Wikileaks raided by German police
The owner of whistleblower Web site wikileaks has been raided by German police days after it controversially published the Australian government's Internet blacklists.
The home of Theodor Reppe, who owns the domain wikileaks.de used by the site, was raided early this week under the guise of a search for pornographic material.
Reppe said neither he nor Wikileaks received notice that the search would be conducted.
German authorities did not say whether the raid was ordered by respective governments of blacklists published by the site, including Australia, Thailand and Denmark. Wikileaks last week rebuked a warning by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy that Australian Federal Police will pursue the source of the leaked lists, and said it will press charges via the German Constitutional Police against those who take action against it.
The wikileaks statement claimed its only association with pornographic material distribution was in the publication of the various blacklists which contain links to Web sites broadly considered illegal.
Conroy has denied the leaked Australian blacklists were those held by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), but today conceded the most recent list obtained by Wikileaks "seems to be close" to the list currently held by the regulator.
Reppe, who also reportedly owns the popular Tor anonymous proxy servers -- which can be used to dodge content filters -- refused police requests to shut down the site.
The raid follows recent "social hysteria" surrounding child pornography in Germany, according to Wikileaks, spearheaded it claims by the country's family minister Ursula von der Leyen. The statement said the search comes weeks after police raids of the homes of a social democrat minister and German bloggers.
Wikileaks said 11 police detectives were involved in the raid.
» posted by ITworld staff
Computerworld Australia
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
On Twitter now
wikileaks
Powered by Twitter
jfruh
Apple syncing patent can't come soon enough
pasmith
New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients
Esther Schindler
Open Source Changes the Software Acquisition Process
mikelgan
How to set up continuous podcast play on the new iTunes
David Strom
Five important Windows 7 mobility features
sjvn
Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Grepping on Whole Words
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.
