Iceland Review Online: Daily News from Iceland, Current Affairs, Business, Politics, Sports, Culture

The lawyers representing Icelandic MP for The Movement, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, in a case against the US authorities who are trying to access her Twitter account as part of their probe into Wikileaks, appealed the verdict falling in the US authorities’ favor in a Virginia courthouse on Friday.

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Birgitta Jónsdóttir. Photo by Páll Kjartansson.

“According to the verdict, no user of social networks has the right to demand that information about him or her isn’t passed on,” Jónsdóttir told Morgunbladid.

People register to social networks like Facebook and Twitter and accept various terms without realizing what the consequences may be, the MP explained.

“The information in question is various background information, such as an IP-number, telephone numbers, emails, credit card information and more,” Jónsdóttir. “I don’t really have anything to hide but this is first and foremost a matter of principle and I will fight until the end.”

Jónsdóttir said she also intends to use this case to raise awareness among the public about the lack of privacy they have on the internet. Social networks should make their users more aware of what personal information they are handing out, she said.

The International Parliamentarians Association has discussed Jónsdóttir’s case twice and she says a report which is being written about it might become a precedent in future cases such as this.

Click here to read more about this case.

via icelandreview.com

Iceland Review Online: Daily News from Iceland, Current Affairs, Business, Politics, Sports, Culture

The US Embassy in Kabul sent a long memo to the White House, CIA and senior US military officers, which has now been leaked by Wikileaks, in December 2006 trying to prevent the retreat of the Icelandic “jeep gangs” from Afghanistan.

In October 2006, one month after the US military formally closed its base in Iceland, the then Foreign Minister Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir decided to move the two five-person groups that had been working on behalf of the paramilitary Icelandic Crisis Response Unit in Afghanistan back to Iceland in February 2007, Fréttabladid reports.

At the same time it was announced that the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit would henceforth attend to civic duties and a nurse and a midwife were sent to Afghanistan instead of the “jeep gangs”. The decision enjoyed much support in Iceland, across all political parties.

The members of the Crisis Response Unit carried weapons for their protection and many people thought that the difference between them and regular soldiers was unclear.

However, the decision caused concern in the US Embassy in Kabul as it was believed to have “serious consequences” for the troops stationed in the Ghor region. The US Foreign Service was encouraged to pressure the Icelandic government into reconsidering their decision.

“Because of their combination, specialized equipment and extensive experience in off-road driving in circumstances such as the ones that can be found in the Ghor region, the Icelandic patrol units have delivered significant results,” the memo reads.

“Because of the unit’s reliability, its efforts to share its skills with other units and its unique ability for rescue operations, the job of the Chagcharan restoration unit is much more efficient than it would otherwise have been,” it continues.

The memo also states that the members of the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit were disappointed because their efforts lacked support from the Icelandic government and public.

via icelandreview.com

Embassy suggested U.S. bail out Iceland to counter Russian influence | WikiLeaked

It seems to be Iceland day on WikiLeaks, with dozens of cables from the Reykjavik embassy dating back to 2005. Most of these are, as you might expect, fairly dull — I would imagine it’s tough to write a terrorist threat assessment on Iceland with a straight face — but the embassy’s response to Iceland’s banking collapse is interesting to read.

Particularly intriguing are a series of cables in which the embassy suggests the United States’ giving some sort of financial assistance to Iceland and expressing worry about Russia exploiting the crisis after Moscow offered a loan. Here’s a cable from late 2008:

Regarding the Russian loan offer, the PM asked at the press conference why Iceland shouldn’t call on the Russians if they could help? Despite public assertions that some of Iceland’s friends had failed to provide help, the Embassy does not believe the Icelanders have adequately checked out all possibilities of cooperation with U.S. entities. We urged Iceland reps to reach out to U.S. authorities immediately so that “our friends said no” - means they really asked the right questions.[…]

We are at a loss to explain why the Icelanders have not picked up the phone to discuss what they need and what we might be able to help them with, though the stature of Central Bank director David Oddsson may have something to do with a reluctance to open other lines of communication. American bankers here tell us that U.S. support is badly needed, that the Icelandic bank assets are not toxic, and that their problem is short term liquidity worsened by a crisis of confidence.

6. (C) The U.S. has strategic interests in the high north and a sturdy security relationship with post-Keflavik Iceland that both sides have labored to develop. Today the Embassy urged senior reps in the PM’s office and elsewhere to at least explore what confidence-building cooperation (other than the credit swaps the Fed turned down) may be possible to develop. We doubt that it would be  in the interest of the U.S. or NATO for the Icelanders to be beholden to Russia, however “friendly” the loan terms may be.

