Amazon explains why it dropped WikiLeaks

December 3, 2010 By Laura Khalil

We suspected that Amazon dropped hosting for WikiLeaks earlier this week, prompted by pressure from the U.S. government.

According to a statement released by Amazon, WikiLeaks’ service was not dropped because of a Denial of Service (DDoS) attack or because of pressure from the U.S. government.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) says in a statement that WikiLeaks broke its terms of service. They write:

“Amazon Web Services (AWS) rents computer infrastructure on a self-service basis. AWS does not pre-screen its customers, but it does have terms of service that must be followed. WikiLeaks was not following them. There were several parts they were violating. For example, our terms of service state that “you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content… that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity.” It’s clear that WikiLeaks doesn’t own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content. Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy. Human rights organizations have in fact written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution and not release the names or identities of human rights defenders who might be persecuted by their governments.”

Gizmodo reports that WikiLeaks is now being hosted in the town of Roubaix, France by OVH, one of the largest hosting providers in Europe. This is in addition to WikiLeaks’ Swedish servers which have been hosting the site since last summer.

The latest WikiLeaks release of over 250,000 U.S. documents has received an extremely negative reaction from both Republicans and Democrats and provided endless fodder for T.V. news personalities.

What do you think about Amazon’s decision to drop WikiLeaks from its servers? Tell us in the comments.

