The SpyBlog keeps a watchful eye on the UK government. A recent post discovers something quite interesting in the mixed official messages about the recent confiscation of independent, international media outlet Indymedia's UK servers: Indymedia server seizure scandal - 10 Parliamentary Questions but still no Statement from the Home Office:

[House of commons minutes] "[...]no UK law enforcement agencies were involved and therefore, no authorisations needed."

Does this mean that any foreign government is allowed to arbitrarily seize and disrupt computer systems physically located in the UK, provided that they do not bother to tell the UK authorities, so that they do not have to bother to authorise it ?

If this is so, then it is intolerable and constitutes at least as great a threat to our economy and critical national infrastructure as terrorism or computer malware.

Why does the Home Office not make a clear statement about the legal jurisdictional aspects of this affair ? [...]

• Wikipedia: Indymedia: Seizure of servers by FBI (see also External Links)
• Indymedia's report on the incident

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