Every now and again, an event comes along and takes our breath away
by reminding us just how far out of step the legal system can be with
today's changing world. The latest example is last week's attempt by a
federal judge in California to shutter Wikileaks, a website devoted to
disclosing confidential information that exposes unethical behavior.
Almost a week after US District Judge Jeffrey White unequivocally
ordered the disabling of the guerrilla outfit, it remains up, and its
foot soldiers are as defiant as ever. More to the point, it continues to
host internal documents purporting to prove that a bank located in the
Cayman Islands engaged in money laundering and tax evasion - the same
documents that landed it in hot water in the first place.
It remains doubtful that Wikileaks will ever be shut down. That's because
the site is hosted by PRQ, a Sweden-based outfit that provides highly
secure, no-questions-asked hosting services to its customers. It has
almost no information about its clientele and maintains few if any of its
own logs.
Oh yeah, PRQ is also run by Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, two of
the founders of The Pirate Bay, the BitTorrent tracker site that, as a
frequent target of the Hollywood elite, has amassed considerable expertise
in withstanding legal attacks from powerful corporate interests.
Not that attorneys from the Julius Baer Bank and Trust, the bank accused
of the misdeeds, hasn't demanded PRQ disconnect the site...
~ From Wikileaks judge gets Pirate Bay treatment ~
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