Skip Navigation | Sheffield IMC | UK IMC | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

UK Indymedia UK Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia

Man arrested in Indymedia animal extremism probe

original: Chris Williams | 09.02.2009 15:06 | Indymedia Server Seizure | Animal Liberation | Indymedia | Repression | Sheffield

Police act on web comment including judge's details

A man has been arrested in connection with comments posted to the activist news site Indymedia.


The postings on January 21 included the personal details of a prominent High Court judge who had earlier that day handed down prison sentences in a landmark animal testing extremism trial.

A spokeswoman for Kent Police said the arrest was made this morning in Sheffield. No further details about the man, who has not been charged, were released. His arrest follows Kent Police's seizure of an Indymedia server in Manchester on January 22.

The two user comments that prompted the investigation were posted on Indymedia in response to a story about the jail sentences given to members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). Mr Justice Neil Butterfield handed down sentences of between four and 11 years for blackmail to three women and four men after they were convicted of harassing people and companies connected to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).

Kent Police carried out the SHAC investigation, led by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Robbins. The receipt left with the Manchester colocation firm hosting Indymedia's server said he had instigated the seizure.

The first comment, entitled "Mr No Justice Butterfield", said: "Or plain old Neil Butterfield when you strip away his wig, gown and pompous titles. You might want to let this friend of HLS know exactly what you think about him. Just don't mention his son Sam who was killed in a taxi crash in India last year."

Sam Butterfield died on his honeymoon in January 2008. The post went on to give Mr Justice Butterfield's personal details, which were deleted by Indymedia administrators in line with the site's privacy policy.

A second commenter however reposted the information hours later on 21 January, writing: "Butterfield's details were posted on Indymedia but removed. Not before I had a chance to write them down though :-)." Indymedia administrators again removed the personal details.

The site was contacted by Kent Police on the morning of 22 January requesting that information about the posters be retained. Indymedia responded that it had configured its Apache server software not to log IP addresses in order to protect its users' privacy.

An Indymedia spokesman declined to immediately comment on today's development. Kent Police said the investigation was ongoing.

In 2004 Indymedia servers were seized as part of an FBI investigation into violent protests at G8 meetings.

original: Chris Williams
- Homepage: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/09/indymedia_shac_arrest/

Comments

Display the following 31 comments

  1. hmm... — ARA
  2. To Dave — ARA
  3. no they'r not — cpp
  4. dont know — dave
  5. a smoke screen? — not me
  6. TELL US THE TRUTH PLEASE INDYMEDIA — dAn
  7. excuse to raid — repression is not confsing!
  8. If Indymedia does not log IPs, how can they arrest anyone? — Frank
  9. Please use your brains. — imc
  10. The police can trace your IP without going to Indymedia.... — Mandy in Camden
  11. @laura norder — ted
  12. reply to 'laura norder' — !
  13. Please use your brains. — imc
  14. Re : Laura Norder [who ISN'T Lauren Order] — Mandy in Camden
  15. I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay — Flighty
  16. The arrest is just for the cops to cover their tracks... — Pixie
  17. Sounds way too complex — dave
  18. stop the paranoia, — the police are out to get you
  19. SHAC/affiliates being repressed? — now there's a suprise
  20. GCHQ/CIA? — Spooky
  21. 2 IP Daily — Danny
  22. A few presumptions there... — xxxx
  23. @xxxx — Danny
  24. Lets say it one more time. — ben (ex admin)
  25. "owner" of the server — one of imc
  26. "owner" of the statement — Danny
  27. It was the butler what did it — Danny
  28. a few responses to other posters — anon
  29. Acting like idiots — please stop the paranoia
  30. Even worse than being 'hidden'! — Danny
  31. Solidarity — anon

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Sheffield Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Sheffield [navigation.actions2016]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2015]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Sheffield Actions 2013

G8 2013

Sheffield Actions 2012

Workfare

Sheffield Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Sheffield Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Sheffield Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Sheffield Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Sheffield Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Sheffield Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Sheffield Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Sheffield Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Sheffield Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech