The LA four-piece had actually disbanded the previous year – a hiatus that would last until 2007 – but nevertheless responded to the situation by posting the following statement from guitarist Tom Morello on their website:
"We've just been informed that Infopop will no longer donate their services to keep this message board running in light of repeated phone calls they have received from the Secret Service with regards to posts on several of the forums.
"Infopop pulled the message board due to difficulties they faced when governmental authorities contacted them regarding violent threats that appeared on the board. Neither Rage nor Infopop would ever support threats of violence and we fully understand and agree with Infopop's decision to release themselves from this huge liability.
"We are endeavouring to correct the situation and get the free exchange of information and ideas up and running as soon as possible."
A temporary message board was set up on the band's website at the time, but at the time of writing the 'forums' link on their site doesn't appear to be working.