Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SUVA274
2007-05-15 21:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Suva
Cable title:
MILITARY SHUTS DOWN ANTI-COUP BLOG
how-toVZCZCXRO6448 PP RUEHPB DE RUEHSV #0274 1352156 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 152156Z MAY 07 FM AMEMBASSY SUVA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0057 INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1686 RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 1258 RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1454 RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
C O N F I D E N T I A L SUVA 000274
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC FJ
SUBJECT: MILITARY SHUTS DOWN ANTI-COUP BLOG
Classified By: Charge Ted Mann for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SUVA 000274
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC FJ
SUBJECT: MILITARY SHUTS DOWN ANTI-COUP BLOG
Classified By: Charge Ted Mann for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (SBU) Summary: Late Wednesday afternoon one of the most
strident blogs criticizing Fiji's post-coup interim
government was shut down. This follows days of threats by
the military to shut down the blogs. A pro-coup blog site
has been involved with attempting to locate the authors of
the blog. End Summary.
2. (SBU) The Fiji Military apparently succeeded Wednesday in
shutting down one of the most prominent of the anti-coup
Internet websites logs (blogs) that have proliferated in the
wake of December's coup. The "ResistFranksCoup" website
(www.resistfrankscoup.blogspot.com),which Tuesday morning
joined in the chorus of bloggers cynically making light of
the military's recent vain attempts to shut them down, was
stripped of content and left as a shell without text and
later removed from the web sometime late Tuesday afternoon.
ResistFranksCoup (RFC) is one of 21 blogs agitating on the
Internet against the military and the Interim government. In
a May 14 posting, an RFC contributor had egged on the
military to "Catch us if you can when we are in Fiji this
week ... or come here to the USA, and we will teach you how
to log on to a computer." However, up until now it has been
uncertain where the authors of the RFC and the others are
located.
3. (SBU) Early this week, Fiji's international telecom
carrier FINTEL confirmed to the media that representatives of
the Fiji military asked FINTEL to block local access to
certain overseas-based blogs. (Note: The embassy is tracking
21 anti-coup blogs dedicated to the current situation in
Fiji. All but four of the blogs are hosted by the US-based
"Blogger.com" hosting site, owned by Google. End note.)
According to media reports, FINTEL was resisting the
military's attempts to restrict or shut out the blogs.
Military spokesman Leweni said the bloggers' attacks on the
military and the interim regime are a "threat to national
security."
4. (SBU) After an initial, unsuccessful attempt some months
ago to identify the sources of the blogs and shut them down,
the military announced it would ignore them instead.
However, the blogs have become increasingly cutting in their
criticism of the military and, more importantly, are
attracting far more attention in the meanwhile. RFC alone
had claimed some 20,000 hits per month (Comment: very
possibly exaggerated). According to an embassy contact, only
the blog author himself, a talented hacker or Blogger.com
could have stripped content from the RFC website.
5. (C) A posting on a pro-military website entitled
"ResistRFC.blogspot.com" dated today claimed to have
identified one of the RFC blog's "administrators" as Seini
Lutu, a former Fiji Human Rights Commission employee and
current Greenpeace campaigner. (Note: in actuality the Seini
working for Greenpeace has a different last name). The
ResistRFC website has for several days been threatening to
track down the authors of RFC and give the information to the
military. They have published hacking-type information about
location, folders, and browers. When contacted by Emboff,
Greenpeace vehemently denied that their political advisor
Seini Nabua has anything to do with the blogs.
MANN
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC FJ
SUBJECT: MILITARY SHUTS DOWN ANTI-COUP BLOG
Classified By: Charge Ted Mann for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (SBU) Summary: Late Wednesday afternoon one of the most
strident blogs criticizing Fiji's post-coup interim
government was shut down. This follows days of threats by
the military to shut down the blogs. A pro-coup blog site
has been involved with attempting to locate the authors of
the blog. End Summary.
2. (SBU) The Fiji Military apparently succeeded Wednesday in
shutting down one of the most prominent of the anti-coup
Internet websites logs (blogs) that have proliferated in the
wake of December's coup. The "ResistFranksCoup" website
(www.resistfrankscoup.blogspot.com),which Tuesday morning
joined in the chorus of bloggers cynically making light of
the military's recent vain attempts to shut them down, was
stripped of content and left as a shell without text and
later removed from the web sometime late Tuesday afternoon.
ResistFranksCoup (RFC) is one of 21 blogs agitating on the
Internet against the military and the Interim government. In
a May 14 posting, an RFC contributor had egged on the
military to "Catch us if you can when we are in Fiji this
week ... or come here to the USA, and we will teach you how
to log on to a computer." However, up until now it has been
uncertain where the authors of the RFC and the others are
located.
3. (SBU) Early this week, Fiji's international telecom
carrier FINTEL confirmed to the media that representatives of
the Fiji military asked FINTEL to block local access to
certain overseas-based blogs. (Note: The embassy is tracking
21 anti-coup blogs dedicated to the current situation in
Fiji. All but four of the blogs are hosted by the US-based
"Blogger.com" hosting site, owned by Google. End note.)
According to media reports, FINTEL was resisting the
military's attempts to restrict or shut out the blogs.
Military spokesman Leweni said the bloggers' attacks on the
military and the interim regime are a "threat to national
security."
4. (SBU) After an initial, unsuccessful attempt some months
ago to identify the sources of the blogs and shut them down,
the military announced it would ignore them instead.
However, the blogs have become increasingly cutting in their
criticism of the military and, more importantly, are
attracting far more attention in the meanwhile. RFC alone
had claimed some 20,000 hits per month (Comment: very
possibly exaggerated). According to an embassy contact, only
the blog author himself, a talented hacker or Blogger.com
could have stripped content from the RFC website.
5. (C) A posting on a pro-military website entitled
"ResistRFC.blogspot.com" dated today claimed to have
identified one of the RFC blog's "administrators" as Seini
Lutu, a former Fiji Human Rights Commission employee and
current Greenpeace campaigner. (Note: in actuality the Seini
working for Greenpeace has a different last name). The
ResistRFC website has for several days been threatening to
track down the authors of RFC and give the information to the
military. They have published hacking-type information about
location, folders, and browers. When contacted by Emboff,
Greenpeace vehemently denied that their political advisor
Seini Nabua has anything to do with the blogs.
MANN