The Russia hands didn’t see this as much of a threat. A cable from the Moscow embassy that same week described the loan offer as a “vanity project,” which suggested that the Russians had “still not come to terms … with the country’s rapid fall from economic grace.”

Back in Reykjavik, the embassy made the case that the United States should offer economic assistance to Iceland as the banking crisis worsened: 

Assistance from the U.S. at this crucial time would be a prudent investment in our own national security and economic well being. The Icelanders take fierce pride in their flawless history of paying back their debt. Whatever the financial turmoil and uncertainty of the moment, it’s a good bet that this economy of highly-educated, imaginative, and sophisticated people will take off again. And when it does, and when the competition in the High North really gets underway, it may be more important than we can yet suppose to have the Icelanders remember us as the kind of friend who stands by in fair weather and foul.

Given the controversies surrounding the bank bailouts and TARP in the United States, a loan to Iceland would obviously have been a political non-starter, though obviously the United States did indirectly loan money to Iceland through the IMF.

The timing of WikiLeaks’ massive Iceland document dump is certainly interesting. Icelandic MP and longtime WikiLeaks supporter Birgitta Jonsdottir had her Twitter records subpoenaed by the U.S. Justice Department last week. The U.S. ambassador in Reykjavik was summoned to explain the matter. Additionally, WikiLeaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum was detained and searched by U.S. customs agents recently after returning from the country. 

WikiLeaks role in exposing secret misbehavior at Iceland’s failed Kaupthing Bank was an early triumph for the site. Julian Assange lived in the country for a time and collaborated with Jonsdottir and other MPs on legislation aimed at setting up Iceland as an international data haven. 

via wikileaks.foreignpolicy.com

Iceland blasts US demand for lawmaker’s details in WikiLeaks probe | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 09.01.2011

Politicians in Iceland have hit out at a US request for Twitter to hand over details of a member of the country’s parliament because of her connections with WikiLeaks.

A subpoena for parliamentary representative Birgitta Jonsdottir’s details was issued as part of an investigation involving several individuals associated with the whistle-blowing website.

Icelandic Foreign Minister Oessur Skarphedinsson

Bildunterschrift:

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Skarphedinsson denounced the US demand as ‘intolerable’Icelandic Foreign Minister Oessur Skarphedinsson said it was not acceptable that US authorities had demanded the information.

“According to the documents that I have seen, an Icelandic parliamentarian is being investigated in a criminal case in the United States for no reason at all,” Skarphedinsson told Icelandic public radio RUV.

“It is intolerable that an elected representative is being treated like that,” he said.

‘Serious and peculiar’

The country’s Interior Minister Oegmundur Jonasson told the Icelandic daily newspaper Morgunbladir that the investigation into Jonsdottir was “serious and peculiar” and voiced support for WikiLeaks’ actions in releasing classified information online.

Jonsdottir formerly acted as a spokeswoman for Wikileaks and was involved with the website’s release of classified video footage last year showing a US Apache helicopter shooting dead Iraqi civilians, including two journalists from the news agency Reuters.

On Twitter, Jonsdottir said that she would call Iceland’s justice minister to discuss the request, and hinted that she felt menaced by the US request.

“(The) USA government wants to know about all my tweets and more since 1 November 2009. Do they realize I am a member of parliament in Iceland?”

Jonsdottir helped release a video that showed the killing of innocent Iraqi civilians

Bildunterschrift:

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Jonsdottir helped release a video that showed the killing of innocent Iraqi civilians“I think I am being given a message, almost like someone breathing in a phone,” she said.

Demand for online and personal data 

The subpoena obtained by the US Department of Justice in mid-December was made public on Friday after San Franciso-based Twitter won a legal battle requesting a right to inform the individuals involved. Among the information sought are online connection records, session times, IP addresses used to access Twitter, emails and residential addresses as well as bank and credit card account details.

Individuals whose details were requested also include WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp, US programmer Jacob Appelbaum and US Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning - who is alleged to have sent Wikileaks the secret diplomatic service cables.

The US is examining possible charges against Assange over the publication of the cables, which it claimed were irresponsible. The US State Department said on Friday that it had issued warnings to several hundred people worldwide who it believed had been put at risk by the release.

Author: Richard Connor (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Mark Rossman

via dw-world.de

Iceland summons US envoy over demand for MP’s Twitter details | World news | The Guardian

birgitta jonsdottir Birgitta Jonsdottir - Iceland MP and former WikiLeaks collaborator. The US Justice Department is seeking access to her Twitter account as it tries to build a criminal case against WikiLeaks Photograph: Halldor Kolbeins/AFP/Getty Images

The American ambassador to Iceland has been summoned to explain why US officials are trying to access the Twitter account of an Icelandic MP and former WikiLeaks collaborator.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, an MP for the Movement in Iceland, revealed last week that the US justice department had asked Twitter to hand over her information. The US authorities are trying to build a criminal case against the website after its huge leaks of classified US information.

