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Amazon backs off Wikileaks hosting while White House says 'structural reforms' are underway
Amazon Web Services no longer provides hosting services to Wikileaks, according to Wikileaks itself and to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who had pressured the company after reports surfaced that the site turned to Amazon after undergoing denial of service attacks.
In a statement, Lieberman said he will continue to pursue Amazon over its Wikileaks relationship "and what it and other web service providers will do in the future to ensure that their services are not used to distribute stolen, classified information." Wikileaks gave 251,287 State Department cables to five Western newspapers last month and is slowly publishing them online.
"If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books," Wikileaks said in a Twitter statement. The site has apparently returned to Swedish host Banhof.
Amazon has not so far responded with a comment.
Meanwhile, the White House announced on Dec. 1 that Russell Travers, a deputy director at the National Counterterrorism Center, will "lead a comprehensive effort to identify and develop the structural reforms needed in light of the Wikileaks breach."
In the same statement, the White House said the State Department also has a review underway, one that has already "reaffirmed" the department's preference for thin client computers "without removable media options," a likely reference to Pfc. Bradley Manning, allegedly the origin of the leaked material. Manning, arrested by the Army in May, is widely reported to have downloaded classified material onto a CD labeled as Lady Gaga music while also pretending to lip-sync.
British newspaper The Independent is reporting that Wikileaks head Julian Assange is in southeast England, although a less-authoritative assertion from The New York Daily News places him supposedly bar hopping in lower Manhattan.
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