Public Service Announcement - Craig Murray, Tim Ireland, Boris Johnson, Bob Piper and Alisher Usmanov…

UPDATE Thursday 27/9 @ 9.30am: Apologies for the slack service yesterday.

  • Tim Ireland is now well and truly back in the saddle over at Bloggerheads: The Alisher Usmanov Affair. He now has a timeline of events describing everything that has a happened so far. Plenty of juicy detail in there with many a twist and turn.
  • 291 people now linking to and blogging about this story. A lot of bloggers on the list are now following up on their original posts - there’s a lot of great stuff put there if you do a little browsing. I’ve noticed one or two people apologising about ‘coming late to the party’. Please, don’t. This isn’t a race, this about sharing views and showing solidarity. If you haven’t blogged this yet and would like to, or have but haven’t let us know, please do.
  • The Moscow Times have reported on it. The story was slashdotted here.

UPDATE Tuesday 25/9 @ 12.30pm: While his Bloggerheads site is being restored, Tim Ireland is blogging about all this here. I’ll continue to maintain the list of people blogging and linking to all this if people still wish to send me links.

UPDATE Tuesday 25/09 @ 8.45am:

Let me know if anybody sees anything else we should be linking to.

HEADS UP 24/9: Mr Eugenides and Bob Piper will be on Five Live’s Pods and Blogs slot this evening, talking about all this. The show will also be available tomorrow the BBC’s listen again feature and as a podcast.

HEADS-UP: Pickled Politic’s Sunny Hundal is on More 4 News this evening (21/9) at 8pm talking about this and free speech on the web. (UPDATE 21/9 @ 10PM - Mike Power has the video.)

Tim Ireland’s Bloggerheads site is currently down after his webhost pulled the plug. You can thank the latest Russian (that should be Uzbek) billionaire to reach the UK. The details will come out in due course.

Tim’s currently also without email so if anyone needs to get hold of him, I’m happy to be the go-between and pass on any message by phone. My email address is at the top of the page.

This also means that the family of websites that Tim and Clive (whose site is also down) look after are also currently AWOL. So if you’re missing the online presences of Craig Murray, Bob Piper or prospective candidate for London mayor Boris Johnson, now you know why they’ve gone.

Tim and Clive are now looking for a new web home for themselves and the rest and are hoping to be back within 48 hours. If any sympathetic souls would help spread the word, it would be most appreciated.

Update: Some more background (via Garry). Those wishing to know more could do worse than a quick google.

Linkage: Thanks to one and all, I think we can safely say the genie is out of the bottle:

Curious Hamster, Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall, Dizzy, Iain Dale, Ten Percent, Blairwatch, Davide Simonetti, Earthquake Cove, Turbulent Cleric (who suggests dropping a line to the FA about Mr Usmanov), Mike Power, Jailhouse Lawyer, Suesam, Devil’s Kitchen, The Cartoonist, Falco, Casualty Monitor, Forever Expat, Arseblog, Drink-soaked Trots (and another), Pitch Invasion, Wonko’s World, Roll A Monkey, Caroline Hunt, Westminster Wisdom, Chris K, Anorak, Mediawatchwatch, Norfolk Blogger, Chris Paul, Indymedia (with a list of Craig Murray’s articles that are currently unavailable), Obsolete, Tom Watson, Cynical Chatter, Reactionary Snob, Mr Eugenides, Matthew Sinclair, The Select Society, Liberal England, Davblog, Peter Gasston Pitch Perfect, Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe, Lunartalks, Tygerland, The Crossed Pond, Our Kingdom, Big Daddy Merk, Daily Mail Watch, Graeme’s, Random Thoughts, Nosemonkey, Matt Wardman, Politics in the Zeros, Love and Garbage, The Huntsman, Conservative Party Reptile, Ellee Seymour, Sabretache, Not A Sheep, Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, The People’s Republic Of Newport, Life, the Universe & Everything, Arsenal Transfer Rumour Mill, The Green Ribbon, Blood & Treasure, The Last Ditch, Areopagitica, Football in Finland, An Englishman’s Castle, Freeborn John, Eursoc, The Back Four, Rebellion Suck!, Ministry of Truth, ModernityBlog, Beau Bo D’Or, Scots and Independent, The Splund, Bill Cameron, Podnosh, Dodgeblogium, Moving Target, Serious Golmal, Goonerholic, The Spine, Zero Point Nine, Lenin’s Tomb, The Durruti Column, The Bristol Blogger, ArseNews, David Lindsay, Quaequam Blog!, On A Quiet Day…, Kathz’s Blog, England Expects, Theo Spark, Duncan Borrowman, Senn’s Blog, Katykins, Jewcy, Kevin Maguire, Stumbling and Mumbling, Famous for 15 megapixels, Ordovicius, Tom Morris, AOL Fanhouse, Doctor Vee, The Curmudgeonly, The Poor Mouth, 1820, Hangbitch, Crooked Timber, ArseNole, Identity Unknown, Liberty Alone, Amused Cynicism, Clairwil, The Lone Voice, Tampon Teabag, Unoriginalname38, Special/Blown It, The Remittance Man, 18 Doughty Street, Laban Tall, Martin Bright, Spy Blog The Exile, poons, Jangliss, Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?, Imagined Community, A Pint of Unionist Lite, Poldraw, Disillusioned And Bored, Error Gorilla, Indigo Jo, Swiss Metablog, Kate Garnwen Truemors, Asn14, D-Notice, The Judge, Political Penguin, Miserable Old Fart, Jottings, fridgemagnet, Blah Blah Flowers, J. Arthur MacNumpty, Tony Hatfield, Grendel, Charlie Whitaker, Matt Buck, The Waendel Journal, Marginalized Action Dinosaur, SoccerLens, Toblog, John Brissenden East Lower, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Peter Black AM, Boing Boing, BLTP, Gunnerblog, LFB UK, Liberal Revolution, Wombles, Focus on Sodbury…, Follow The Money, Freedom and Whisky, Melting Man, PoliticalHackUK, Simon Says…, Daily EM, From The Barrel of a Gun, The Fourth Place, The Armchair News Blog, Journalist und Optimist, Bristol Indymedia, Dave Weeden, Up North John, Gizmonaut, Spin and Spinners, Marginalia, Arnique, Heather Yaxley, The Whiskey Priest, On The Beat, Paul Canning, Martin Stabe, Mat Bowles, Pigdogfucker, Rachel North, B3TA board, Naqniq, Yorkshire Ranter, The Home Of Football, UFO Breakfast Recipients, Moninski , Kerching, e-clectig, Mediocracy, Sicily Scene, Samizdata, I blog, they blog, weblog, Colcam, Some Random Thoughts, Bel is thinking, Vino S, Simply Jews, Atlantic Free Press, Registan, Filasteen, Britblog Roundup #136, Scientific Misconduct Blog, Adam Bowie, Duncan at Abcol, Camera Anguish, A Very British Dude, Whatever, Central News, Green Gathering, Leighton Cooke, Skuds’ Sister’s Brother, Contrast News, Poliblog Perspective, Parish Pump, El Gales, Noodle, Curly’s Corner Shop, Freunde der offenen Gesellschaft, otromundoesposible, Richard Stacy, Looking For A Voice, News Dissector, Kateshomeblog, Writes Like She Talks, Extra! Extra!, Committee To Protect Bloggers, Liberty’s Requiem, American Samizdat, The Thunder Dragon, Cybersoc, Achievable Life, Paperholic, Creative-i, Raedwald, Nobody’s Friend, Lobster Blogster, Panchromatica, Back off, man…, Dan Hardie, Krusenstern, Brendadada, Freace, Boriswatch, Fork Handles, Chris Applegate, Christopher Glamorgan, West Virginia Rebel’s Blog, Instapundit, Powerpymes, iDiligence Forum, Gizmotastic, Demos, Gary Andrews, Neweurasia , Never Trust a Hippy, sub specie aeternitatis, Bananas in the Falklands, The Sharpener, Virtual Light, Stu News, Scraps of Moscow, Danivon, As A Dodo, La Russophobe, PJC Journal, Mick Fealty’s Brassneck, dead brains don’t dance, A Comfortable Place, Bamblog, Robert Amsterdam, The Customer, No Longer at Ease, Rachel-Catherine, Humaniform, Mike Rouse, Chesus Yuste, anticapitalista, Aderyn Cân, Ulla’s Amazing Wee Blog, Ross200, Disruptive, Internazionale.it, The Obscurer, A Lefty Down Under, Things I Learned or Made Up, Pickled Bushman, Persons Unknown (302).

…and to the person who was quick off the mark with Usmanov’s Wikipedia entry.

If you’ve blogged this and I’ve missed you, I apologise. Let me know in the comments and I’ll add you in - strength in numbers and all that.

UPDATE: A point of clarification: Of the blogs mentioned above, only Craig Murray and Tim Ireland made blog posts concerning Alisher Usmanov. It is these blog posts that were objected to by Usmanov’s lawyers.

Boris Johnson, Bob Piper and Clive Summerfield have lost their sites for the simple reason that they were hosted on the the same server as Craig’s and Tim’s sites and went the same way when the plug was pulled. They are NOT associated with the dispute with Alisher Usmanov in any way.

UPDATE UPDATED: Tim Ireland now has a webmail account for anyone wishing to contact him while his blog is being restored: bloggerheads DOT com AT googlemail DOT com

UPDATE UPDATED UPDATED: Mr Eugenides:

If you can be silenced for calling a businessman a crook, then you can be silenced for calling a politician a crook, too. Then it’s everyone’s problem.

UPDATE 22/09: Clive Summerfield, the mighty webmaster for these sites, has manage to secure back-ups of them all from webhost’s servers. All the data is now safe. He’s now working at uploading the sites to new servers at a different host.

UPDATE 22/09 @ 10am 12:30pm: 154 171 people are linking in to this story here and elsewhere. That’s a huge coalition built in less than 48 hours and encompassing people from all over the spectrum - many thanks to one and all.

UPDATE 22/09 @ 12:40pm: Matt Buck:

(Reproduced under CC licence).

UPDATE 22/09 @ 6:30pm: Facebook group and blog buttons. Mike Power’s buttons are a bit good as well (look under ‘Action Stations’ on his left sidebar).

UPDATE 23/09 @ 8.20am: Ministry of Truth has some rather smart blog buttons as well.

UPDATE 23/09 @ 8.30am: Clive Summerfield, Craig Murray’s webmaster writes:

People are probably encountering posts claiming that Fasthosts also edited a post on Craig’s blog. This was not the case, as anyone who read the comments to the post in question would have noticed.

As the intermediary (Craig’s site was hosted gratis on one of my dedicated servers at Fasthosts), I was trying to pre-empt a further issue, and made a misread correction. This was explained to Craig by email, and an apology given. Yes there are issues of censorship and restricted freedom of speech, but this instance is not one of them.

And believe me, selective editing is far too sophisticated for Fasthosts, they’d have just dropped the site.

The confusion lies in the fact that I hosted Craig’s site on my web-server, but I was more of a supporter, friend and webmaster. However, as I was hosting the site, webhost is also an accurate description. Fasthosts were merely supplying dedicated servers to me.

And for the record, a note was made that 2 changes had been made on legal advice. I’ve been hosting Craig’s blog for a number of years, and helped with the mirroring and distribution of the documents the FCO asked Craig to remove from his book.

Anyway, just trying to put this one matter/misunderstanding to bed, before folks get carried away in an Orwellian haze.

UPDATE 23/09 @ 8.50am: 191 people are linking in to this story here and elsewhere. That’s one hell of a show of solidarity from all over the spectrum - many thanks to one and all.

Please let me or Sunny know if anybody has any more links and we’ll add them in.

I’ve seen that some people have put a copy of this list of bloggers on their own sites. I’m very happy for people to do this and encourage you to do so if you so wish. To make life a little easier, here’s some cut and paste code which I’ll also keep updated. Stick it in your blog post and the list will appear.

UPDATE 23/9 @8.20pm: Back, back, back! Ladies and gentlemen: Bob Piper!

UPDATE 24/9 @7.30am: Interim Statement from Clive Summerfield and Tim Ireland:

We’d like to thank you all for your support and let you all know just what the hell has been going on, but we beg your patience as we continue with the practical measures required before we can fully and confidently speak our minds about this matter.

Our immediate priority is the restoration of the websites involved; this has been greatly complicated by the sudden closure of the entire account (as opposed to, say, the suspension or closure of the two websites directly involved in the Usmanov dispute). This total - and totally unexpected - withdrawal of service requires us to restore many websites with differing individual circumstances and formats. The removal of email used for the majority of these accounts has also further complicated matters, as the most immediate form of communication between many of the parties involved is no longer available.

Bob Piper is already back on deck, and we expect Boris Johnson’s weblog to be up and running shortly. Special arrangements are being made for Craig Murray as we speak.

A full statement is likely to follow the restoration of Bloggerheads and/or The UK Today, as it is at one of these websites that we would wish to host a full statement and manage the expected response.

UPDATE 24/9 @ 8.30am: 224 people following and linking to the story. Many thanks to everyone - keep them coming and maintain the momentum.

UPDATE 24/9 @ 9.15am: You’ve got to love this from Matt Wardman:

Needless to say, all the offending articles that Mr Usmanov and Schillings have attempted to remove from public view are available in the Google Cache. And you can find them by using the search term “schillings“.

As far as I can tell Schillings’ own website does not feature in the top 100 results for either Google UK or google.com, except for the “sponsored” link which everyone ignores.

Perhaps they may need a Search Engine Optimisation Consultant as well as a Public Relations Consultant.

I can recommend a good one.

His name is Tim Ireland, and he runs a website called Bloggerheads when it has not been bullied off the air.

MSM COVERAGE: Media Guardian, including Boris’ reaction, Channel 4 News, The Times, Slate, Sunday Herald, More 4.

UPDATE 24/9 @ 10.30am: Thanks to Matthew Revell, here’s Mr Eugenides‘ excellent take on events on Wolverhampton Politics.

UPDATE 24/9 @ 5pm: Bit late with this, but via Arseblog in the comments:

If you should be browsing your visitor stats for your blog and you find any IP addresses in the range 217.33.207.160 to 217.33.207.191, those visitors are from Schillings, Mr Usmanov’s lawyers.


Posted on September 20th, 2007 at 4:40 pm

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Filed under A few administrative notices, Alisher Usmanov, Civil liberties
 

272 Comments

  1. Paul Martin (16 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 16:51 (Reply)

    This is disturbing. I for one will be writing to the asking for Craig Murray’s accusations to be investigated.

  2. Paul Martin (16 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 16:52 (Reply)

    Ooops should have said to the FA

  3. Justin on 20.09.2007 at 16:56 (Reply)

    That sounds like an excellent idea, Paul.

  4. Mike Power (70 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 16:59 (Reply)

    Who was the webhost? Might be one to avoid/boycott ;)

  5. Sunny (16 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 17:22 (Reply)

    Yeah, who was the hosting company??

  6. Justin on 20.09.2007 at 17:25 (Reply)

    Can’t say too much at this point, but things will be said when Tim’s back in action.

  7. Tom (23 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 17:39 (Reply)

    That’s obscene. Consider it publicised further.

  8. Jherad on 20.09.2007 at 17:47 (Reply)

    Ugh, sad to hear. Best of of luck to Tim and the others in getting their sites back online ASAP.

    I’d say that they should try to find a host with a spine - but unfortunately it is more of a problem with current law, than the hosts themselves.

  9. [...] Public Service Announcement [...]

  10. Tom (1 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 19:47 (Reply)

    My website was also subjected to legal threats by Usmanov’s high-priced lawyers, Schillings of London after I quoted from Murray’s blog. They are, frankly, bullies.

    The Kelso article you link to is not very good, by the way, as it repeats many of Usmanov’s claims about his pardon without qualifying them — they are highly misleading.

  11. [...] Blog Censorship In The UK September 20th, 2007 — RickB From Chicken Yoghurt- [...]

  12. Davide Siminetti (36 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 20:09 (Reply)

    Outrageous! I’ve blogged this too. Please pass on my regards to Tim.

  13. [...] on 20th September, 2007 at 9:08 pm     Well thank god for our stupid libel laws again! Justin McKeating has blogged and sent an email around alerting us to the fact that Tim Ireland and Craig [...]

  14. septicisle (10 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 21:17 (Reply)

    Well, err, thanks to everybody pushing traffic my way, heh. Usmanov and his lawyers are indeed so of the lowest scum I’ve come across while online.

  15. [...] You can see the full list here. [...]

  16. arseblogger (1 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 21:28 (Reply)

    I also received legal threats from Schillings and was forced to remove a reproduction of one of Craig Murray’s headlines from his blog post about Usmanov.

    Whatever you might think about Arsenal Football Club based on your own allegiances I hope you can understand that the vast majority of Arsenal do not want Usmanov anywhere near the club.

  17. [...] worse is that with it have gone many other blogs completely unrelated to Murray’s claims, which as he most recently noted, have not been [...]

  18. What a LIBERTY! on 20.09.2007 at 21:47 (Reply)

    a few random words:

    ’selfish’, ‘egotistical’, ‘charlatan’,
    ‘traitor’, ‘hypocrite’, ‘oligarch’,
    ‘perfidious’, ‘pathological’ and ‘permatan’.

    This selection is surely not worth the attention of the mighty Schillings?

  19. Will (3 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 22:04 (Reply)

    Posted on here also

  20. [...] Ireland’s Bloggerheads has been shut down by his hosting company after legal threats from Uzbek ex-con and prospective owner of Arsenal [...]

  21. wonkotsane (1 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 22:26 (Reply)

    Here was me thinking I was leading a revolutionary charge and you beat me to it!

    If they target my blog then it will appear elsewhere. I’ve got places it can go where even Schillings won’t be able to get it taken down and they can sue me if they want, I have nothing for them to take!

  22. Lobster Blogster on 20.09.2007 at 22:40 (Reply)

    Hi Folks, now working on spreading this message under the sea, best regards, The Lobster

  23. Matt Wardman (11 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 22:51 (Reply)

    The email account is bouncing.

    Matt

    Mail Delivery Subsystem
    to me

    show details
    10:48 pm (0 minutes ago)
    This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

    Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

    bloggerheads.com@googlemail.com.

    Technical details of permanent failure:
    PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 13): 550 5.1.1 No such user 22si31231nzn

  24. Justin on 20.09.2007 at 22:53 (Reply)

    Thanks, Matt. I’ll let Tim know.

  25. Matt Wardman (11 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 23:00 (Reply)

    I think it was me rushing - I may have left a full stop on. I’ve tried again.

  26. [...] Bloggerheads are down because of some legal wrangle that I haven’t yet got to the bottom of. Chicken Yoghurt appears to have a bit more of the story but if there are any Guardian journalists reading this [...]

  27. reactionary snob (6 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 23:12 (Reply)

    Consider it linked old chap

  28. [...] a hat tip I must mention in no particular order Wonkos world, Chicken Yoghurt, Curious Hamster, Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall, Dizzy, Iain Dale, Ten Percent, [...]

  29. Matt Wardman (11 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 23:29 (Reply)

    Confirmed - the email works. It was my fault.

  30. Justin on 20.09.2007 at 23:33 (Reply)

    No worries. Cheers, Matt.

  31. Mr Eugenides (36 comments.) on 20.09.2007 at 23:39 (Reply)

    Done.

    I’ve filched your list of participating blogs, too.

  32. Justin on 20.09.2007 at 23:46 (Reply)

    Keep checking back, E, the list is getting bigger and stronger all the time. Except, not right now - I’m off to bed. Back on deck 0930 hours.

  33. Daily Mail Watch » Cowards on 20.09.2007 at 23:59

    [...] up to Iain Dale , Tom Watson , Chicken Yoghurt , [...]

  34. BigDaddyBlog » Cowards on 21.09.2007 at 00:07

    [...] up to Iain Dale , Tom Watson , Chicken Yoghurt , [...]