Showing 28 comments

Rozell at 11:30pm 22nd December 2010 The truth must be known no matter how much it hurts. Citizens who pay taxes have a legal right to know what their country's foreign policy is all about. The truth will set you free. But a lie covered up and made to look like the truth can do far more harm. Any truth crushed into the ground will rise again...no lie can live forever...What done in the dark will one day come to the light for the whole world to see. Politians cannot cry out when they are exposed, claiming invasions of national security and placing the/our country at risk.
loupgarous at 3:24pm 15th December 2010 Amazon has excellent points. Left unspoken was the issue of criminal liability for helping Assange's co-conspirator, the US Army private who stole the documents in the first place, violate the Espionage and Internal Security Acts. Amazon acted responsibly and prudently, as did every other US-based corporation which chose to not enable Wikileaks' publication of classified information.
MJM at 7:24pm 14th December 2010 God have mercy on the busy body trouble maker that illegally gets my email or any other personal and/or private information and posts it on the internet.
lawbook at 6:12pm 14th December 2010 Do you know anything about how Wikileaks operates, though, Susan? That's the fundamental question. First, they carefully analyze each document submitted for forgery. Then they repeat that process about 5 times. Then they analyze the risk of releasing it i.e. will it end in hundreds being killed? Then and only then, do they release the document. And thus far, they have yet to name one of their sources. Many of their documents relate to very central and important issues. U.S. funding of dictatorial regimes. Secret congressional funding. Reports by Iraqis and Afghans about crimes committed by armed forces, and by local tribal factions. Germany's interesting internal views on health care. The actual state of nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran. Corruption within major corporations. Political bribes. Human rights violations in various countries. Wikileaks is not releasing the names of people in the witness protection program, or giving our addresses of American soldiers. They're releasing factual, relevant information. All these things are important. They should be known, so that people around the world know what is actually occurring on Earth. Me, I don't trust politicians. But mostly, I don't trust anyone who says "the truth is dangerous." Knowledge is power, and those who try to keep us from it are simply trying to deprive us of power. I too will refrain from using Amazon.com. I don't do business with collaborators. - Of course, if you're an AF member, now you can't know, because you're banned from viewing their website. But you can still view this.
Susan at 5:54pm 14th December 2010 I read this crap and clearly know that these folks posting know nothing "anything" about military operations for the sake of freedom...sad, but true. If you only knew the secrets that you don't know...that's kept you "free" all these years. Props to Amazon!! I will buy more items from them to make up for those folks dropping them! Ignorance clearly is bliss!
John at 11:04am 11th December 2010 Well, if anyone with half a brain or more believes that statement, I have a bridge on Mars I'd like to sell you.
franz at 11:40am 9th December 2010 I hope this gets people to start paying more attention to alternative news and to get them to really try to find the truth about things for themselves. Maybe the governments will succeed in incarcerating the founder and maybe they'll even get the site down (doubtful..).. But there's tons of information about the real truth out there, most of us who browse some alternatives now and then are already in the know about a lot of the things that are leaked now. THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE! Peace ; )
Fesoj at 2:39pm 8th December 2010 Rubbish Amazon. Wikileaks have not released 250,000 documents. They HAVE 250,000 documents of which only 800 have so far been released after redactions made and careful scrutiny in conjunction with major newspapers. Be honest and say it for what it is because the truth will leak out!
Guest at 1:45pm 8th December 2010 I will probably terminate my account at amazon and see if I can find another provider of books. Probably this one is just as good: http://www.bol.com/
LFNJR at 10:20am 8th December 2010 Governments to the people, "you can't handle the truth." From what I've seen, they're right. By the time people develop coping mechanisms these days, they can't remember what they were supposed to be coping with.
guest at 8:24pm 7th December 2010 Agree with you. How can truth hurt? Do you want your parter to lie to you? Even he claims a good reason.
Dorli Rainey at 6:01pm 7th December 2010 For my birthday my daughter sent two books through Amazon. The last shipment will be returned to Amazon. For me and my family it will be No Wikileak-No Amazon.
Guest at 11:17am 6th December 2010 Thank You Amazon for doing whats right!!
ElderWiseOne at 5:05pm 5th December 2010 Shame on Amazon! I WAS buying lots of items from them until now, no more after reading this! This country NEEDS the TRUTH, hopefully this will bring on a REVOLUTION this country desperately needs! HONESTY is sorely needed & NEEDS to be brought out by Wikileaks! Amazon is bringing on more censorship, geez.....thanks Amazon for showing what cowards you are! Nobody has been killed over these leaks! Bunch of politician's are just getting caught with their pants down, now threatening our liberty with censorship! Amazon is being a major contributor now!____BRING ON THE REVOLUTION....IS IT 2012 YET?........ :D ____HOW do I donate to his legal fund????
mike at 4:22pm 5th December 2010 I donated five hundered today to Assange legal fund. It is a shame that Amazon is a contributor to the murderous campaign of the us government. Lies and cover ups. Its abou time some one discloses this information.
iaintnohick at 11:25am 5th December 2010 Is it strange that politicians panic when the truth is exposed? That indicates to me that they don't believe that honesty is the best policy. Maybe that's why most folks would say that if a politicians mouth is moving, he's telling lies. It's obvious that the government can't be trusted. They have no integrity. I understand why honest people don't want to be a part of that culture. What a shame.
smellyfinger at 10:29am 5th December 2010 Obama will soon cut all taxes
thinker at 10:08am 5th December 2010 The site was blocked when I tried to read it. Amazon.com is just a little forest, not the rain forest giving us all life. I lost all respect for them and will not buy from them. Are they even an American company? If so, they don't act it. Good for google for finding an alternative against China's censorship, too. Bluecrus is correct. Are we dumbed down and just take it any more?
Ancient at 6:36am 5th December 2010 I dropped Amazon! They are cowards and i think they are lying. They just so happen to drop wikileaks after Joe (blow) Liberman made his statement to the press.
Nate at 1:15am 5th December 2010 Amazon = cowardly act of censorship Wikileaks = heroic
pete at 8:24pm 4th December 2010 Bravo amazon.com! Amazon.com should've done this long ago. How can you tolerate wikileaks's outrageous conduct?
Chade at 8:23pm 4th December 2010 I am all for it. I have no doubt there have been people already tourtured and killed with more to come, for speaking out on some of these subjects, in some of the other countries. This data comes from contries all over the world. Everyone is making a big deal about the information from the US. The comment from the US was it was improper to release that kind of information. In other contries they will kill every one involved and every name listed in every document found. I would not be opposed to a death sentence for Julian himself to save many others in the future and others in the past that it is to late for.
1. BlueCrus at 9:24am 5th December 2010 pfft...you can bet that if something like that happened we (U.S.A.) would be the first to hold a press conference about it to garner even MORE negative publicity towards wiki-leaks to get even MORE people riled up about it. Trust me, no one has been 'physically' harmed due to this. You can bet your last dollar though that there will be a lot of diplomatic hand wringing and diplomatic transfers or reassignments due to this but not much more. The world public will be the FIRST to know if anyone mentioned in those leaks is physically harmed. Our government would be one of the VERY first on that band wagon because then that would FINALLY give all those governments and government officials who chimed in saying that people's lives and well being are at risk more ' I told you so' credibility. It would DEFINITELY be in the governments best interest to blab about that. IMHO the only risk of this document dump is that it 'may' damage a few political aspirations for some diplomats and those around them, definitely embarrass a few global political leaders and maybe, in the end though, we get a better insight into our enemies and friends around the globe. Sometimes a little candor is good in a political relationship. Especially when a lot of those involved in the relationship command vast resources such as armies, navies and nuclear capable weapons. In the end, perhaps the dump will enlighten some of the general population who seem to keep their proverbial heads buried in the sand or their facebook accounts who believe everything that the government tells us because they are in a constant state of denial or they have been 'dumbed down' enough to not question authority no matter WHAT they tell us. Nothing more. One thing I did find interesting from the doc. dump so far was that missile conference between Russia and the U.S. when they were talking about the missile capabilities of Iran, N. Korea et al. It was VERY enlightening. If you haven't had a chance to read that, you should. Its like 80 paragraphs but well worth the read. If you can log out of your FaceBook accounts long enough. =/
Bobby at 5:39pm 4th December 2010 It wouldn't have been dumped if it hadn't drawn attention.
Bob at 1:51pm 4th December 2010 Here comes internet censorship in the US
AmazonLeaks at 4:56am 4th December 2010 I think there is a wider issue of hypocracy here: amazonleaks.org
Guest at 1:12pm 3rd December 2010 You can get away with minor ToS violations on most web hosts. However, when you break the terms in such a blatant way, it's no suprise they were shut out of Amazon.
o0ChaoS0o at 7:20am 3rd December 2010 Who else is hosted by Amazon? I'd like to read their content.