(Thanks, v. :)

Reader vb forwards to us an update from Sorcha Faal, involving alleged attacks on Faal's whatdoesitmean.com and many other websites. Discernment is advised.

Worthy of note: Faal includes information that AntiWar.com has been dropped by Google AdSense in much the same way that RMN was dropped in early September. In our case, a post from 2006 on the effects of a brown recluse spider bite, including photos, was said to have broken Google's "no gore" policy. (I'm sure there's a joke about Al Gore to be made here somewhere, but at the moment I don't know what it is. :)

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Update to CRITICAL NOTICE At this current time and date (10:47 UTC/GMT-19 March) we are receiving reports that all of our servers are up and operating and that our global service has been restored. The total outage time varies by country, but averaged about 14-15 hours overall. Specifics of the digital attack launched against us and over 15,000 other alternative news websites/bulletin boards around the world on 17-18 March appear to have taken three forms: 1.) The hijacking of administration privileges so that the attacked websites would then be controlled by whoever was behind it. 2.) The outright destruction of servers (in our case) that could not be hijacked. 3.) An economic attack against websites whose servers could neither be hijacked or destroyed. Sadly I must report that the venerable antiwar website AntiWar.com was hit by the third measure, here's what they say in their posting: Google Disables All Ads on Antiwar.com On 3/18/15 we received a note from Google Adsense informing us that all ads for our site had been disabled. Why? Because of this page showing the horrific abuses committed by U.S. troops in Iraq at Abu Ghraib. This page has been up for 11 years. During all that time Google Adsense has been running ads on our site - but as Washington gets ready to re-invade Iraq, and in bombing, killing, and abusing more civilians, they suddenly decide that their "anti-violence" policy, which prohibits "disturbing material," prohibits any depiction of violence committed by the U.S. government and paid for with your tax dollars. This page is the third-most-visited page in our history, getting over 2 million page views since it was posted. To say this is an utter outrage would be an understatement: it is quite simply the kind of situation one might expect to encounter in an authoritarian country where state-owned or state-connected companies routinely censor material that displeases the government. http://antiwar.com/blog/2015/03/18/google-disables-all-ads-on-antiwar-com/ A much more extensive report is being prepared on this "event" and we'll post it when finished. All the best, Sisters of Sorcha Faal WhatDoesItMean.com