Flashback Media Group

Infobox Company
company_name = Flashback Media Group AB
company_
company_type = Website
foundation = February 24, 1993
location = England
key_people = Jan Axelsson
industry = Mass media
products =
num_employees = Unknown
homepage = [http://www.flashback.net Flashback.net]
[http://www.flashback.info Flashback Forum (Swedish)]
[http://www.flashback.org Flashback Forum (English)]

Flashback Media Group AB is a controversial Swedish media group run by Jan Axelsson. It has a forum with a large number of members, where everyone is allowed total freedom of speech. The forum has been investigated by the Swedish police on numerous occasions and is under constant surveillance by the Swedish Security Service due to its members' abundant discussions about drug use, [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.police.se/mediaarchive/4347/3473/Narkspan_pa_internet_2005.pdf|title=Police.se - Drug investigations on the internet, page 35 - 36] [sv icon cite web|url=http://expressen.se/index.jsp?a=443438|title=Expressen.se - Sold drugs on the internet] child pornography, race science, bestiality and other controversial subjects. [cite web|url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2001/1/22/101622/195|title=kuro5hin: Flashback and the Media Market] Other controversies include sexual harassment of famous individuals, [sv icon cite web|url=http://expressen.se/index.jsp?a=699507|title=Expressen.se - Jan Axelsson: I have nothing to do with it] open racism, [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.gp.se/gp/road/Classic/shared/printArticle.jsp?d=355&a=277496|title=GP.se - Prosecutor again controls the jokes about Bobby] [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_12753673.asp|title=SvD.se - Prosecutor investigates rough Bobby jokes] [sv icon cite web|url=http://expressen.se/index.jsp?a=644050|title=Expressen.se/GT - Slander about Bobby is not illegal] [sv icon cite web|url=http://expressen.se/index.jsp?a=593625|title=Expressen.se - "Joke site" about Bobby is shut down] forced disconnection from its internet service provider,sv icon cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/0010/20/flashback.html|title=Aftonbladet.se - Flashback is shut down - for the second time] sv icon cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/telegram/0,1082,53373679_INR__,00.html|title=Aftonbladet.se - Flashback gets threatened again] sv icon cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/0010/05/flashback.html|title=Aftonbladet.se - Flashback shut down] hosting of nazi sites, [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9912/17/jan.html|title=Aftonbladet.se - Jan Axelsson: Nazi site allowed to stay] [sv icon cite web|url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9912/17/nazi.html|title=Aftonbladet.se - "Stop the nazi sites"] sabotage of votes in TV shows, [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/noje/story/0,2789,730056,00.html|title="Aftonbladet.se - Vote coup: Save Jens] spreading of internal passwords of the SSU [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_13664888.asp|title=SvD.se - SSU account details spread] and connections to hacking of the CIA site in 1996. [cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9609/19/cia.hacker/index.html|title=CNN.com - Hackers vandalize CIA home page Still, the forum rules forbid posting or linking to content such as child pornography, personal information or drug dealing. [cite web|url=http://www.flashback.info/rules/|title=Flashback Forum rules (swedish)] [cite web|url=http://www.flashback.org/rules/|title=Flashback Forum rules (english)]

History

Flashback origins from the local fanzine "Dead or Alive" published by the then fourteen years old Jan Axelsson in Norrköping. It developed into multiple projects focusing on different aspects of subcultures, mainly punk, and changed its name to Flashback in February 1993. [cite web|url=http://www.flashback.net/faq.php|title=About Flashback]

Flashback's website was first published in June 1995 as a big supporter of copyleft. The company publishes "Scandinavia’s biggest neutral newsletter" with over 120,000 subscribers on a monthly basis in both English and Swedish editions. The proclaimed goal is to maintain freedom of speech and express underground opinions. The magazine and website are opinion neutral and have no religious or political affiliations. The website has on multiple occasions been shut down by authorities and has been fined hundreds of thousands of SEK.

After a trial in 2002 it became illegal for Flashback to run a discussion forum in Sweden, lest all posts would be previewed by moderators before they were published. Flashback Media Group AB and Jan Axelsson each were fined 400,000 SEK on probation and were forced to pay the trial costs of 250,000 SEK. [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.flashback.se/forum.php|title=Flashback.se - Flashback is illegal in Sweden!] To be able to work under less restrictive laws the forum management was moved to a British company, Flashback Enterprises LTD, after 2003. The servers remain hosted in Sweden however. Flashback Media Group is still being reported to the police for insult, slander and agitation from time to time.

Flashback Underground Forum

The most popular parts of Flashback are its Swedish and secondary English forums. The Swedish forum houses over 12,000,000 posts by more than 230,000 members in over 85 public forum categories ranging from data security, drug use, graffiti, politics, weapons, alternative sexualities and urban exploration to religion, literature, philosophy and science, making it the largest and most active Swedish language forum in the world. The English forum is smaller with slightly over 4,500 members and 75,000 posts, as per the forum's own statistics.

Flashback Records

Flashback Records is the label of Flashback Media Group's own record company. So far Flashback Records has released only one title and this was when Swedish Ace of Base singer Ulf Ekberg denied that he was ever a Nazi. A compilation of Ekberg's songs from his white power band Commit Suiside was released on a limited edition CD called "Uffe was a Nazi". [sv icon cite web|url=http://www.flashback.se/records/|title=Flashback Records] [cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commit_Suiside|title=WikiPedia: Commit Suiside]

External links

*sv icon [http://www.flashback.se/ Flashback.se]
*sv icon [http://www.flashback.info/ Flashback Forum]
* [http://www.flashback.net/ Flashback.net - English edition]
* [http://www.flashback.org/ Flashback Forum - English edition]

References