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Icelandic web-hosting company FlokiNET has refused a request made on behalf of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remove leaked Homeland Security employee records, arguing that their publication serves the public interest. The request warned that the information could expose more than 40,000 people to harassment and physical harm, according to Iceland Review’s report. The dispute concerns an archive known as Icepick and competing claims about government transparency and employee safety. Cybersecurity company ZeroFox, which is authorised by ICE to seek content removals, sent FlokiNET the request on Thursday, October 29. It asked the company to remove the material or restrict access to it. FlokiNET chief executive Kolja Weber told Reuters that the company would keep hosting the data because it contained employees’ work addresses and telephone numbers rather than their personal contact details, Iceland Review reported. In a statement quoted by CyberScoop and relayed by Iceland Review, FlokiNET argued that identifying officials performing public duties was different from publishing private information that could help people locate them at home. The company said journalists and the public had a legitimate interest in knowing who exercises government authority. ZeroFox disputed that distinction. According to the report, it described the records as stolen personal data identifying and locating real people, regardless of their employment. The US Department of Homeland Security said it was addressing a potential breach and working to protect affected employees and officers. DHS includes ICE and Customs and Border Protection, among other agencies. The hosting company’s refusal did not prevent a separate interruption. According to FlokiNET’s account, reported by CyberScoop, domain registrar CentralNic temporarily suspended the site’s domain. The search tool subsequently returned under a domain registered elsewhere. The separate decisions reflect the companies’ different roles: a host supplies the infrastructure on which a website runs, while a registrar manages its domain registration. Transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets published the personnel data on Wednesday, October 28. A group calling itself the Department of Peace claimed responsibility for obtaining it, Reuters reported. FlokiNET’s refusal leaves the Icelandic company at the centre of a dispute over public access to official records and the risks of exposing identifiable employees.
Icelandic web-hosting company FlokiNET has refused a request made on behalf of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remove leaked Homeland Security employee records, arguing that their publication serves the public interest. The request warned that the information could expose more than 40,000 people to harassment and physical harm, according to Iceland Review’s report. The dispute concerns an archive known as Icepick and competing claims about government transparency and employee safety. Cybersecurity company ZeroFox, which is authorised by ICE to seek content removals, sent FlokiNET the request on Thursday, October 29. It asked the company to remove the material or restrict access to it. FlokiNET chief executive Kolja Weber told Reuters that the company would keep hosting the data because it contained employees’ work addresses and telephone numbers rather than their personal contact details, Iceland Review reported. In a statement quoted by CyberScoop and relayed by Iceland Review, FlokiNET argued that identifying officials performing public duties was different from publishing private information that could help people locate them at home. The company said journalists and the public had a legitimate interest in knowing who exercises government authority. ZeroFox disputed that distinction. According to the report, it described the records as stolen personal data identifying and locating real people, regardless of their employment. The US Department of Homeland Security said it was addressing a potential breach and working to protect affected employees and officers. DHS includes ICE and Customs and Border Protection, among other agencies. The hosting company’s refusal did not prevent a separate interruption. According to FlokiNET’s account, reported by CyberScoop, domain registrar CentralNic temporarily suspended the site’s domain. The search tool subsequently returned under a domain registered elsewhere. The separate decisions reflect the companies’ different roles: a host supplies the infrastructure on which a website runs, while a registrar manages its domain registration. Transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets published the personnel data on Wednesday, October 28. A group calling itself the Department of Peace claimed responsibility for obtaining it, Reuters reported. FlokiNET’s refusal leaves the Icelandic company at the centre of a dispute over public access to official records and the risks of exposing identifiable employees.
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