After a lengthy hearing in San Francisco Friday, United States District Judge Jeffrey S. White rescinded a controversial order that disabled DNS access to whistleblower website Wikileaks.org. At the hearing, John Shipton, “a citizen of Australia currently residing in Kenya,” has sent in both hired lawyers and pro bono lawyers, courtesy of various rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Judge Jeffrey White had released late Thursday a list of questions for argument for Friday's hearing. He questioned whether Baer can actually sue Wikileaks, since its argument is against the suspected poster, former employee Rudolf Elmer. The judge also asked for the basis of several key claims in Baer's filing.

"What authority stands for the proposition that the right to privacy trumps the freedom of access to information in this or a similar context?" wrote the judge in his 4th question for argument.

Based on these elements and after spending more than three hours hearing arguments, the judge ruled that "The court denies the motion for preliminary injunction, and the court hereby dissolves the injunction against (domain name registrar) Dynadot, and the litigation may now proceed."

As you probably have already found out, it all started with internal documents from Swiss bank Julius Baer & Company showing up on Wikileaks. The documents detail alleged tax and money laundering schemes involving Cayman Islands accounts. The site has rushed to sue the whistleblower website and its US host, Dynadot of California, in order to block DNS access to the site.

The federal District Court judge in San Francisco had issued last week an order to block the website, which triggered a worldwide backlash. The Streisand effect has driven probably a hundredfold visits to the site's mirrors across the globe and the documents in question. It all turned into a PR disaster for the formerly prestigious Swiss bank, a popular destination for the world's mega wealthy.

Judge White also issued a hearing schedule: the motions are due March 14, oppositions to those motions are due March 28, reply briefs are due on April 4 and the next hearing is set on May 16.