Can Amazon Be Prosecuted for Hosting WikiLeaks?

(Dec. 2) -- Apparently, a little government pressure goes a long way with Amazon.com.

The online megastore, which also provides Web hosting services, served as the temporary home for WikiLeaks after hackers crippled the controversial website this weekend. But after taking heat from Sen. Joe Lieberman and other federal lawmakers who have condemned WikiLeaks for releasing sensitive diplomatic cables, Amazon relented and booted WikiLeaks from its servers Wednesday without comment.

WikiLeaks didn't leave quietly, however. On Twitter, the nonprofit said its eviction from Amazon was a violation of freedom of speech. "WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted. Free speech the land of the free--fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe," WikiLeaks tweeted. "If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books," a second tweet read.

But Amazon's decision may be a rational one if it wants to avoid scrutiny for its connection to WikiLeaks, which some lawmakers want labeled a "terror" organization. WikiLeaks has few fans in the U.S. government, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has called its latest release of secret cables an "attack on America" and an "attack on the international community."

Still, criticism is one thing, legal matters another. And with some lawmakers calling for WikiLeaks, along with its founder Julian Assange, to be prosecuted for the recent release of cables, Amazon's quick dumping of the site left some wondering whether the company feared it may be prosecuted as well, for simply providing a platform to the whistle-blower.

The answer, experts say, is probably not.

"The government would not be able to successfully do that," Baruch Weiss, a partner at the law firm Arnold and Porter, told AOL News today in a phone interview. "They would have a tough time even prosecuting Julian Assange or even WikiLeaks for these leaks." Weiss said the government would have to prove that Amazon wanted to see WikiLeaks release the diplomatic cables in order to hold them criminally liable, something that is not likely to happen.

It seems to be political pressure, not legal, that drove Amazon to give WikiLeaks the boot.

Wednesday, the office of Sen. Lieberman, I-Conn., confirmed that an aide called Amazon and pressured the company to explain its relationship with WikiLeaks, according to Talking Points Memo. Hours later, Amazon had evicted WikiLeaks from its servers. Lieberman praised the company's decision and warned other companies not to support WikiLeaks.

In a statement, Lieberman said, "The company's decision to cut off WikiLeaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material." He added that "no responsible company -- whether American or foreign -- should assist WikiLeaks in its efforts to disseminate these stolen materials."

Amazon's decision didn't win the company any fans among tech bloggers, who called the move "cowardly."

"There's all kinds of controversial customers the cowardly but remarkably convenient e-tailer can flee from," Gawker's Ryan Tate wrote. "Take Hillary Clinton. WikiLeaks revealed the secretary of state to have 'illegally' spied on the United Nations, but she remains welcome in Amazon's books section."

Others said it was ironic that Amazon had once refused to stop selling the controversial book "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct," but had no problem dropping WikiLeaks from its servers. "Funny how Amazon spent days loudly refusing to delete a pedophile guidebook on free speech grounds, but this happened behind the scenes and the company is refusing to comment. Must be the Joementum," Rob Beschizza wrote at Boing Boing.

Legally though, experts say there are no free speech issues at stake.

"Amazon is not the government, and non-government institutions, whether newspapers or others, can decide who they want to do business with or who they don't, including for content-based reasons," Frederick Schauer, a law professor at the University of Virginia, told AOL News by phone today.

Amazon did not return a call for comment.