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FBI Threatens ISP with "Supporting Terrorists"
another victory for the "real patriots" in this country ... free speech is being destroyed through intimidation, gestapo-style. "the price of freedom" no doubt.
<strong>FBI closes 'pro-IRA' website</strong><br>
Thursday October 11, 2001
<br><br>
An American web site accused of supporting the Real IRA has been shut down at the request of the FBI as it cracks down on terrorist groups, it emerged today.
<br><br>
The New York-based web site - iraradio.com - contained an archive of weekly radio programmes said to back the dissident republicans.
<br><br>
Travis Towle, the owner, today claimed that the FBI asked his internet service provider to stop giving web space to the site or face having its assets seized as a backer of terrorism.
<br><br>
"They just yanked us," Mr Towle told the New York Daily News. "I think what is going on is being done out of fear."
<br><br>
John McDonagh, a native of Queens, New York, said that his show - broadcast every Saturday afternoon - would go on. He claimed IRA stood for Irish Republican Activist and denied he had any connection to the Real IRA.
<br><br>
"If I was running a Taliban web site 15 years ago, I would be considered a patriot helping the American cause," he added. "Today, I would be considered a traitor. It is getting to be difficult to predict who the government is going to call a terrorist."
<br><br>
Despite Mr McDonagh's claim that he would go on broadcasting, a statement on the web site said Mr Towle's Cosmic Entertainment Group had shut it down.
<br><br>
"In light of the foregoing and the recent tragic events in the United States, the Cosmic Entertainment company board of advisers has deemed it advisable and in the best interests of the company to temporarily shut down the iraradio.com web site until the turbulence and uncertainty facing our nation has decreased."
<br><br>
The FBI refused to comment on the shut down for security reasons.
<br><br>
The Real IRA is banned from raising funds in America and anyone found giving them cash can be prosecuted and jailed.
<br><br>
It is one of a series of organisations designated as a terror group, on a list that also includes Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and Hezbollah.
<br><br>
Thursday October 11, 2001
<br><br>
An American web site accused of supporting the Real IRA has been shut down at the request of the FBI as it cracks down on terrorist groups, it emerged today.
<br><br>
The New York-based web site - iraradio.com - contained an archive of weekly radio programmes said to back the dissident republicans.
<br><br>
Travis Towle, the owner, today claimed that the FBI asked his internet service provider to stop giving web space to the site or face having its assets seized as a backer of terrorism.
<br><br>
"They just yanked us," Mr Towle told the New York Daily News. "I think what is going on is being done out of fear."
<br><br>
John McDonagh, a native of Queens, New York, said that his show - broadcast every Saturday afternoon - would go on. He claimed IRA stood for Irish Republican Activist and denied he had any connection to the Real IRA.
<br><br>
"If I was running a Taliban web site 15 years ago, I would be considered a patriot helping the American cause," he added. "Today, I would be considered a traitor. It is getting to be difficult to predict who the government is going to call a terrorist."
<br><br>
Despite Mr McDonagh's claim that he would go on broadcasting, a statement on the web site said Mr Towle's Cosmic Entertainment Group had shut it down.
<br><br>
"In light of the foregoing and the recent tragic events in the United States, the Cosmic Entertainment company board of advisers has deemed it advisable and in the best interests of the company to temporarily shut down the iraradio.com web site until the turbulence and uncertainty facing our nation has decreased."
<br><br>
The FBI refused to comment on the shut down for security reasons.
<br><br>
The Real IRA is banned from raising funds in America and anyone found giving them cash can be prosecuted and jailed.
<br><br>
It is one of a series of organisations designated as a terror group, on a list that also includes Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and Hezbollah.
<br><br>
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IMC Network
But this is some additional info from global indymedia
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=74009&group=webcast
WEB SITES SHUT DOWN BY "HOMELANDS SECURITY"
On Sept. 29, Radio Free Eireann on New York's WBAI reported that IRARadio.com, the web site which archives all Radio Free Eireann broadcasts, has been taken down because the web service provider was threatened with seizure of assets if it continued to host "terrorist" radio programs. Travis E. Towle, founder and CEO of Cosmic Entertainment Company, which put up IRARadio.com, was told by their service provider, Hypervine, that they had been "strongly advised" to take the web site down. A Hypervine representative read Towle a statement that, under an Executive Order recently signed by President Bush, the newly-created Office of Homeland Security can seize all assets-"without any notice"-of any company found to "support terrorism." Hypervine is a subsidiary of the New York based Skynet.
Cosmic Entertainment also hosts the web sites archiving two other WBAI radio programs, "Our Americas" hosted by Mario Murillo, and "Grandpa Al Lewis Live," featuring commentary by the actor and political activist who starred in "The Munsters" and "Car 54 Where Are You?" The "Grandpa Al Lewis Live" site has apparently also been taken down.
Radio Free Eireann, which broadcasts Saturday afternoons at 1:30 on WBAI 99.5 FM, has covered the conflict in Northern Ireland for over twenty years. Guests have included Bernadette Sands, the sister of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands; Rauri O'Bradaigh, the President of Republican Sinn Fein; Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness; and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.