Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists

[Mr.Fitnah]

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists

In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.

Kristina Clair, a 34-year old Linux administrator living in Philadelphia who provides free server space for Indymedia.us, said she was shocked to receive the Justice Department's subpoena. (The Independent Media Center is a left-of-center amalgamation of journalists and advocates that – according to their principles of unity and mission statement – work toward "promoting social and economic justice" and "social change.")

The subpoena (PDF) from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.

"I didn't think anything we were doing was worthy of any (federal) attention," Clair said in a telephone interview with CBSNews.com on Monday. After talking to other Indymedia volunteers, Clair ended up calling the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which represented her at no cost.

Under long-standing Justice Department guidelines, subpoenas to members of the news media are supposed to receive special treatment. One portion of the guidelines, for instance, says that "no subpoena may be issued to any member of the news media" without "the express authorization of the attorney general" – that would be current attorney general Eric Holder – and subpoenas should be "directed at material information regarding a limited subject matter."

Still unclear is what criminal investigation U.S. Attorney Morrison was pursuing. Last Friday, a spokeswoman initially promised a response, but Morrison sent e-mail on Monday evening saying: "We have no comment." The Justice Department in Washington, D.C. also declined to respond.

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists - Taking Liberties - CBS News
I dont consider indymedia a news source, more of a pornography site never the less
How radical must this administration get before the koolAid goes sour?
I know Buuuuuush........! Beeeeeck.....!

 

[KittenKoder]

This is the bullshit I was warning about with Obama's push into the net. ... and you all thought I was just being paranoid.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Well thank god this thread got moved into the desolation of the law forum

 

[KittenKoder]

Meh ... it's not desolate here ... depending on the time of day.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

It got some eyes , not much commentary, this is how liberty dies to a resounding meh.

 

[AllieBaba]

This is the bullshit I was warning about with Obama's push into the net. ... and you all thought I was just being paranoid.

Not me.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Well thank god this thread got moved into the desolation of the law forum

Simply not true. MOST people use the new post search function which shows threads regardless of which forum they are in. Are you claiming that people on this board, after using the new post search selectively chose what to read based solely on what forum it is in?

 

[AllieBaba]

I don't. I usually just hit new posts, or if I'm tracking a topic I choose the forum itself.

 

[RadiomanATL]

I use "active topics".

But from what I can tell it really does the same thing. Although "active topics" has a longer list.

 

[Zander]

I find this troubling. We are losing our liberty by the fraction of an inch every day....pretty soon we'll have dissolved into tyranny and we'll wake up and wonder how it happened.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I find this troubling. We are losing our liberty by the fraction of an inch every day....pretty soon we'll have dissolved into tyranny and we'll wake up and wonder how it happened.

Well when they come for my weapons they will discover ONE person unwilling to go quietly into slavery.

 

[AllieBaba]

I don't have any guns at the moment, given the fact that I'm afraid of my 6 & 7 year old with pencils. They're deadly.

But I can make a fucking gun, and I will, if it comes to it. I'll bet I could make one using a wrapping paper tube and duct tape.

 

[Zander]

I find this troubling. We are losing our liberty by the fraction of an inch every day....pretty soon we'll have dissolved into tyranny and we'll wake up and wonder how it happened.

Well when they come for my weapons they will discover ONE person unwilling to go quietly into slavery.

I too am enjoying my right to keep and bear arms.....

 

[Terry]

This is wrong in so many ways and I cannot think of what they would be investigating other then possible the people that are surrounded by Obama? I just don't have a clue as to why a left of center would be targeted for such information.

Creepy and so troubling no matter what ideology.

 

[Zander]

I don't have any guns at the moment, given the fact that I'm afraid of my 6 & 7 year old with pencils. They're deadly.

But I can make a fucking gun, and I will, if it comes to it. I'll bet I could make one using a wrapping paper tube and duct tape.

You can always get a gun safe.....I'm just sayin'

 

[PoliticalChic]

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists

In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.

Kristina Clair, a 34-year old Linux administrator living in Philadelphia who provides free server space for Indymedia.us, said she was shocked to receive the Justice Department's subpoena. (The Independent Media Center is a left-of-center amalgamation of journalists and advocates that – according to their principles of unity and mission statement – work toward "promoting social and economic justice" and "social change.")

The subpoena (PDF) from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.

"I didn't think anything we were doing was worthy of any (federal) attention," Clair said in a telephone interview with CBSNews.com on Monday. After talking to other Indymedia volunteers, Clair ended up calling the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which represented her at no cost.

Under long-standing Justice Department guidelines, subpoenas to members of the news media are supposed to receive special treatment. One portion of the guidelines, for instance, says that "no subpoena may be issued to any member of the news media" without "the express authorization of the attorney general" – that would be current attorney general Eric Holder – and subpoenas should be "directed at material information regarding a limited subject matter."

Still unclear is what criminal investigation U.S. Attorney Morrison was pursuing. Last Friday, a spokeswoman initially promised a response, but Morrison sent e-mail on Monday evening saying: "We have no comment." The Justice Department in Washington, D.C. also declined to respond.

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists - Taking Liberties - CBS News
I dont consider indymedia a news source, more of a pornography site never the less
How radical must this administration get before the koolAid goes sour?
I know Buuuuuush........! Beeeeeck.....!

Bringing to light the double standards and hypocracy of the MSM is becoming so five-minutes-ago, but still, here's an oldie but goodie:

Remember the rage and indignatin about the Patriot Act and invasion of the sanctity of one's library records?

PATERSON, N.J. — Librarians across the country are rising up against the USA Patriot Act (search), shredding records and making other attempts to thwart the legal framework in the war on terror.
Librarian Cindy Czesak is in the vanguard of the rebellion at the Paterson Public Library (search) in Paterson, N.J., a densely-populated Middle Eastern community.
"We're quiet rebels," she said.
Czesak, like hundreds of her fellow librarians around the country, says the Patriot Act makes what people read and borrow from libraries fair game in the name of tracking terrorists.
The Patriot Act, enacted in October 2001 in direct response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that year, broadly expands the powers of federal law enforcement agencies investigating cases involving foreign intelligence and international terrorism.
The measure requires local governments to disclose personal information -- such as library records -- about certain people who may be connected to a terror investigation. FBI agents can obtain a warrant for library or bookstore records of anyone thought to be involved in a plot. Librarians then aren't allowed to discuss the investigation.
FOXNews.com - Libraries Rally Against USA Patriot Act - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum



Connecticut librarians spoke about their fight to stop the FBI from gaining access to patrons' library records at a news conference yesterday organized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and in a subsequent interview with RAW STORY.
The Librarians, members of Library Connection, a not-for profit cooperative organization for resource sharing across 26 Connecticut library branches sharing a centralized computer, were served with a National Security Letter (NSL) in August of last year as part of the FBI's attempt to attain access to patron's records.
The NSL is a little known statute in the Patriot Act that permits law enforcement to obtain records of people not suspected of any wrongdoing and without a court order. As part of the NSL, those served with the document are gagged and prohibited from disclosing that they have even been served.
The Raw Story | Gagged librarians break silence on Patriot Act

 

[KittenKoder]

Aaah yes PC, I was fighting against that one as well.

Those who have weapons, worry not, us freedom techies (oooh, I like that one) will do our damndest to keep the net free. The one time I will agree with breaking the law is to protect the freedom we enjoy here.