Beeson, a staff  
attorney at the ACLU.  
.. 
Even though the ISP may not have been told, 'You must take  
it down,' there are still serious constitutional problems," says  
Beeson. "It is certainly constitutionally suspect for law  
enforcement to implicitly threaten any private entity with  
censorship." (The ACLU is considering a suit.)  
.. 
 
Full Story 
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/9947/boal.shtml
    
                 
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edited by  
published on: 1999-11-26 
comments to office@quintessenz.at
                   
                  
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