I have removed the Wikileaks mirror that I hosted here at wikileaks.marktaff.com.
Around the 19th of December, Wikileaks, for unknown reasons, removed my mirror from their mirror list, even though my mirror was one of the original 76 mirrors, was up, was current, and was serving over 6,000 page-views per day. As a result, my page views dropped to just a few hundred per day, at best. Around the 20th, I tried to resubmit my mirror information to Wikileaks. As of this writing (December 31, 2010), I have not heard from Wikileaks, nor have they re-listed my mirror (which I have keep current during this period nonetheless) on their mirrors page.
One of my original reasons for hosting the mirror was to help defend Wikileaks from the criminal cyber-attacks of the jingoistic Jester and his fellow crackers. It appears that the Internet has foiled his childish attacks, and in grand fashion, I might add, so that original reason is now moot.
In addition to the criminal attacks on Wikileaks as a website, it was also an attack on the freedom of the press. As a combat veteran, I take the oath I took to defend the Constitution very seriously, and that includes the right to publish truthful information that is protected by the First Amendment. I could not, in good conscience, stand idly by while such an attack on a core freedom was occurring, especially when I was in a position to easily protect the freedom of the press. Even though I am compelled to defend a free press, I do not feel any general compunction to subsidize a media outlet's publishing efforts. It seems apparent to me, given Wikileaks actions, and lack of communication with me, depsite my good faith efforts, that Wikileaks' publishing efforts are no longer under sufficient attack that they perceive my mirror to be of value. It seems that the freedom of the press, with respect to Wikileaks, is now secure, rendering my other primary reason for hosting this mirror moot as well.
I consider this effort to defend property and the freedom of the press to be a success, and I am glad I could help.
Long live freedom of the press!