[Update] Tom Watson is asking questions in Westminster. Good.

Who has been closed down and why?

Schillings, a London Law firm, have closed down several prominent political blogs (case study on dealing with the “internet attacker“) by contacting their webhosts, on behalf the new part owner of Arsenal - Alisher Usmanov. Chicken Yoghurt broke the story.

Tim Ireland’s Bloggerheads site is currently down after his webhost pulled the plug. You can thank the latest Russian (that should be Uzbek) billionaire to reach the UK. The details will come out in due course…

This also means that the family of websites that Tim and Clive (whose site is also down) look after are also currently AWOL. So if you’re missing the online presences of Craig Murray, Bob Piper or prospective candidate for London mayor Boris Johnson, now you know why they’ve gone.

(Wardman Wire Editorial Note: Clive Summerfield has also lost his site. The last three - Bob, Boris and Clive have lost their sites simply because they were hosted on the same server; they have suffered “collateral damage”, and had not published articles critical of the Russian billionaire Mr Alisher Usmanov.)

Mr Usmanov’s lawyers have also sent “cease and desist” type letters to a number of other blogs that dare to mention the fact that he has been criticised, including Arsenal Fan Blogs.

Does this Matter?

Two questions (at least) are at stake here:

1 - The Freedom to Criticise in the UK

Mr Usmanov has a history of dealing with opposition by “blunt” means. He is a colourful (shall we say) gentleman, who has a questionable reputation.

I’ve said before that the public conversation should be unrestricted and transparent. Mr Eugenides sums it up:

If you can be silenced for calling a businessman a crook, then you can be silenced for calling a politician a crook, too. Then it’s everyone’s problem.

There are something over 1200 political blogs in this country. Do Shillings really want to try and close all of us down? Nice little earner if they do, I suppose.

2 - Taking down Innocent Websites

I’d like to raise the question of how this is done. This looks to be a bit of a dog’s dinner.

There’s something wrong when a claim against a website results in others’ sites being taken down too - especially if they are elected politicians.

However, this point is dependent on the exact way the webhost is set up. The principle should be that the minimal disturbance is made to the offending website. My guess is that the web host in this case rents out a whole (or shared) server, and that was simply turned off.

Who has joined in?

Quite a few(!) have posted in solidarity with the “closed-down”. This is reproduced from Chicken Yoghurt:

Curious Hamster, Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall, Dizzy, Iain Dale, Ten Percent, Blairwatch, Davide Simonetti, Earthquake Cove, Turbulent Cleric (who suggests dropping a line to the FA about Mr Usmanov), Mike Power, Jailhouse Lawyer, Suesam, Devil’s Kitchen, The Cartoonist, Falco, Casualty Monitor, Forever Expat, Arseblog, Drink-soaked Trots, Pitch Invasion, Wonko’s World, Roll A Monkey, Caroline Hunt, Westminster Wisdom, Chris K, Anorak, Mediawatchwatch, Norfolk Blogger, Chris Paul, Indymedia (with a list of Craig Murray’s articles that are currently unavailable), Obsolete, Tom Watson, Cynical Chatter, Reactionary Snob, Mr Eugenides.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, Mr Usmanov has got Iain Dale and Dizzy posting in support of Tim Ireland. That’s quite an achievement.

From Harry:

Bloggers cannot operate if they are bullied by rich plaintiffs. Defamation law in the United Kingdom is both farcical and unfair, and is in desperate need of fundamental reform. Errors on blogs can easily be remedied: particularly where they permit open commenting (a libel risk in itself) which allows postings to be criticised, facts corrected, and arguments opposed. I know what it is like to be at the receiving end of a well funded threat of defamation proceedings, and it is no fun at all. It is outrageous that the law of defamation should be used to break bloggers: like butterflies upon wheels.

Frankly, we might as well shut up shop altogether if we do not stick together on this issue.

For all these reasons both of them deserve our support, and we should give it to them

Where to look for more information?

• Indymedia for a copy of some of the relevant material.
• Wikipedia for a slightly informative entry.
• Archive.org for Craig Murray’s blog - currently up until July, but more will emerge as they catch up.
• Lots more on Obsolete.
• Guardian for the first Main Stream Media coverage.

For the record, this blog is hosted outside the UK <g>.

What will happen next?

[Update] Tom Watson is asking questions in Westminster. Good.Where does that leave Mr Usmanov

What I would like to see happen next is for Boris Johnson to start asking some hard questions under the protection of Parliamentary Privilege.

Shutting him down - elected representative, candidate for Mayor of London and front bench spokesman in the Westminster Parliament - looks to me as if the tycoon Alisher Usmanov has shot himself in the foot with a pack of Katyushas.

Perhaps it will be quite a shock to Boris to be *receiving* an apology.

<Quip> All we need now is for Ken Livingstone to give a reception for Usmanov… </Quip>

Tags: alisher usmanov, craig murray, boris johnson, tom watson, free speech, libel action, shillings lawyers[tags]alisher usmanov, craig murray, boris johnson, tom watson, free speech, libel action, shillings lawyers[/tags]