Feature Archives

Indymedia presents the first Unembedded Film Series at the Victoria Theater. For eleven days, October 21-31, Unembeddded films will counter the effects of the corporate-government information cartel. Radical filmmakers and activists will present little-seen stories, from Iraq to NYC to the Bay Area and beyond, as we countdown to one of the most polarized elections in American history.

Schedule:

Thursday Oct. 21st 7pm: Republican National UnConvention 9pm: Miami Model
Friday Oct. 22nd 7pm: We Interrupt this Empire 9pm: The Oil Factor
Saturday Oct. 23rd 7pm: Shocking and Awful 9pm: Miami Model
Sunday Oct. 24th 3pm: Surplus 5pm: Republican National UnConvention
Monday Oct. 25th 7pm:Poor People's Program 1 9pm:Poor People's Program 2
Tuesday Oct. 26th 7pm:End of Suburbia 9pm:republican National UnConvention
Wednesday Oct. 27th 7pm: Spin 9pm: Mardi Gras:Made in China
Thursday Oct. 28th 7pm: Shorts Program 9pm: Miami Model
Friday Oct. 29th 7pm: Shocking and Awful 9pm: Miami Model
Saturday Oct. 30th 7pm: Miami Model 9pm: Republican National UnConvention
Sunday Oct. 31st 7pm: We Interrupt this Empire 9pm: Miami Model

Detailed Descriptions of Films

11/16: EFF continues push for access to secret court order
11/09: U.S. Government responds to EFF Motion to Unseal
IMC Legal Updates | EFF News Releases: 11/10 | 10/25 | 10/13 | 10/12 | 10/08 | EFF Overview | Enduring Indymedia videogame
"I would say that this is an indication of the successfulness of the Indymedia network. Freedom of information is a radical idea when applied in a fair manner," says Peter Phillips, Ph.D., director of Project Censored. "Radical ideas will always be suppressed by the transnational corporate elites whenever possible. We must act on our rights to freedom of information to keep it safe, and when repressed find new channels and means to succeed."

10/13: The hardware was mysteriously returned to Rackspace.com, but a gag order is still in place, preventing Indymedia from figuring out who took its hard disks or why. Support Indymedia's legal inquiry by signing the Indymedia solidarity statement.

A secret investigation took the FBI all the way to London to seize hard drives from an Indymedia server, named "Ahimsa," which hosted around twenty local IMC sites including Italy and a number of other European IMCs, as well as Ambazonia, Brazil, Uruguay and Western Massachusetts. Rackspace.com, the US and UK-based ISP hosting the server, has not commented other than to report that it received a "federal order" requesting information from the server, and complied by handing over the hardware; the company was apparently ordered to refrain from further discussing the seizure.

Recent news reports from Europe suggest that an Italian "terrorism" investigation may have led to the FBI's seizure of the servers (Google translation); in addition a Swiss prosecutor, Daniel Zappelli, stated that a criminal investigation into Indymedia's coverage of the G8 has been opened. The FBI had recently requested, as a "courtesy," that photographs and "identifying information" of some Swiss police officers be removed from a post on the Nantes Indymedia site; it remains unclear why the FBI would have jurisdiction over a French website with photographs of Swiss police officers hosted in the UK. The Nantes site has been relocated, UK Indymedia has been redirected to a backup, and other affected IMC sites are redirecting to www.indymedia.org.

UK Indymedia takes to the streets at the European Forum on Communication Rights.

Statement from Rackspace.com (MP3): In the present matter regarding Indymedia, Rackspace Managed Hosting, a U.S. based company with offices in London, is acting in compliance with a court order pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), which establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. Rackspace responded to a Commissioners subpoena, duly issued under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1782 in an investigation that did not arise in the United States. Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter. For additional information on the MLAT, please visit library.lp.findlaw.com....