“[It is] very serious that a foreign state, the United States, demands such personal information of an Icelandic person, an elected official,” the interior minister, Ogmundur Jonasson, told Icelandic broadcaster RUV. “This is even more serious when put [in] perspective and concerns freedom of speech and people’s freedom in general,” he added.

Iceland’s foreign ministry has demanded a meeting with Luis Arreaga, the US ambassador to Reykjavík. No one at the US embassy in Reykjavík was available for comment.

Jónsdóttir is one of the site’s contributors whose communications are being investigated by US authorities. A court order last week revealed that they are also seeking Twitter data from the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and Bradley Manning, the US serviceman accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of sensitive government cables published by WikiLeaks.

The court issuing the subpoena said it had “reasonable grounds” to believe Twitter held information “relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation”. A Twitter spokesman said it was company policy to inform users if there was an investigation when legally possible.

WikiLeaks has demanded that Google and Facebook reveal which of their users are under similar scrutiny.

Jónsdóttir told the Guardian: “I am very pleased that we are going to have this meeting. There are a few things here that need to be straightened out and I am very grateful that this issue is being treated as seriously as it should be.”

She said she was talking to lawyers at the Electronic Freedom Foundation and would attempt to stop the justice department’s move.

Most messages on Twitter are public but users can send private messages. The court order is also seeking details of source and destination internet protocol addresses used to access the accounts. These would enable investigators to identify email addresses and how the named individuals communicated with each other.

The US attorney general, Eric Holder, has said he believes Assange could be prosecuted under US espionage laws. Holder said the leaks had endangered US national security. “The American people themselves have been put at risk by these actions that I believe are arrogant, misguided and ultimately not helpful in any way,” he said.

via guardian.co.uk

Other countries have a thing called sovereignty and tend to get a bit uppity when you cross it, even if your guns are bigger than their’s.

Feds Subpoena Twitter Seeking Information on Ex-WikiLeaks Volunteer | Threat Level

The U.S. Justice Department has served Twitter with a subpoena seeking information on an Icelandic lawmaker who has worked with WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, the lawmaker told Threat Level on Friday.

“I got the letter from Twitter a couple of hours ago, saying I got 10 days to stop it,” wrote Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of Iceland’s parliament, in an e-mail. “Looking for legal ways to do it. Will be talking to lawyers from EFF tonight.”

EFF refers to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties group in the United States.

On her Twitter feed, Jonsdottir said the government is seeking an archive of tweets she sent out since Nov. 1, 2009 as well as “personal information” for her account.

Josdottir told Threat Level that the request was filed under seal by the Justice Department on December 14 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. This is the same jurisdiction where, according to previous press reports, a federal grand jury is investigating possible charges against Assange, with whom Jonsdottir has worked closely.

Jonsdottir has been a strong supporter of WikiLeaks and became a volunteer with the organization last March to help edit and publish a classified U.S. Army video that the site published last April. The video showed a U.S. gunship in Iraq shooting and killing civilians.

She later parted with the group after Assange became the subject of a sex-crime investigation in Sweden. She argued that Assange should take a less public role until the case was resolved — a view Assange did not share.

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is suspected of leaking the Army video to WikiLeaks earlier this year. In chats with former hacker Adrian Lamo, who turned him in to authorities, Manning indicated that he had first contacted WikiLeaks sometime in late November 2009. This corresponds with the time period mentioned in the government’s request for Jonsdottir’s tweet history.

Jonsdottir was instrumental in getting the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative passed in Iceland’s parliament that supports creating legislation to make Iceland a legal haven for journalists and media outlets.

Photo: Friðrik Tryggvason, via Wikimedia Commons

See Also:

via wired.com

Documentary: Julian Assange - A Wanted Man.

This is a documentary that aired on Australian television just prior to the Afghan War Diaries release. It has been uploaded to YouTube in three parts and embedded below. It is my hope that reposting this will remind people of what Wikileaks is all about before all the “OMG SWEDISH SEX” scandal.

My thanks to youtube member journeymanpictures & ABC Australia for this production. The founder of whistle-blowing website ‘Wikileaks.org’, has been dubbed the most dangerous man on earth. Global truth machine or anarchy? We delve into the guarded world of Wiki in this exclusive report.

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