  35. Libel alert « OurKingdom on 21.09.2007 at 00:44

    [...] am | In Internet and democracy | Our Kingdom We’ve just picked up from Pickled Politics and Chicken Yoghurt that Tim Ireland and Craig Murray’s blogs have both been taken down because of a libel threat [...]

  36. The Crossed Pond » Cease and Desist on 21.09.2007 at 00:50

    [...] Alisher Usmanov (an Uzbekh billionaire). The news has already made into at least one paper (via Chicken Yoghurt, as linked by Dizzy) as Paul Kelso blogs about it at the Guardian site [...]

  37. tyger (9 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 01:00 (Reply)

    WTF?

    My bandwidth is yours, Tim.

  38. Iain Dale: « lunartalks on 21.09.2007 at 01:02

    [...] Chicken Yoghurt has the story (Russian gazillionaire tries to buy football club, gets called on teh webs, goes oibbing to lawyers, they threaten hosting company which takes down offending blogger and causes a shitload of collateral.) Said oligarch should bugger off and to a damp cave and grow a thicker skin, his lawyers should be ashamed of themselves and I hope their riches turn to dung and is forever stuck beneath their fingernails making their canapes smell strange. [...]

  39. gracchi (1 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 01:19 (Reply)

    Consider yourself linked over at mine- this is horrifying.

  40. Colin Campbell (11 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 05:48 (Reply)

    I have linked and written something. Open to guest posting.

    Very scary.

  41. [...] More information, as well as links to the numerous blogs that have spoken out against this move, can be found here. [...]

  42. [...] It’s not often that the polar extremes of political bloggers are united, but it’s happened today; left and right are united in support of Craig Murray, whose website has been taken down - along with other websites on the same server - after threats of legal action over the following article: [...]

  43. [...] has been widespread condemnation of this action across the very many blogs that have picked up the story. Basically a lot of people are upset because websites have been taken down because of Alisher [...]

  44. Tim Ireland (81 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 08:54 (Reply)

    Hi all. I’m going to pop up just long enough to say ‘thank you’ and repeat a bit of what MrEugenides said:

    Oh, and Arsenal fans; if you’re not convinced yet, think what this guy is going to do to your webforums.

  45. Dave Cross (4 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 09:05 (Reply)

    Coming into this a bit late (you spend twelve hours away from an RSS feed and the world changes) but duly blogged.

    Now excuse me for a few minutes. I’m off to try and get some Sex Pistols tickets.

  46. k on 21.09.2007 at 09:07 (Reply)

    Thanks for this very useful summary

  47. Ben the Gooner on 21.09.2007 at 09:14 (Reply)

    Is there any way to get in contact with Craig Murray?

    I would suggest to him that he hosts his own website, or puts one on blogspot or wordpress, so that any legal threats from Schillings can be ignored to the point where they are forced to either let him go, or sue him: a situation he obviously desires.

    [EDIT: Sorry Ben, I don't want Usmanov's lawyers looking in my direction just yet hence the removal of your last sentence. Craig's web monkeys are working on getting him back ASAP. Thanks, Justin]

  48. Johan on 21.09.2007 at 09:23 (Reply)

    Word from sweden here. Sad day today as i thought censorship went down the drain a few years back with a certain wall in Berlin. Can’t believe this is happening to my beloved Arsenal and to free speech….

    Keep up the good work guys!

  49. Letters From A Tory (26 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 09:36 (Reply)

    And where the hell is the government on this issue? Aren’t they the ones who are supposed to fight for our freedoms, or are they too scared of upsetting the rich guy?

    People getting away with this kind of behaviour towards bloggers is totally unacceptable.

  50. bf bache on 21.09.2007 at 09:51 (Reply)

    Great Britain is free. The unwritten constitution is secure. No one is throwing Tim Ireland into the Gulag. He is no John Peter Zenger. He is no Georgi Markov. He has committed no crime. The dispute between him and Mr. Usmanov is a matter for the civil courts to deal with.

