Anthony Barnett: 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 from Uzbek minerals billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who recently bought shares in Arsenal. Sunny writes,
British libel laws always make it more difficult on the party with less money. So hosting companies don’t want to take a chance and, at the first threat of legal proceedings, will capitulate. Tim and Craig’s example is worrying because it may have repercussions for British blogging in general. So do blog about this and spread the word! This will hopefully make others re-think before issuing legal threats to bloggers.
It seems the server has been closed and even Boris Johnson's website is silenced. Dizzy asserts the principle of net liberty, no gloating. To remove the right to speech of anyone is to silence a little bit of us all. Join the blog protest - and let Chicken Yoghurt know.
PS: Craig Murray has emailed Iain Dale saying:
"Craigmurray.co.uk has vanished – as has bloggerheads and bobpiper – after the server has been “pulled” by services management company Fasthosts Internet Ltd of Gloucester. Fasthosts have done this in response to legal threats from libel lawyers Schillings, acting on behalf of Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek oligarch and friend of Putin currently trying to buy Arsenal football club.
"As a former British Ambassador in Uzbekistan, I know a great deal more about Mr Usmanov, and especially about his criminal record, than he finds comfortable.
"The principal point at issue is that he has been able to take down one of the UK’s leading political websites without anything being tested in court. Fasthosts have pathetically repeated Schillings bluster that my site is “Defamatory”, as though that were established.
"We all know that money talks. It seems it can stop other people talking, too.
"There appears a real danger that all the material on the site may be lost and not able to be recovered"
