Re DOJ walks back demand for information on anti-Trump website BUT issues remain

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

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Paul Alan Levy <plevy () citizen org>
> Date: August 23, 2017 at 3:39:51 PM EDT
> To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>, ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: RE: [IP] DOJ walks back demand for information on anti-Trump website BUT issues remain
>
> The limitation of the search warrant so that it no longer seeks IP addresses of web site viewers is welcome, but a 
> significant free speech issue remains:  the  warrant still seeks to compel production of all emails sent to the web 
> site.  The Government’s reply brief is a bit equivocal on the issue – it described such emails as something about 
> which the Government learned for the first time dfrom DreamHost’s briefs, and the brief then suggests that this is 
> information that the government no longer demands – but there has been no corresponding change in the language of the 
> revised search warrant that the Government has asked the judge to approve. And seeking to compel identification of 
> the senders of those emails raises significant free speech issues
>  
> http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2017/08/trump-administration-backs-off-on-identifying-anonymous-web-site-viewers-but-important-free-speech-i.html
>  
> Paul Alan Levy
> Public Citizen Litigation Group
> 1600 20th Street, NW
> Washington, D.C. 20009
> (202) 588-7725
> https://www.citizen.org/our-work/litigation/internet-free-speech
> Twitter:  @paulalanlevy
> Public Citizen Foundation participates in the Combined Federal Campaign with the CFC Code 11168
>  
> From: Dave Farber [mailto:farber () gmail com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 7:08 PM
> To: ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: [IP] DOJ walks back demand for information on anti-Trump website
>  
>  
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>  
> From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
> Subject: DOJ walks back demand for information on anti-Trump website
> Date: August 22, 2017 at 6:20:21 PM EDT
> To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior () attrition org>
> Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>  
>
> Justice Department walks back demand for information on anti-Trump website
>
> Colin Lecher
>
> https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/22/16186474/justice-department-trump-ip-addresses-requests
>
> After controversy over a broad search warrant that could have identified visitors to an anti-Trump website, the 
> Justice Department says it’s scaling back a demand for information from hosting service DreamHost.
>
> The Justice Department says it will carve out exceptions to the request
>
> Last week, DreamHost disclosed that it was involved in a legal dispute with the department over access to records on 
> the website “disruptj20.org,” which organized protests tied to Donald Trump’s inauguration. The warrant issued by the 
> department was so broad, DreamHost said, that it was effectively requesting information that could identify lawful 
> protestors — including information on more than 1.3 million IP addresses from visitors to the site. The warrant 
> immediately drew condemnation from some privacy law experts.
>
> In a legal filing today, the Justice Department argues that the warrant was proper, but also says DreamHost has since 
> brought up information that was previously “unknown.” In light of that, it has offered to carve out information 
> demanded in the warrant, specifically pledging to not request information like HTTP logs tied to IP addresses.
>
> The department says it is only looking for information related to criminal activity on the site, and says that “the 
> government is focused on the use of the Website to organize, to plan, and to effect a criminal act — that is, a 
> riot.” Peaceful protestors, the government argues, are not the targets of the warrant.
>
> The filing asks the court to proceed with the new, less burdensome request, which, apart from the carved-out 
> sections, still requests “all records or other information, pertaining to the Account, including all files, 
> databases, and database records stored by DreamHost in relation to that Account.”
>
> It’s unclear if DreamHost will continue to fight the new demand. The company did not immediately respond to a request 
> for comment.
>  
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