Subpoena seeks names — and lots more — of Web posters
We read:
"Free speech should be practiced only by those who are ready to deal with the consequences, which just might include a knock on the door by a friendly federal investigator wanting to know if you posted an anonymous comment on a Web site. Were you advocating violence or confessing to breaking the federal tax laws?
This is not a hypothetical. … On May 26 the Review-Journal published an article about an ongoing federal tax evasion trial. … The story was posted on our Web site. When last I checked nearly 100 comments were appended to it, running the gamut from the lucid to the ludicrous.This past week the newspaper was served with a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. attorney’s office demanding that we turn over all records pertaining to those postings, including ‘full name, date of birth, physical address, gender, ZIP code, password prompts, security questions, telephone numbers and other identifiers … the IP address,’ et (kitchen sink) cetera.”
Source
12 comments:
That's scary. So much for free speech. Oops, now they are going to demand my info!
Yet people have been fooled into thinking that those on the Left are so freedom-loving. Well they are, but it's only "their" freedom they love and protect!
Has anyone contacted the ACLU? we all KNOW they'll help fight this off. **snicker snicker**
They probably helped draft it.
remember hitler? elections have consequences.
Elections have consequences? Like what, exchanging one set of lying crooks for another?
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories."
Thomas Jefferson
And they somehow think you would be in possession of all that information for everyone who posted?
Sounds more like they decided to see if they could make you do their own leg work in addition to the issue of privacy.
Where are all those fools who are always whining about "big brother" (the govt.) having all this saved info on us? If that were the case, they would already have this info. The truth is that, large corporations (ie: TV, internet advertisers, credit card companies, banks, etc.) have "far more" of our info compiled than the govt. could ever save, or want to. Ever hear people complaining about them?
If anyone has an "expectation of privacy" when using their personal or business internet connection to view web pages or make comments in blogs, they are living in a dream world.
If you want to be anonymous, find an open wi-fi hotspot, and use a computer that never touches any other wired or otherwise secured network.
Otherwise, you can (and in some cases WILL) be traced. Basic understanding of the technology is required by anyone wanting not to be "caught" in the New Media.
Businesses can be sued for abusing data about their customers. The government can't. Businesses also have legitimate uses for the data they collect (medical insurance, auto insurance, banks, grocery stores, etc.) The government does not have legitimate Constitutional reasons for much of the data they collect. In fact, there are Constitutional restrictions on what the government can collect.
Here are three areas I know of where the government is collecting data at a scary level:
1 - My son just got his driver's license. Instead of getting the license immediately, he received a temporary license while they used facial recognition software to compare his face to every other photo in their database. In case you didn't catch that, they're maintaining searchable photos of every single citizen in this country.
2 - The census bureau is currently working on setting up a database of GPS coordinates of the front door of every address.
3 - The 2010 census is apparently planning to include significantly expanded questions, some of which will be highly invasive (including medical histories, etc.).
These aren't secret actions the government is taking which are being exposed by wacko conspiracy theorists. They're happening openly.
C'mon, aren't you the slightest bit concerned about an unaccountable bureaucracy creating such detailed records about every single citizen in this country?
Luke, is it simply "the bureaucracy" that's collecting all that info, or is it a particular political party? Keep in mind that this new, and "greatly expaned" census is the idea of the current administration. And since ACORN will be deeply involved in collecting that info, where will it end up? How it is not seen as an invasion of privacy is beyond me.
Yes, business's can be sued for abusing that info, but what is abuse? Is renting, lending, sharing, or selling your info abuse? The info they collect is used to track everything you buy, every place you go, what you read, and every single thing we do on the internet, including email. No one said it's being used to abuse, (although many of us consider it abuse) but it's still being collected and stored.
Believe me, i'm no fan of the government, but i think it's naive to think the govt. (the current one not included) is that interested in our day-to-day lives. Matters of national secrety (terrorism) is different. In that regard, i think they should look at "everything and everybody".
The difference is that businesses can't put you in prison or put you to death. A business relies on persuasion to win your patronage. A government relies on naked brute force or the implied threat of it. If someone of bad moral character gains control of a business, most likely that business goes down the tubes, and its competitors take over. If someone of bad moral character gains control of the GOVERNMENT, then everyone's very life is in grave danger from tyranny.
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