    Tim Ireland jerked the wrong man around, a man of means who was not willing to accept nonsense from a character Iain Dale has recognized as abusive, thus Ireland’s webhost received a demand letter.

    His webhost complied. They had a right to defend their interest by reducing or turning away entirely Ireland’s custom.

    If Mr. Usmanov thinks he has been harmed unjustly by Ireland, he may exercise his rights. He has the right to complain & to seek redress within the courts & without,using all legal means. He has the right to complain, to gather sympathizers & to seek moral redress.

    Too many people have the curious notion that freedom of speech means freedom from (societal)consequences (for misbehavior).

  51. Sennaista on 21.09.2007 at 10:03 (Reply)

    I’ve been mostly responsible, although there has been a lot of help from others, for the section dealing with this issue in Usmanov’s Wikipedia entry. Any further information that would help expand his entry is welcome.

  52. FreeSpeak on 21.09.2007 at 10:10 (Reply)

    The original posting by Craig that Usmanov objected to has been reproduced on several sites across the web.

    Have found this site that seems to have a growing list of reposts:

    http://alisherusmanov.blogspot.com/2007/09/alisher-usmanov-potential-arsenal.html

  53. Jonathan Calder (2 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 10:32 (Reply)

    http://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2007/09/craig-murrays-website-and-bloggerheads.html

  54. [...] Yoghurt brings some Russian nastiness to our [...]

  55. Matthew Sinclair (7 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 11:06 (Reply)

    I’ve linked to this. We’re all Bloggerheads now.

  56. k on 21.09.2007 at 11:13 (Reply)

    Does anyone else want to contribute to the Guardian cif at:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2173833,00.html

    It seems an appropriate place to debate the role of football club owners

  57. [...] UPDATE 4: Bloggers react at - The Waendal Journal, Arseblog, Arsenal football news, The perfect pitch,Marginalised action dinosaur,modernity blog, rebellion sucks, Our Kingdom, Beau bo D’or , cynical chatter from the underworld, mediawatch, Anorak news, Soccerlens, chicken yoghurt, [...]

  58. Free speech is dead on 21.09.2007 at 11:19

    [...] Usmanov’s shut down of Criag Murray’s blog is yet another example of how British law makes it easy for the rich to shut down less well heeled [...]

  59. The Remittance Man (1 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 11:55 (Reply)

    Consider RM, Nurse, Mzi and the rest of the amaRemittansi onboard

  60. Sim-O's Random Thoughts on 21.09.2007 at 11:56

    The Case of the Disappearing Blogs…

    Who’s the odd on out?Craig Murray.Tim Ireland.Alisher UsmanovBob Piper.Boris Johnson.Clive (of The UK Today Blog)…….

  61. [...] It was only a matter of time before Britain’s ridiculous libel laws led to an internet service provider shutting down a bunch of websites in the face of a writ. [...]

  62. [...] by contacting their webhosts, on behalf the new part owner of Arsenal - Alisher Usmanov. Chicken Yoghurt broke the story. Tim Ireland’s Bloggerheads site is currently down after his webhost pulled the plug. You can [...]

  63. [...] includes the site of Craig Murray, former UK Amabassabor to Uzbekistan. Chicken Yoghurt has the full details of what has now become a major issue in British [...]

  64. jamie k (2 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 12:17 (Reply)

    Duly blogged:

    http://bloodandtreasure.typepad.com/blood_treasure/2007/09/bringing-uzbeki.html

  65. IanP on 21.09.2007 at 12:22 (Reply)

    The safe hands of http://blogs.cjb.net/dissident/

    has faithfully reproduced the Craig Murray web site in 2 parts.

    So if anyone else would like to reproduce the offending posts in support of Craig this is where to find them.

    Part 1 - http://blogs.cjb.net/dissident/142309/

    Part 2 - http://blogs.cjb.net/dissident/142310/

  66. [...] If this is a case of bullying billionaires vs bloggers, GO BLOGGERS! Update 21st Sept 09.30. Chicken Yoghurt has a simple explanation of why Bob is down: A point of clarification: Of the blogs mentioned [...]

