Details are sparse at the moment, but currently everyone surfing to wikileaks-dot-de is transfered to a DENIC (the german domain registry) page stating that the page currently is “in transit”. This suggests the domain has been seized by german authorities. Currently it is still listed as belonging to its former(?) owner however.

Wikileaks states on twitter to not have received a notice of domain seizure or blockage and rightly asks if this is now “due process” in Germany. All this comes after the owner of the German domain had his home raided by the police in the wake of Wikileaks publishing the Australian censorship lists under the suspicion of distributing illegal pornography. Ironically he only owns the domain and does not host anything, allegedly.

Once more details transpire, I will update this entry. Currently however this imo is worrying to say the least…

UPDATE: Facts remain sparse. The ISP responsible for the domain claims the transit is not related to censorship or the police raid. An official statement by the ISP is scheduled for Tuesday.

UPDATE: The ISP states that the domain was canceled on his behalf last december and that the contract expired three month later, unrelated to recent events. We’re now left with a mexican standoff of finger pointing.

UPDATE: Wikileaks issued a press release that illustrates their view of things. Allegedly the contract with the ISP was indeed canceled in december after the domain owner tried to “protest” against the german intelligence service (BND) and their special treatment by the DeNIC by pranking them with domain transfer order for “bnd.de”. The BND also threatened Wikileaks with legal actions last year because of secret documents being published on the site. The ISP canceled the contact, but according to Wikileaks agreed to host the domain for the rest of the time paid in advance, allegedly a full year. The domain was then disabled and turned over to DeNIC for transit just in time for the easter holiday in Germany, without any warning according to Wikileaks. The ISP, of course denies having agreed to host the domain for the remainder of time and calls the timing of the transfer an unfortunate accident.

In any case, it is depressing to see that this story got way more press coverage than the outraging police raid concerning wikileaks.de just two weeks ago. On a personal note, following this story, I think the lessons to learn is to keep your head while reporting and to question positions. I’m more inclined to favor Wikileaks description of the events in this case, even if their initial coverage should have been more level headed.

I’m not too happy about the “this suggests” above and in retrospect wish to have added a “might” to that. Compared to other blogs and news commenting however, especially those published yesterday, that assumed credibility based on letterheads, our reporting was pretty okay I guess…