Victoria Indymedia Facing Shutdown in Hostile takeover



Vic-IMC's server is being shut down by its host in Vancouver. The collective is unsure why this decision was made, and how it will be implemented. It appears to be the decision of a former member of Vancouver-IMC.

The announcement came this morning in the form of an email to the Vic-IMC discussion list. As of Sunday evening, it appears that folks authorized to moderate the newswire can no longer log on. Publishing is also blocked. It's unclear whether this is temporary or permanent.

Last week, folks involved with the now-defunct Vancouver Indymedia site in British Columbia, Canada proposed a joint venture, the BC IMC. The proposal was accepted by some in the collective with reservations, subject to working out a joint editorial policy, hosting requirements, financing, volunteers and so on.

This morning, a surprising message appeared on the discussion list: "We will put Vic IMC into archive mode (same as Vancouver) sometime this week. You will still be able to post features and administer the calendar but I can't guarantee for how long. Take a breather over the holidays and see if you feel like getting involved in something new and improved next

year ..."

The message was sent by a founding member of Vancouver Indymedia, which has been inactive for several months. The founder hosts both Vic and Van IMC on a network he owns. He claims Victoria and Vancouver owe him over $4000 for hosting services.

Questions have arisen regarding payments on Victoria IMC's share of the debt. Victoria has sent payments over the past eight weeks, but it is not clear whether Victoria's account has been credited. Vancouver has yet to acknowledge receipt of the funds.

The Victoria and Vancouver IMCs were autonomous groups with divergent publishing policies. Victoria IMC focused on activist publishing and did not permit right-wing spam and attacks on activists. A spokesman for Victoria IMC, on the other hand, recently said that Nazi propaganda is "free speech" and deleting it is "censorship."

More about Vancouver IMC's problematic history, including allegations of fraud, theft, and sexual harassment, is here:

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/09/1703295.php

Updates on the situation will be posted when more information is available.