  67. Mr Eugenides (36 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 12:37 (Reply)

    K 11:13am: That CiF article by Mark Lawson seems to have comments closed.

    Has anyone else noticed this? Have CiF shut up shop, or is it just me?

  68. [...] Comments Chicken Yoghurt » Public Service Announcement UPDATED on Outrageous shutting down of British blogsclivegsd on Our decaying care of the elderlyTony on Our [...]

  69. Justin on 21.09.2007 at 12:41 (Reply)

    Looks ok to me, E.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2174024,00.html

  70. Bill (1 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 13:00 (Reply)

    [An extraordinary moment in the blogosphere, which I have to report for no other reason than to add this site to the list of bloggers raising the alarm. Those of you who have been following this site for the last 2 years will remember that Craig Murray has been in trouble with the authorities before. Towards the end of 2005, he was threatened with legal action for speaking out about human rights abuses in the former Soviet Union.]

  71. terry hughes on 21.09.2007 at 13:03 (Reply)

    usmanov - he cannot silence us, he cannot strangle our voices - all he is doing is moving the debate into a wider circle - let him stand here and justify his actions and let us judge him. no man can control the web - why is he trying?
    it just makes us more suspicious, more bloody minded and more resistant to his involvement - you would think a man in his position would understand that! Arsenal do not need him.

  72. [...] details available here and here but not here, here, or [...]

  73. kathz (3 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 13:13 (Reply)

    links also at http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/kathleenzbell
    and a brief comment with link at the end of a post on other matters at http://kathz.blogspot.com

  74. ArseNews.com (2 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 13:14 (Reply)

    I’ve linked, and it’s shameful that this man could one day be running Arsenal. To slightly misquote Peter Hill-Wood, we certainly don’t need his sort around here.

  75. Matthias (1 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 13:23 (Reply)

    I took the liberty of creating a WTF on technorati, this might help to increase the (already quite extensive) coverage.

  76. Swiss Metablog on 21.09.2007 at 13:30

    England gegen das Internet…

    Recht interessant: Die Engländer versuchen offenbar, einige peinliche Dokumente aus dem Internet zu tilgen. Da ist man ja direkt versucht, die Dokumente der wunderbaren Welt des P2P zuzuführen.
    UPDATE: Gestern konnte ich nicht mehr rekonstruieren, wo…

  77. Mr Eugenides (36 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 13:47 (Reply)

    In a guestblogging capacity, have taken this Stateside.

    http://www.jewcy.com/daily_shvitz/putting_the_genie_back_in_the_bottle

  78. [...] Ich gebe zu: Ein reisserischer Titel, um uns freitagsmüden Gesellen aus der allgemeinen Trägheit zu reissen. Die Story ist aber auch viel zu gut, um sie zu verpassen: Alisher Usmanov, gemäss Wikipedia einer der reicheren Männer dieser Welt, hat die britische Anwaltsfirma Schillings (”The leading law firm protecting the reputations of high-profile individuals, corporates and brands”) beauftragt, kritische Inhalte aus dem Internet verschwinden zu lassen. [...]

  79. [...] a full list, taken from the Chicken Yoghurt website, of all the blogs reporting on this. Thanks to all of [...]

  80. Will (3 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 14:37 (Reply)

    Another one up at the DSTPFW Mr Yoghurt

  81. Will (3 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 14:38 (Reply)

    and mirrored here:

    http://skysong.eu/2007/09/alisher-usmanov-is-not-welcome-here/

  82. [...] best place to get more information will be Chicken Yoghurt, where there is also a list of the bloggers who have now written about [...]

  83. Philip (106 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 15:20 (Reply)

    Better late than never:

    http://thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/alisher-usmanov.html

  84. The Morningstar (2 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 15:29 (Reply)

    There is an interesting blog on Blogger, it’s called Alisher Usmanov I’ve linked to it in my blogroll.

  85. Gus Abraham (28 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 15:50 (Reply)

    Appalling and futile thuggish behaviour. Its time for some real solidarity.

    Not everyone’s noticed this works two ways.

    Gus

    http://1820.org.uk

  86. k8 (4 comments.) on 21.09.2007 at 15:57 (R