Ahimsa is a Buddhist, Hindu and Jainist doctrine meaning literally "non-injury." According to Sri Swami Sivananda, "Non-injury is not merely non-killing. In its comprehensive meaning, Ahimsa or non-injury means entire abstinence from causing any pain or harm whatsoever to any living creature, either by thought, word, or deed. Non-injury requires a harmless mind, mouth, and hand. Ahimsa is not mere negative non-injury. It is positive, cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude in which hatred is replaced by love. Ahimsa is true sacrifice. Ahimsa is forgiveness. Ahimsa is Sakti (power). Ahimsa is true strength."

The National Association of Broadcasters (N.A.B.), corporate pirates of the airwaves and perhaps the most powerful lobby in the country, and Media EmergenC, a grassroots independent media conference, have each pitched their tents in San Diego, where Clear Channel owns an astonishing 14 radio stations, Oct. 6th–9th. While the media monopolists of the N.A.B. are "charting radio's future" and schmoozing with the FCC, media activists have come together to confront the corporate media through protest and workshops on independent journalism and creating democratic media networks and organizations. Highlights of Media EmergenC will include the bay area's Davey D, KPFK's Sonali Kolhatkar, Prometheus Radio Project, Guerrilla News Network, and the Gadabout film festival. San Diego Indymedia | Live stream by RadioActive | N.A.B. 2000 in SF

10/15/04: Diebold pays $125,000 damages and fees to OPG, the students, and their attorneys at EFF.
9/30/04: Electronic voting machine maker Diebold, Inc., today became the first company to be held liable for violating section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it unlawful to falsely threaten ISPs for copyright violation when the copyright holder knows that infringement hasn't occurred. US District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled [PDF] that Diebold had misused the DMCA and ordered the company to pay damages and fees to Indybay's internet service provider, OPG, as well as students at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

Last September, copies and links to some 13,000 internal Diebold company memos were posted to Indybay and other websites. The memos suggested that the company was aware of security flaws in its voting system when it sold the system to states. Diebold sent several cease-and-desist letters to OPG after the links appeared on Indybay, and also threatened the students with litigation. Diebold claimed the memos were stolen from a company server and that posting them or even linking to them violated the copyright law.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which took on the case for OPG, argued that the memos were an important part of the public debate on electronic voting systems. Wendy Seltzer, EFF staff attorney, said she hopes the decision will show colleges and ISPs that they shouldn't cave in because they think litigation will be too expensive and useless. Diebold will have to pay OPG and the students their attorney fees, court costs and various other damages, which Seltzer said will probably be in the "low six figures." Wired News Report

Breaking News, 9/29/04: Freak Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM was raided this morning by some 2 dozen armed federal agents, who confiscated equipment.Video Initial report | Santa Cruz Indymedia

"Several areas in a city could be linked together and even from one city to another. Theoretically, if enough people rig up transmitters and antennas at proper locations and everyone operates on the same band, it is possible to build a nation-wide people's network that is equally theoretically legal." - Abbie Hoffman, Steal This Book

9/24/2004: Today from 2 pm PDT thru midnight, tune in to the Critical Mass Radio Network, a decentralized network of independent community-based radio stations broadcasting a coordinated signal internationally. As featured in the LA Times, CMRN is six preliminary local stations who joined forces on August 27th to bring you a simultaneous and continuous uproar of voices, stories, music and unfiltered news in honor of the RNC -- enough to ram the hot air back down George W.'s throat faster than you can say "republicrat". Join Freak Radio in Santa Cruz, Kill Radio in Los Angeles, RadioActive Radio in San Diego, PDX Radio in Portland, A-Noise in New York City, and your very own locally bred and monitored Enemy Combatant Radio here in the City by the Bay. Together, we will be bringing you live updates from around the country, starting at 2 pm. Join the network! Be the media!! LISTEN! For local listeners: CMRN's webcast will also be re-broadcast all day on Pirate Cat Radio on San Francisco's 87.9 FM and on 104.9 in the East Bay. CMRN Station ID | CMRN PSA

September 27th, Monday, 7:30pm
Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow?

674 23rd Street, Oakland. $5-15 (no one turned away). Doors at 7pm. For more info: screening details | Fault Lines | Post Carbon Institute