Foehammer’s Anvil

This will be old news to many but good news to all. Jihad Watch chief Robert Spencer disclosed news a few days ago that SonicWall has finally lifted the block on his site. For more information on this ongoing fight against censorship of bloggers, I refer you to the intrepid 1389.

I am just about on my way out of the hotel room (no Pinot Noir in mine, Greg) to Dartmouth College for my final Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week talk, but I thought I’d relay some good news I just heard from the crack legal team over at The Becker Law Firm.

My lawyer, William J. Becker, Jr., just got off the telephone with Fred Gonzales, general counsel for SonicWall, one of the main netfilters responsible for the blocking of Jihad Watch on computers all over. Gonzales was responding to Becker’s letter to SonicWall explaining about some salient Constitutional rights and asking that the block be removed. Gonzales informed Becker that Jihad Watch has been recharacterized by Sonic Wall as “political/advocacy” rather than “violence/hate/racism.” Gonzales and Becker had a pleasant discussion, during which Gonzales explained that it is always useful to know specifically where a site is being blocked ( e.g., a library computer). So if this happens again, please let me know at director@jihadwatch.org, and I will inform Becker so he can take appropriate action.

Gonzalez also told Becker that if requests to come in to block Jihad Watch in the future (as they are likely to do given that a campaign is being waged to suppress the truths we tell here), the matter will be reviewed by an executive committee. He assured Becker that his company does not deliberately target ideological content.

So if your place of work uses SonicWall, you should be able to access Jihad Watch now. If you cannot, please let me know, and we will inform Mr. Gonzales per this conversation and the letter he has already received from the Becker Law Firm.

Nice to know the First Amendment still lives, even if it is breathing a bit heavily.

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