Did GoDaddy and Homeland Security Shut Down a Mexican Protest Site? Russell Brandom - The Verge
go to original May 27, 2014

On December 1st of 2013, the Mexican protest site 1dmx.org celebrated its first anniversary with a banner headline: "One year of struggle… and counting!" It was a simple site documenting the mass demonstrations in the wake of President Nieto’s inauguration. Scroll through, and you’d find YouTube videos documenting activist arrests and police brutality, a collectively edited stream designed to organize the opposition.

But the next day, the group got an unpleasant surprise: the site was taken down, abruptly unplugged from its hosting service.

Ever since, 1dmx has been scrambling to figure out why. GoDaddy sent an enigmatic email saying the group had violated the terms of service, but didn’t say how. When the site's owners pushed for more information, GoDaddy told them they were part a criminal investigation triggered by the Department of Homeland Security's Mexico City branch. Somewhere, someone had tagged them as a threat to national security, and taken down 1dmx.org in the process.

To get to the bottom of it all, 1dmx has launched a lawsuit, drawing on help from web rights groups like Access and Mexico's R3D. But with no clear idea of who ordered the takedown, the suit could crash before it gets off the ground. Unless lawyers can come up with a department to name as plaintiff by May 27th, the suit will be dismissed.

As a result, they’re scrambling through every possible suspect.

Read the rest at The Verge

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!