Last week a judge ordered that the American version of the whistle-blowing site Wikileaks be taken offline. The company that hosted the site, Dynadot, was given orders to remove all trace of Wikileaks following an action brought by the Swiss bank Julius Baer. That may all change at a continuation hearing today. Both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic FrontierFoundation are planning on weighing in on the side of Wikileaks, the BBC reports. Both are concerned that the judge’s decision raises issues involvingthe First Amendment. In a statement, ACLU attorney Ann Brick said, "Blocking access to the entire site in response to a few documents posted there completely disregards thepublic’s right to know." However, Julius Baer insists the case has nothing to do with free speech, but that the documents on the site could affect a case being heard in Switzerland. Otherversions of the site, including some in Europe, have been unaffected by the ban, Lawyers for Julius Baer wrote, "This action has been brought solely to prevent the unlawfuldissemination of stolen bank records and personal account information of its customers. Many of those documents have also been altered and forged." Interestingly, since the US ban onWikileaks, a number of other sites have begun hoisting the documents concerned, and 18 organizations have given their support for Wikileaks in papers filed with the court. Although the USWikileaks site can be reached by typing in the name, those who know the IP address can still find it, according to the BBC.
