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Homeland Security Subpoenas Twitter For Data Breach Finder's Account (zdnet.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Homeland Security has served Twitter with a subpoena, demanding the account information of a data breach finder, credited with finding several large caches of exposed and leaking data. The New Zealand national, whose name isn't known but goes by the handle Flash Gordon, revealed the subpoena in a tweet last month. The pseudonymous data breach finder regularly tweets about leaked data, found on exposed and unprotected servers. Last year, he found a trove of almost a million patients' data leaking from a medical telemarketing firm. A recent find included an exposed cache of law enforcement data by ALERRT, a Texas State University-based organization, which trains police and civilians against active shooters. The database, secured in March but reported last week, revealed that several police departments were under-resourced and unable to respond to active shooter situations.
Homeland Security's export control agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), served the subpoena to Twitter on April 24, demanding information about the data breach finder's account. ICE demanded Twitter turn over his screen name, address, phone number -- and any other identifying information about the account, including credit cards on the account. The subpoena also demanded the account's IP address history, member lists, and any complaints filed against the Twitter account.
Homeland Security's export control agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), served the subpoena to Twitter on April 24, demanding information about the data breach finder's account. ICE demanded Twitter turn over his screen name, address, phone number -- and any other identifying information about the account, including credit cards on the account. The subpoena also demanded the account's IP address history, member lists, and any complaints filed against the Twitter account.
if Twitter just went away one day. It's a part of the culture at this point and collectively making everyone dumber.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
How dare you say the king is wearing no clothes!
The Homeland Security crowd seems as focused on security as the Ministry of Truth was about truth.
Someone should tell them what the wheel on the mouse does. It might save them having to use a lawyer every time they want some freely available info in a twitter feed....or they could just talk to him.
I reserve the write to mangle english.
The linked article has an image purportedly showing a "subpoena." That's no subpoena. It's a simple typewritten request that Twitter is free to ignore.
I thought it was a judge who did the subpoena and not HLS? If so do not get angry at HLS for asking it but at the judge for goving it, if you think they should not have done that.
I have been in situations where the police asked for data and I (and my cow orkers) refused to give it untill there was an order from a judge. The police is allowed to ask for it, yet we are not allowed to give it.
The thing is atht these where cases we had no real issue giving the information, but if the defence found out how they got their proof, the case could easily be trown out.
And I am talking about cases like fraud, blackmail, childporn, theft. Not about grandma downloading a Metallica song. (That reference tells you how old I already am) because those where never in court., In fact I remeber reading a letter where the courts said not to bother them with such cases as it would be hogging to much time and would be seen as a contempt of the court if they continued. (Unfortunately I have not kept the letter). Yes, they would still help if there was some sort of financial gain. i.e. a copy of a CD? No problem. Selling that copy? You are going to court.
If the courts or a jury gave an OK to the sobpoena (and not rubberstamped it) I have no real issues. I must see what it is based on before any outrage.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
is a US citizen will IRS also be putting his last 10 years under scrutiny?
Isn't this akin to shooting the messenger?
Or is the finder in the game and looking to get the feds to take down his competition?
Rick B.
In a sane world, they would be finding them to give them a medal. If he could find those leaks, there's a good chance somebody else already had. And these days it seems the only way to get companies to acknowledge and fix leaks is to make them public, otherwise they get swept under the rug.
On a side note, having a hard time seeing how this falls under the purview of ICE. And I'm sure the government will be going after the medical telemarketing firm for a breach of HIPAA
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
They're going after someone who walks down the virtual street pointing out things that are publicly accessible without a single functional access control mechanism. This isn't a "hacker," it's a person that points at something on the digital street that anyone could find and access anyway. This person has committed no crimes whatsoever in doing this.
there's enough resources to track down someone pointing out DHS fuckups but not enough to set up a firewall or two to prevent the fuckups in the first place
the fuckups allowing all that private data to leak out won't be held accountable as wrongdoers, just the person pointing it all out
there's always more to the story than we're being told
Your post was interesting, thanks.
> do not get angry at HLS for asking it but at the judge for giving it, if you think they should not have done that.
We don't know why they're asking, or what basis (evidence) they have to support the subpoena, but let's assume for a moment that there is a bad subpoena, that the subpoena shouldn't have been done. If so, I would definitely blame the people who decided to get a bad subpoena that they shouldn't have gotten. "The judge let us get away it" isn't an excuse for doing bad things.
If a subpoena is not only bad but also illegal, the judge would ALSO be at fault for allowing an illegal subpoena. (Remember judges rule on what's legal, not on what they think is good).
In fact I would go so far as to say a free country *requires* we hold ourselves to a higher standard than "it's fine to do anything, so long as a judge doesn't rule it illegal". If we as a society decide we'll all do whatever nasty things as long as the law lets us get away with it, then we'd need laws against everything that might be a problem. If the only limits we put on our behavior is the law, pretty soon we need laws to stop all kinds of things, totalitarianism is required. If instead we live based on trying to do the right thing, to be considerate of others and avoid causing problems for other people (law or not), then we don't need so many laws. We can have a functioning society that is much more free of we each use our freedom in ways that are respectful and considerate of others, we don't need laws telling us exactly what we can and can't do.
> I thought it was a judge who did the subpoena and not HLS?
In this instance the agency can issue a subpoena. If someone doesn't comply with the subpoena, they can ask a court to enforce it.
You may be jumping to the conclusion that this guy is under investigation -- possible, but not necessarily. The person under investigation could be the person who possibly exposed this data to the internet intentionally. If you are selling an ICE agent database, your client is a probably a drug exporter in Mexico, and the Internet facilitates transfer. Flash Gordon could be subpoena'ed as a material witness. Surely it happens, every once in a while, that the US justice system is seeking a legitimate bad guys.
The Twitter user is in New Zealand, correct? What exactly got exported that requires enforcement? Also, none of the information ICE is asking for is covered by ITAR, so the subpoena is unenforceable on its face.
Twitter should just respond by ceasing to operate in the United States, which would have the added bonus effect of shutting up the Cheeto-in-Chief.
It is perhaps time to acknoweledge that you are possibly a paranoid delusional. Advocating/inciting murder is actually a crime and you might really someday become the subject of an investigation for doing it. You may conflate that LEO interest with your espousal of 9/11 theories...
It is actually time to put away the phone or disconnect your keyboard and go talk to a physician you trust. Look up signs/symptoms of paranoia and honestly measure yourself and your beliefs against that criterion. You have nothing to lose if you are in fact ok and everything to gain if it does turn out you have a problem.
And you will not get any bad news anymore. Short-term this may be nice, long-term it is a disaster. Is this agency staffed by complete and utter morons?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
walking in those big machines will give you cancer
There is probably a 30% chance this is legitimate (we want to talk to this person in case this was part of a planned leak) a 50% chance it is a scare tactic to prevent people from using free speech (if someone finds this information about LEOs they should tell us, not put it online), and a 20% chance it was reactionary chest thumping (how dare they make Law Enforcement Look bad!)
I hate living in a world where it's impossible to tell the difference without being incredibly biased one way or the other.
Can I report creimer?
He is a drain on society.
Terrorist gang.
The security of the American state, or of the incompetents who make these mistakes? Does ANYONE vote for the first?