FBI/DHS Attempt to Seize Colorado Indymedia Server and Silence Our Users

June 24, 2010 Anarchist News

On Jun 17, Colorado Indymedia was contacted by Special Agent Adam Kowalski
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)/Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). As part of an "ongoing investigation" by Federal
Protective Services, they attempted to seize the Colorado Indymedia
server, believing that we kept logs (such as IP address access logs) that
could identity users on our site. Our servers are graciously hosted at
Denver Open Media who was approached by Kowalski. Kowalski claimed he had
a court order but refused to leave a copy at Denver Open Media. He was
told to contact the system administrators in order to obtain the logs as
Denver Open Media does not have the ability to consent to a seizure or
search of our property.

As of this date, we do not have a copy of the court order if it even
exists. It's likely that this was just a bluff as it's well-established
that cops, the FBI, and other law enforcement can lie in order to illicit
consent and lying about court orders is no exception.
[Information wants to be free... for the state to consume]

We told the FBI that "Colorado Indymedia does not retain this
[identifying] information because we strongly believe in the First
Amendment right to free, anonymous speech. Frequently communities outside
of our society's mainstream feel more comfortable expressing their views
in an anonymous setting. Like all Independent Media Centers, Colorado
Indymedia exists to serve these communities, and thus strives to maintain
the anonymity of its users."

In particular, the FBI was looking for information that would identify a
user(s) who had used the "spamsucks" account. This account's username and
password are posted on the main page of our site for users who would like
to post and remain anonymous. Given the time period of the logs they were
seeking, we believe they are looking to identify the individual(s) who
posted the two communiques that claimed responsibility for the recent
attacks on Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE) offices. (See "ICE
Facility Attacked in Loveland" http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/7733 and
"ICE Office Attacked" http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/7721).

This request is part of an investigation by Federal Protective Services,
the agency which is tasked with protecting the security of Federal
property (such as buildings). Communiques posted by the same account
claiming direct action attacks against other places such as a Wells Fargo
branch (http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/7664) have not attracted
similar reactions from the agency. It appears as if the ICE attacks
prompted additional attention and heat due to their status as Federal
buildings even though the attack on the Wells Fargo branch seems related
to their funding of private ICE prisons through the GEO Group.

While this may look to many as a run-of-the-mill investigation, there are
several things that bring this into question. Firstly, it is a well known
and widely publicized policy of Colorado Indymedia that we do not retain
logs that can identify individual users. For instance, our privacy policy
(http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/550), which is linked to twice from
our main page, notes that we do not log such information. The FBI is well
aware of this policy but still decided to ask us for logs they know we do
not keep. This could be a simple "fill in the box" task that has to be
completed, but then why not approach DOM's Internet service provider,
which almost certainly does retain logs of this nature (as all major
Internet Service Providers and the NSA do)? Additionally, the FBI seemed
intent on seizing our server when they came to Denver Open Media,
indicating their goal may have been the disruption of our service instead
of simply identifying users.

Given this, it seems likely that the government is upset that we provide a
venue for anonymous speech and is retaliating for this. We allow people
who ordinarily cannot speak to tell their story to the world including
those who took credit for smashing up the ICE offices. In any democratic
society, it's important that all members of society can have as much
available information in order to make informed decisions, including
decisions about whether to support the actions that these communiques
discuss. If places like COIMC did not exist, it could be that nobody would
have heard why this office was attacked and people would be forced to make
evaluations based on coverage from mainstream media outlets who act as a
police mouthpiece. In retaliation for providing this service and working
to give everybody a voice, we have been targeted.

This targeting is no surprise and something we expect from law
enforcement. Police are a tool of those who are in power who use them to
maintain that power through force. Behind every law is a charge, behind
every badge is a gun, and behind every subpoena is the possibility of
being kidnapped and held hostage for contempt. This type of targeting is
done every day against those who assert their right to privacy, who do not
have societal privilege, who lack the money to defend themselves in court
or conform to society's norms, and who choose to defy and change those
norms themselves or challenge the power structures that control society.
We are not treated differently than anybody else and the targeting of
Colorado Indymedia is business as usual. If the Department of Justice had
their way (based on their actions and lobbying efforts), the right to
anonymous speech would completely disappear. The services that we provide
are a critical part of fostering social change and democratic discourse in
this region. For this reason and many others we will not be intimidated
into maintaining investigative records on our own users or shutting down
our service. As far as we know, we are the only media outlet that has
provided coverage on the attacks against ICE offices.

It's important when things like this happen we not internalize this
repression and that we let people know we are being bullied. The majority
of a bully's power is derived from their ability to keep their victim's
silent. This is true whether those bullies are police, rapists, the bully
who steals your lunch money, or an abusive parent. This enforced silence
keeps the victim feeling powerless and alone. When we are silent, we
cannot find others who have faced the same treatment and speak out about
it or fight back. Police are a tool of those in power which they use to
enforce their rules, laws, social codes, and ultimately maintain their
place at the top of the hierarchy. They do not want to hear about people
challenging their authority. Most of all, they want to make sure that
nobody sees or hears about those actions and chooses to support those
individuals or becomes inspired to challenge authority on their own.

