Booted from US-based domain, WikiLeaks site finds refuge with Swiss Pirate Party
A US-based domain name provider terminated its relationship with WikiLeaks.org, saying that attacks on the WikiLeaks site were causing problems for other users.
The homepage of the WikiLeaks.org website is pictured in Beijing on Dec. 2. Amazon.com has stopped hosting WikiLeaks' website after an inquiry by the US Senate Homeland Security Committee amid anger about the release of classified US government documents on the site.
Petar Kujundzic/Reuters
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The website WikiLeaks.org is no longer functioning, after its US-based domain host on Thursday terminated service for the controversial site. The expulsion forced WikiLeaks to relocate its domain name with a Switzerland-based domain name host, and the website is now found at .
Perhaps fittingly, the new domain host is the Swiss Pirate Party, which the calls "a political group formed two years ago to campaign for freedom of information and sensible technology policy." reported that the party is a branch of the Swedish Pirate Party, according to the website .
Former domain name host EveryDNS.net, a subsidiary of New Hampshire-based web host Dynamic Network Hosting, said in a on its website that it booted WikiLeaks at 10 p.m. EST on Thursday.
"The interference at issues [sic] arises from the fact that wikileaks.org has become the target of multiple distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. These attacks have, and future attacks would, threaten the stability of the EveryDNS.net infrastructure, which enables access to almost 500,000 other websites," the statement says.
WikiLeaks confirmed the end of their service through EveryDNS.net on : 鈥淲ikiLeaks.org domain killed by US after claimed mass attacks KEEP US STRONG,鈥 they wrote, appealing for donations.
The termination came a day after Amazon.com canceled its hosting of WikiLeaks' site, saying that sites must contain their own material.
A website requires both a domain name provider and a web server host. For WikiLeaks, EveryDNS.net hosted its domain name while Amazon provided use of its web servers. Though Amazon terminated service as web server host, WikiLeaks is also hosted on the Swedish web server Banhof, which is still providing service, according to the Associated Press.
Amazon , saying it was instead because the WikiLeaks site violated Amazon.com鈥檚 terms of service as it was 鈥渃lear鈥 that WikiLeaks didn鈥檛 own the rights to nor control the classified material.
鈥淭here have been reports that a government inquiry prompted us not to serve WikiLeaks any longer. That is inaccurate,鈥 the company said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
It鈥檚 not just the WikiLeaks website that is under fire. Sweden has an arrest warrant out for website founder Julian Assange over allegations of rape, sexual molestation, and unlawful coercion. Mr. Assange鈥檚 lawyers have denied the charges, saying the encounters were consensual. International police organization Interpol has issued a "red notice" alert on him to all 188 member countries.
It is possible that the US already has an indictment out for Assange, potentially for espionage, but a judge could order it kept sealed until he is apprehended by the US to prevent him from going further into hiding, 海角大神 has reported.
Assange is said to be hiding in Britain, the Monitor reported Thursday.
In an , Assange described how he lives on the run, dying his hair and checking into hotels under false names. 鈥淲hen it comes to the point where you occasionally look forward to being in prison on the basis that you might be able to spend a day reading a book, the realization dawns that perhaps the situation has become a little more stressful than you would like,鈥 he told the Times.