Penn. AG Corbett Subpoenas Twitter For Bloggers' Names

Dthief writes with this from Pennsylvania's ABC27 News: "The state attorney general's office has issued a subpoena threatening officials of the social networking service Twitter with arrest unless they reveal the names of two bloggers who have been critical of Attorney General Tom Corbett and his public corruption investigation. Vic Walczak of the American Civil Liberties Union told Pittsburgh's WTAE-TV that the court action 'raises grave concerns about abuse of the grand jury process to retaliate against political critics and opponents.' He said Americans 'have a right to criticize government officials and to do so anonymously.'"

Comments

Carlin

[Anonymous Coward]

In the words of George Carlin "You have no rights"

Re:Carlin

[russotto]

George Carlin is a crazy old anarchist stand-up comedian, not someone you should ever take seriously on political philosophy...

Technically, he's scattered ashes at this point. Which still makes him a better choice to take seriously for political philosophy than any political pundit.

Re:Carlin

[Spatial]

The best comedy is a product of cutting insight.

Wow.

[Jaysyn]

Wow. Way to go authoritarian police state. Let's not even try to hide it anymore.

Re:Wow.

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Please, the US has been a mercantile empire from day one, the American Indians found out all about that. Adventurism has continued from that beginning all the way through to today, take a look at what Smedley Butler had to say about it, I mean when you have a father and son as president, how far away from an official aristocracy are you? You couldn't miss the signs, the entrenchment of power ironically made possible by the very freedoms espoused so strongly there, the massive military expenditure, the exclusive clubs for the wealthy in ivy league colleges, etc.

Theres nothing simple, and trying to pin things down as black and white, us and them, usually ends in disaster, but nobody can deny the trend of current events.

Re:But...

[palegray.net]

They're probably not really expecting to get the names of the bloggers from Twitter. More likely, they're looking for all account data for these accounts (including login source IP addresses), and will follow up with subpoenas issued to their ISPs for their real names.

We know how this is going to end.

[Giranan]

Hey, Mr. Corbett? Let me teach you about a little something called the Streisand Effect.
Something tells me you're going to be very well acquainted with it in a day or so.

Re:But...

[falconwolf]

Nice spin there- the attorney general is doing this

Perhaps you missed where GP says "The PA General Attorney is abusing his power by trying to silence bloggers he does not like". GP is wrong about blaming the Rendell admin though, the Constitution of Pennsylvania does not say the governor picks the Attorney General.

Falcon

Don't get all anti government here (just yet)!!

[MarkvW]

If there is reasonable suspicion to believe that grand jury proceedings are being UNLAWFULLY disclosed to the public via the twitterers, then the Attorney General is merely doing his duty. Secrecy of grand jury proceedings is absolutely vital to provide fairness to the targets and to the witnesses. Reputations can be destroyed by a leak of grand jury information. The movie 'Absence of Malice' is a good illustration of how the grand jury process can be abused by illegal leakages and result in damage to innocent people.

On the other hand, the secrecy of the grand jury process gives the prosecuting attorney ENORMOUS power that can be abused by bad men or women.

Before I jump on the "enemy of freedom" bandwagon, I'd need to see the tweets. If it looks like they have an 'inside man' in the grand jury room, then I am totally on the side of the Attorney General. On the other hand, if they're just complaining about his behavior based upon what witnesses have reported about their own testimony (that's legal), then you can count me in among the haters.

There's just not enough information available yet.

I do hope Twitter moves to quash the subpoena. That way the Judge overseeing the grand jury proceedings will have to examine the prosecuting attorney's actions. If twitter caves in, then nothing is private on that website.

Re:FP

[Jafafa Hots]

But what if the twitterer ISN'T at all connected to the investigation?

What if they are just a person who reads the papers and is pissed off, or who hears rumors from others or whatever?

Does a person lose their right to anonymous speech merely because someone SUSPECTS that they might someone else?

Re:But... I did this too - honestedits

[palegray.net]

Anonymity is extremely important. On more occasions than I can count, I've espoused the virtues of (pseudo)anonymous communications techniques, coupled with strong encryption. Note that this shouldn't be construed to say I believe people should be absolved of being held accountable for their actions if they do something wrong. I do, however, acknowledge that under certain circumstances (repressive regimes for example) local law may not be in line with what the rest of the planet finds remotely reasonable. Like everything else that involves people, these things require careful consideration and deliberation amongst the citizens affected by them.