Amazon has pulled WikiLeaks off Amazon web hosting in protest of what Julian Assange is doing. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
The Amazon company has pulled WikiLeaks from Amazon servers. After denial of service attacks began hitting WikiLeaks, the website moved to Amazon Web Services, which provides self-service web hosting. Amazon decided that it wanted no part in what WikiLeaks is doing.
WikiLeaks off Amazon servers in protest
WikiLeaks, after its “Cablegate” series, was subject to an increasing number of distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks on the site. As a result, the site moved to Amazon Web Services. Amazon.com has kicked WikiLeaks off its self-service web hosting in protest, after Senator Joe Lieberman called for American businesses to boycott the site, according to The Guardian. The WikiLeaks Twitter page made statements that “fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe” and that if Amazon was not disposed to following the First Amendment, the company should “get out of the business of selling books.”
Julian Assange wanted in Europe
The head of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has a warrant for his arrest from the Swedish government. Assange has been an on-again, off-again fugitive from Sweden for sexual assault charges, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Interpol, the international police organization, has also issued a “red notice” for Assange, which calls for people to be arrested by any nation they are found in. It is not a binding warrant, only a suggestion. Australia, Assange’s home country, and the United States are mulling criminal charges. Assange’s mother recently said in an interview that her son is principled and doing what he believes is right and “fighting baddies, if you like.”
Outrage mounting
The release of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, among other releases, has provoked strong reactions from the international community. What the ultimate fate of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks will be is unknown, but it seems that the organization may not be able to operate with impunity eventually.
It's actually a shame some Americans fight for their right to be dumb and ignorant, and try to force others to as well.
We have a responsibility to know what our government is doing and why, and some people act like we don't have the right, much less responsibility.
Amazon is acting cowardly and against the American interest.
This government has proved time and time again that the lies are not always in our best interest. They have lost the right to choose what to disclose or not, since they have abused that discretion time and time again, sometimes with great harm to the people's ability to truly participate in governance. Their can be no consent with informed consent.
Good Job Amazon. Now if everyone else would follow suit…
Assange is the equivelent of a terrorist.