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Political Internet censorship: a reality in Mexico (with a little help from the United States and GoDaddy.com)

Document Citado por Related
Vincent
AutorLuis Fernando Garcia
Páginas65-68

Page 65

See note 29

The 1DMX website was censored for three months, without explanation and with the cooperation of the Mexican and American government, along with the complicity of one of the largest domain name companies in the world. What are the implications of political censorship on the Internet for the rest of the countries in our region?

On November 25th, 2013, the coordinator of National Digital Strategy announced the Mexican government’s commitment to "fully respecting

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freedom of expression on the Internet". A week later, on December 2nd, 2013, the government censored the 1dmx.org website.

This website was created a year before, on December 2nd 2012, a day after Enrique Peña Nieto was sworn in as president, a moment which was marked by police violence, arbitrary arrests and even a death involving the Federal Police. 1dmx.org was launched on December 1st 2012 as a portal for receiving, sorting and publishing videos, photographs and testimonies about Human Rights violations committed by the security forces.

A year later, the right to protest continued being systematically attacked in Mexico from the government and other sectors, so in the run up to the anniversary of the protests 1dmx.org decided to raise awareness on the erosion of civil liberties that have been occurring since December 1st 2012. They prepared themselves once again to document any likely abuses that could happen during the protests scheduled for December 1st, 2013.

However, on December 2nd, 2013, an email from GoDaddy.com (provider of the 1dmx.org domain registration) informed its board that the domain had been suspended for an alleged violation of the terms of use.

When requesting details about the alleged violation, GoDaddy.com reported in a second email that the suspension was actually part of an "ongoing police investigation" and stated that for further details they would have to contact a special agent of the Department of Homeland Security of the U.S. embassy in Mexico. When contacted, the embassy refused to provide any information.

Due to the participation of the U.S. embassy in Mexico, it was presumed that the request to suspend the domain came from a Mexican agency, therefore 1dmx.org requested a defense to ight this censorship in court, as it clearly violates the right to freedom of expression and they pointed the inger towards ten authorities as the likely suspects behind the order.

The lawsuit was then supported by a federal judge so the...

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