Judge Backtracks, Returns Wikileaks Whistle-Blower Web Address
Updated: Visibly frustrated by the way that Internet technology has outpaced traditional law, a federal judge today nonetheless acceded to First Amendment arguments and said Wikileaks could have its Web address back.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, who sits in San Francisco, today reversed his decision earlier this month granting an injunction that required Dynadot to disable the Wikileaks site. A lawyer for the domain registrar said the site should be up and running again within an hour of when the new written order was issued, reports the New York Times in a technology blog. The site was apparently back in business at least by early this evening.
As discussed in a previous ABAJournal.com post, observers noted that White apparently didn’t realize, when he issued the original take-down order, how easily the site—which serves as a bulletin board for the posting of leaked documents—can be accessed by sophisticated computer users through other portals.
Now, however, he clearly does.
“There are serious concerns that the court has, and serious questions raised, about the effectiveness of any order that this court might issue given the current state of affairs,” the judge lamented today.
Additional coverage:
CNET News: “Judge: Wikileaks gets its domain name back”
Los Angeles Times: “Judge lifts ban on Wikileaks website”
Reuters: “Judge reverses ruling in Julius Baer leak case”
San Francisco Chronicle: “Federal judge lifts order against Wikileaks whistle-blower Web site”
Wired News: “Judge Backtracks: WikiLeaks Resumes U.S. Operations”
Updated at 8:20 p.m. to add additional coverage.