You may view our privacy policy at http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/550
which contractually binds us to protect your information. We would like to
thank Denver Open Media (http://denveropenmedia.org) for continuing to
host our server and recognizing the importance of the service we provide.
We continue to look for people who are willing to help with website/server
administration, moderation, legal problems, and other things. Please see
http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/13 for more information. The original
letter from the FBI can be found below including our response (with minor
formatting changes for your viewing pleasure).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Kowalski, Adam J
Date: Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 4:16 PM
Subject: Request for information on Open Media Foundation server /
Colorado Indymedia
To: jeff@openmediafoundation.org
Cc: Tony@openmediafoundation.org, "Kowalski, Adam"

To: Open Media Foundation Executive Director Tony Sawcross [sic] and
Business and
Finance Director Jeff Villano

Gentlemen,

Pursuant to our discussion today, the Colorado Indymedia organization, as
found at http://colorado.indymedia.org/, and/or IP address 129.19.150.17,
is utilizing an Open Media Foundation computer server maintained on the
premises of 700 Kalamath Street in Denver, Colorado to host its webpage.

Through my discussions with you today, it is your belief that Open Media
Foundation representatives are unable to obtain any of the information
described below on the applicable Open Media Foundation server and that
only representatives of Colorado Indymedia are able to access the
requested information.

In order to minimize any adverse impact this request for information may
have on either organization, I request that the organization able to
access the requested information be identified as soon as practicable to
receive the appropriate legal process for release of the requested
information.

If the requested information is no longer available, I request that the
responsible party issue a return correspondence noting the negative
results of the search and identify the standard retention period that
information of this type is typically retained.

Information sought:

Pursuant to an ongoing federal investigation, Department of Homeland
Security, Federal Protective Service is seeking the following information,
if available, as data files on CD-ROM or other electronic media or
facsimile:

1. The following customer or subscriber account information for each
account registered to or associated with the “spamsucks” screen name on
Colorado Indymedia’s website for the time period May 17, 2010 through May
26, 2010:
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. local and long distance telephone records, or records of session times
and durations;
4. length of service (including start date) and types of service utilized;
5. telephone or instrument number or subscriber number or identity,
including any temporally assigned network address; and
6. means and source of payment for such service (including any credit card
or bank account number) and billing records.
7.
2. All records and other information relating to the accounts(s) and time
period in Part A, including:
1. records of user activity for any connections made by the screen name,
including the date, time, length, and method of connections, data transfer
volume, user name, and source and destination Internet Protocol
address(es);
2. telephone records, including local and long distance telephone
connection records, caller identification records, cellular site and
sector
information, GPS data, and cellular network identifying information (such
as IMSI, MISISDN, IMEI, MEID, or ESN)
3. 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.
4. correspondence and notes of records related to the account(s).

Again, thank you for your cooperation and timely response in this request.

Special Agent Adam Kowalski
(303) 210-7629

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Kowalski,

This email is a response to the email sent by you to Tony Shawcross on
Thursday June 17, 2010 as a representative of the Federal Protective
Service of the Department of Homeland Security. That email requested that
Colorado Indymedia disclose information related to the identity of persons
who posted using the "spamsucks" user name during the period of May 17,
2010 through May 26, 2010. A copy of the original message is included
below this reply.

Colorado Indymedia does not retain any personally identifying information,
such as IP addresses or telephone numbers, of any of our site's users. IP
addresses
associated with user names are never logged, and web server logs are
discarded after 48 hours. Because of this, we do not possess the
information sought by the DHS, et al.

Colorado Indymedia does not retain this information because we strongly
believe in the First Amendment right to free, anonymous speech. Frequently
communities outside of our society's mainstream feel more comfortable
expressing their views in an anonymous setting. Like all Independent Media
Centers, Colorado Indymedia exists to serve these communities, and thus
strives to maintain the anonymity of its users.

The "spamsucks" account was created to preserve this anonymity after we
experienced a surge in anonymous spam articles and comments which forced
us to temporarily disable the ability of user to post in a truly anonymous
fashion. It is used by multiple individuals - both the "spamsucks"
username and its password are publicly available at

http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/7639

You can also read our privacy policy in full at

http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/550

Colorado Indymedia is a collective, and as such decisions about its
policies are made by consensus amongst all of its members. However, if you
have any future questions about our website, you may contact me directly
by emails at
nathan@coimc.org or by phone at 303.807.0086.

Yours in solidarity,
Nathan Acks
COIMC Webmaster
On behalf of the Colorado Independent Media Center collective

Taken from from http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/7781