Amazon: WikiLeaks disconnected for SLA violation

Amazon has finally come forward and explained that it pulled the plug on the servers used to host Wikileaks for breach of its service level agreement, and not because of pressure from the U.S. government or other parties. In a post on its message board, Amazon noted that reports of a government inquiry prompting them not to serve WikiLeaks is "inaccurate."  The same goes for reports about massive DDOS attacks, which Amazon said "were successfully defended against."

Amazon elaborated that the information posted by WikiLeaks lead to the violation of several of its terms of service. For example, WikiLeaks does not own or control all the rights to the content, and the information could result in physical injury or harm. Of course, the explanation took place only after an uncharacteristic silence, which lead to accusations that Amazon has betrayed its role as infrastructure provider. "Has Amazon anointed itself as judge, jury and executioner in matters of regulating content on its services?" asked Joseph Galarneau, chief operating officer of Newsweek.

In related news, PayPal, followed by MasterCard and finally Visa have since suspended payments to WikiLeaks; meanwhile, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested in London on rape charges.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News
- check out this article at InformationWeek
- check out this article at Amazon
- check out this article at Business Insider 

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