Notoriety's Missing Links - Online Files Scrubbed After Museum Shooting

[Pirate Smile]

Source: Washington Post

By Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 12, 2009

Shortly after authorities identified their suspect in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting Wednesday, the world began searching for traces of James W. von Brunn online. Those who Googled immediately were able to find him: a personal Web site claiming Jewish "conspiracies," diatribes posted on message boards. But those who started their hunt just a few hours later would have found only empty holes -- information that was scrubbed away as Web sites figured out how to address the fact that they had once hosted the words of an accused murderer.

Searching the Internet became an elusive chase, both for information about von Brunn, and for an answer to whether it's possible to shred online history.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, which resulted in the death of one security guard, several items were unearthed online that appeared to be written by von Brunn: a piece titled "Obama Is Missing," which questioned the president's citizenship, on conservative forum FreeRepublic.com. A Wikipedia user bio page (von Brunn had edited only sporadically), in which he wrote that Judaism is "the Enemy of Mankind." A long-stagnant personal site, HolyWesternEmpire.org, which included links to a novel.

Throughout Wednesday afternoon, these links began to disappear. Clicking on the personal site resulted in an error message. The Wikipedia user page vanished. The Free Republic link was also removed -- at least for a while. Current events Web site Daily Kos remarked on the removal, and a few hours later, the post reappeared.

By way of explanation, Free Republic spokesman Kristinn Taylor says that when "Obama Is Missing" -- which had been re-posted from another site -- was brought to a moderator's attention, the moderator "removed it to review it," which Taylor says is a common practice on the site. After Free Republic determined that the post didn't contain racist or anti-Semitic remarks, which Taylor says would have violated the site's user agreements, the post was uploaded again. "There was no need to look like we were trying to hide something that we weren't trying to hide," Taylor says.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/11/AR2009061104031.html?hpid=topnews

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"racist or anti-Semitic remarks, which Taylor says would have violated the site's user agreements" - I take it they've never actually read anything on their site.

[tridim]

1. Rimjob has a spokesman?

[LeftyMom]

10. Kristinn is the guy who runs the DC protests. Spokesman is a better title than "Portapot Guard."

:shrug:

[gmoney]

2. Winston Smith will send it down the memory hole, lest it be too inconvenient.

1984...

[MADem]

3. What a weak load of bullshit! They were caught not being able to handle the truth! nt

[-..__...]

4. You can still access some of his HolyWesternEmpire.org ramblings

via the Internet Archive website...

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.HolyWesternEmpire.org

http://web.archive.org/web/20071010131040/www.holywesternempire.org/page2.html

[Hissyspit]

9. Cached Page with his "version" of his 1981 arrest:

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:bC7Bh6JLsp8J:www.holywesternempire.org/fed-caper.html+James+Von+Brunn+criminal+record&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. "a common practice on the site"

Gee why does that not surprise me? LOL

[pasto76]

6. just thats its the second member of FREEPER to murder someone in a month.

[madmax]

12. What is the name of the other

person murdered?

[mopinko]

14. dr george tiller np

[justgamma]

7. "removed it to review it," ?

Couldn't he read it on the site, like everyone else?

[47of74]

8. RimJob must have CYA down to an art form by now.

[EFerrari]

11. LOL. Why does the Washington Post hate white nationalistic America?

:rofl:

[Just-plain-Kathy]

13. "There was no need to look like we were trying to hide something that we weren't trying to hide"

...My ass.

K&R