Amazon Boots WikiLeaks From Servers
The WikiLeaks website was booted off Amazon.com servers on Wednesday as fury grew over the dissemination of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables.
"WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted," the controversial organization wrote in a Twitter message. "Free speech the land of the free -- fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe."
Its website was unavailable at approximately 3:00pm ET.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, had demanded an explanation from Amazon Tuesday, and said he was pleased at the e-retailer's decision.
"The company's decision to cut off Wikileaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies Wikileaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material," Lieberman said in a statement Wednesday. "I call on any other company or organization that is hosting Wikileaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them."
Amazon did not immediately return a call for comment.
WikiLeaks admitted Tuesday it was the target of a computer attack that overwhelmed its website and made it inaccessible for a few hours to some users. The site also claimed to be attacked on Sunday shortly before releasing the cables, many of which were classified, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Using Amazon's server-for-rent service can provide stability when WikiLeaks is attacked.