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Justice Department Demands 1.3 Million IP Addresses Related To Anti-Trump Website (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: In a blog post today, online web hosting provider DreamHost disclosed that it has been involved in a months-long legal battle with the Justice Department over records on visitors to an anti-Trump website. The dispute focuses on a Justice Department demand for information on data related to disruptj20.org, which describes itself as a group of activists "building the framework needed for mass protests to shut down the inauguration of Donald Trump and planning widespread direct actions to make that happen." DreamHost is taking issue with a warrant issued by the department for "all files" related to the website, which DreamHost says would compel them to turn over electronic data like visitor logs. That would include IP addresses and other information that could be used to identify anyone who visited the site. "The request from the DOJ demands that DreamHost hand over 1.3 million visitor IP addresses -- in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of thousands of people -- in an effort to determine who simply visited the website," the company said in its blog post. The warrant, DreamHost argues, would also require it to hand over any communications that are even tangentially related to the website.
"In essence, the Search Warrant not only aims to identify the political dissidents of the current administration, but attempts to identify and understand what content each of these dissidents viewed on the website," the company said in a legal filing arguing against the warrant. A hearing on the situation is set for Friday in Washington, DC Superior Court.
"In essence, the Search Warrant not only aims to identify the political dissidents of the current administration, but attempts to identify and understand what content each of these dissidents viewed on the website," the company said in a legal filing arguing against the warrant. A hearing on the situation is set for Friday in Washington, DC Superior Court.
This clearly isn't an incredibly broad overreach by an administration that shows that it hates being questioned or criticized at all.
Oh shit, did I have sarcasm enabled?
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
I don't see this as being a fishing expedition. There's a DisruptJ20 facebook group that had some conversations going on about what they were going to do on the day of the inauguration. Some of the things people claimed they were going to do I saw actually happened. With multiple people talking about it, that brings it up to a conspiracy level.
I don't know if the website has anything to do with the facebook group I saw; however, all you need is a similar name and FBI is going to be all over that.
I lurked in the group for awhile but eventually left it because I considered it too much of a risk. My thinking was that if some of the more extreme members did what they said they were going to do, it would start a pretty massive hunt for people that may have been part of the conspiracy. When you take that with a commander in chief that is all about conspiracy and paranoia, that's a bad combination.
So yeah, while I may be opposed to the russian property we have as president, I expect this to go badly for a number of people...