DOJ Drops Its Demand For Data On 6,000 Facebook Users

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
> Date: October 19, 2017 at 5:02:05 PM EDT
> To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior () attrition org>
> Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: DOJ Drops Its Demand For Data On 6,000 Facebook Users
>
> Government Drops Its Demand For Data On 6,000 Facebook Users
>
> from the sunlight-disinfectant dept
>
> It's amazing what effect a little public scrutiny has on government overreach. In the wake of inauguration day 
> protests, the DOJ started fishing for information from internet service providers. First, it wanted info on all 1.2 
> million visitors of a protest website hosted by DreamHost. After a few months of bad publicity and legal wrangling, 
> the DOJ was finally forced to severely restrict its demands for site visitor data.
>
> Things went no better with the warrants served to Facebook. These demanded a long list of personal information and 
> communications from three targeted accounts, along with the names of 6,000 Facebook users who had interacted with the 
> protest site's Facebook page. Shortly before oral arguments were to be heard in the Washington DC court, the DOJ 
> dropped its gag order.
>
> The last minute removal of the gag order appears to have been done to avoid the establishment of unfavorable 
> precedent. It looks like the government perhaps has further concerns about precedential limitations on warrants 
> served to service providers. As Kate Conger reports for Engadget, the DOJ has decided to walk away from this 
> particular warrant challenge.
>
> < - >
>
> https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171019/07133838437/government-drops-demand-data-6000-facebook-users.shtml



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