5 ms·

Now that Glenn Greenwald has pretty much only himself to answer to, it'll be interesting to see what he publishes that he might not have, had he stayed at The G

by axefrog 13y ago

Now that Glenn Greenwald has pretty much only himself to answer to, it'll be interesting to see what he publishes that he might not have, had he stayed at The Guardian. I'm a little concerned that his domain name firstlook.org is hosted through GoDaddy. Anything particularly damning could have authorities asking GoDaddy to take his domain from him, and the fact that his servers are hosted in California provides a second potential point of government interference.

amirmc 13y ago
Greenwald's been asked, given how things seem to be, whether he would set things up outside the US. ISTR he stated that the Constitution (and First Amendment) still exist and the US is the most appropriate place for the NewCo. I think it was in an interview with Kirsty Wark for Newsnight. EDIT: I misremembered the exact words as he actually comments on press freedom in the US. Here's the point in the interview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f1Zvo8N3G94#t=599 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f1Z...
- dublinben 13y ago
  The US might be a good place for the servers, but GoDaddy has proven to be an unreliable registrar in the past. They should at least be using a provider that supports a free internet.
jonknee 13y ago
I'm sure he's got backup servers. He's also got a multibillionaire backer, a great counterpoint to government interference.
- leobelle 13y ago
  How does a backup server help you with a domain name registrar taking your domain away? And how does it help you with government interference? What?
  - a3n 13y ago
    It doesn't help with that, but it does help with continuity of operations. If his domain is taken and his operations are otherwise interfered with, he can then move operations elsewhere, under a different domain. I'm sure 90+% of anyone reading his site would learn of the new domain within days. And then he'd have another story to write.
  - jonknee 13y ago
    The domain doesn't matter, the content does. If a server or domain gets seized the site can be up within minutes at another URL on different hardware. If it's not already, I wouldn't be surprised if it was also accessible on a .onion URL like their dropbox is. Having one of the richest men in the world writing your checks means that the domain is very unlikely to be seized. They play those games with people who can't fight back. Pierre Omidyar can fight back.
    - CWuestefeld 13y ago
      If a server or domain gets seized the site can be up within minutes at another URL If a tree falls in the forest... The fact that some server, somewhere, is available to service requests doesn't do very much, if your readers don't know where that is. The DNS system is the normal way of doing so.
      - craigching 13y ago
        I think people who care would find out pretty quick what happened and where to go next. Popularity on DNS is not the only way to be popular ;) This isn't the first time Glenn has moved, he had his own blog for awhile, moved to salon, then to the Guardian. It doesn't seemed to have stopped people from finding him.
theklub 13y ago
someone should set him on a .bit domain or mirror.
skywhopper 13y ago
Not to be too cynical, but I'm guessing Glenn would be delighted for the government to try to interfere with his publishing. They managed to get to him via his Brazilian partner while he was in the UK. So what is there to lose at this point? If the US government does want to mess with Glenn some more, he'll have the benefit of the fact that US courts do recognize some additional rights to being on US soil. And for PR purposes, being fully on US soil is also advantageous. Not to say that he's fishing for it, but the US can screw with your Internet hosting no matter where it is, and he'll get more protection, more attention, and more sympathy if it's all located in the US.
- wmeredith 13y ago
  He doesn't have to be fishing for it. He's conducting the business of journalism in good faith and in accordance with US laws governing freedom of the press. If they're stupid enough to mess with him, it will blow up in their faces. Nothing ensures the publicity of something online like trying to take it down. Streisand affect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
TeMPOraL 13y ago
> I'm a little concerned that his domain name firstlook.org is hosted through GoDaddy. Anything particularly damning could have authorities asking GoDaddy to take his domain from him (...) Part of me hopes he did this on purpose, so that whe GoDaddy makes a move, it will unleash unseen amounts of Internet rage that maybe, finally, will take GoDaddy down for good.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

by axefrog 13y ago

amirmc 13y ago

Greenwald's been asked, given how things seem to be, whether he would set things up outside the US. ISTR he stated that the Constitution (and First Amendment) still exist and the US is the most appropriate place for the NewCo. I think it was in an interview with Kirsty Wark for Newsnight. EDIT: I misremembered the exact words as he actually comments on press freedom in the US. Here's the point in the interview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f1Zvo8N3G94#t=599 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f1Z...

dublinben 13y ago
The US might be a good place for the servers, but GoDaddy has proven to be an unreliable registrar in the past. They should at least be using a provider that supports a free internet.

jonknee 13y ago

I'm sure he's got backup servers. He's also got a multibillionaire backer, a great counterpoint to government interference.

leobelle 13y ago
How does a backup server help you with a domain name registrar taking your domain away? And how does it help you with government interference? What?
- a3n 13y ago
  It doesn't help with that, but it does help with continuity of operations. If his domain is taken and his operations are otherwise interfered with, he can then move operations elsewhere, under a different domain. I'm sure 90+% of anyone reading his site would learn of the new domain within days. And then he'd have another story to write.
- jonknee 13y ago
  The domain doesn't matter, the content does. If a server or domain gets seized the site can be up within minutes at another URL on different hardware. If it's not already, I wouldn't be surprised if it was also accessible on a .onion URL like their dropbox is. Having one of the richest men in the world writing your checks means that the domain is very unlikely to be seized. They play those games with people who can't fight back. Pierre Omidyar can fight back.
  - CWuestefeld 13y ago
    If a server or domain gets seized the site can be up within minutes at another URL If a tree falls in the forest... The fact that some server, somewhere, is available to service requests doesn't do very much, if your readers don't know where that is. The DNS system is the normal way of doing so.
    - craigching 13y ago
      I think people who care would find out pretty quick what happened and where to go next. Popularity on DNS is not the only way to be popular ;) This isn't the first time Glenn has moved, he had his own blog for awhile, moved to salon, then to the Guardian. It doesn't seemed to have stopped people from finding him.

theklub 13y ago

someone should set him on a .bit domain or mirror.

skywhopper 13y ago

Not to be too cynical, but I'm guessing Glenn would be delighted for the government to try to interfere with his publishing. They managed to get to him via his Brazilian partner while he was in the UK. So what is there to lose at this point? If the US government does want to mess with Glenn some more, he'll have the benefit of the fact that US courts do recognize some additional rights to being on US soil. And for PR purposes, being fully on US soil is also advantageous. Not to say that he's fishing for it, but the US can screw with your Internet hosting no matter where it is, and he'll get more protection, more attention, and more sympathy if it's all located in the US.

wmeredith 13y ago
He doesn't have to be fishing for it. He's conducting the business of journalism in good faith and in accordance with US laws governing freedom of the press. If they're stupid enough to mess with him, it will blow up in their faces. Nothing ensures the publicity of something online like trying to take it down. Streisand affect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

TeMPOraL 13y ago

> I'm a little concerned that his domain name firstlook.org is hosted through GoDaddy. Anything particularly damning could have authorities asking GoDaddy to take his domain from him (...) Part of me hopes he did this on purpose, so that whe GoDaddy makes a move, it will unleash unseen amounts of Internet rage that maybe, finally, will take GoDaddy down for good.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]