SEATTLE, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Amazon.com has kicked Internet whistle-blower WikiLeaks off its servers, WikiLeaks said Wednesday.
"WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted," WikiLeaks said about 3 p.m. EST on its Twitter account. "Free speech the land of the free ... fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe."
Computerworld magazine reported it had learned WikiLeaks is now being hosted by Bahnof Internet AB, a Swedish firm with headquarters in Uppsala.
WikiLeaks had moved to Amazon's hosting service Monday, apparently to protect itself from denial-of-service attacks that took the site offline for several hours that day. The attacks continued Wednesday, Craig Labovitz, chief scientists of Arbor Networks told Computerworld.
Labovitz said the DoS attacks continued throughout Wednesday morning.
Amazon, under its terms of service, can legally pull the plug on customers at its will and pleasure, Computerworld said. The Seattle company didn't respond to queries about its WikiLeaks relationship, the magazine said.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for Internet freedom of speech, said although Amazon.com's move does not violate the First Amendment but foundation attorney Kevin Bankston told the Web site Talking Points Memo the decision was disappointing because it may have been made under pressure from the office of U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind.-Conn.
"This certainly implicates First Amendment rights to the extent that web hosts may, based on direct or informal pressure, limit the materials the American public has a First Amendment right to access," Bankston said.
