Wednesday, March 12, 2014

US censors Mexican political website

This is the news.

Obviously, as it involves a country that borders the US, because it involves US government action,  and because it is potentially about something that is actually significant, it does not merit anywhere as much ink as has been spilled over Penguin Book's withdrawal of Wendy Doniger's book in India as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by a private citizen.
Godaddy has censored a prominent Mexican political site that was critical of the government and a proposed law to suppress public protests. Godaddy says that it suspended 1dmx.org after a request from a "Special Agent Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Embassy, Mexico City."

A lawyer for the site believes that the someone in the Mexican government asked the US embassy to arrange for the censorship, and is suing the Mexican government to discover the identity of the official who made the request. Leaving aside the Mexican government corruption implied by this action, Americans should be outraged about the participation of the US Embassy in the suppression of political dissent.
International Business Times reports similarly.
Following the Dec. 1, 2012, protests against the inauguration of Enrique Peña Nieto as president of Mexico, 1dmx.org was set up to be a source of news, information and discussion for the community of Mexican protesters. The site grew over the course of the year, and members of the 1dmx community planned a memorial protest on Dec. 1, 2013.

The next day, 1.dmx.org disappeared from the Internet. Its host, GoDaddy, suspended service without notice due to “an ongoing law enforcement investigation.” 

The investigation under the charge of “Special Agent Homeland Security Investigations” from the U.S. Embassy, and the contact information provided indicated that the investigation involved the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division. 

The protesters suspect that there is more involved in the takedown of 1dmx.org, and the lawsuit demands to know exactly where the command to remove the website came from.