Justice Dept Seeks Readers’ Info: Bad Lawyering or Invasion of Privacy?

CBS reporter Declan McCullagh writes in an article published yesterday of concerning behavior by California’s District Attorney, Timothy Morrison. In February of 2009, Morrison subpoenaed the personal information of readers of a news aggregation site, Indymedia. Not only did they request identifying information but also the dates and times the site was visited, the home addresses of readers, along with their telephone, credit card, bank account, social security and driver’s license numbers.

Sounds a little shifty, doesn’t it? Well the subpoena was eventually withdrawn after Indymedia retained counsel that rightly pointed out that the Justice Department’s overly broad request was neither within the boundaries of the law or executed appropriately. What’s even more troubling was what came next from Mr. Morrison’s office.

“Morrison’s office [] threatened [Kristina] Clair with possible prosecution for obstruction of justice if she disclosed the existence of the already-withdrawn subpoena — claiming it “may endanger someone’s health” and would have a “human cost.”"

As McCullagh points out, withdrawing subpoenas is not extraordinary as it happens often. But, this threat coming from a DA’s office after a request that was so mysterious to begin with is beyond suspicious and inappropriate. Revealing what happened would “endanger someone’s health” and have a “human cost”? Sounds like a threat Tony Soprano would make, not the District Attorney of California.

Just as importantly, this case has broad ramifications for news sites and bloggers alike. Is this the first time the Justice Department has demanded information on readers from news sites and threatened their chosen target to remain silent? We have no way of knowing — especially if the site or individual writer complies with this kind of brutally imposed gag order for fear of the consequences.

I’m not a reader of Indymedia, so I haven’t had much exposure to that particular site other than a quick visit to it yesterday and my review of McCullagh’s article which tends to point to it being a left of center site…which makes even less sense giving the timing of this subpoena in February of 2009 when the Obama administration and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, were already in place.

It’s even further disconcerting as McCullagh points out that this particular web site doesn’t provide original content; it merely reprints and redirects readers to articles from other sites. Imagine the type of bullying a smaller site or blogger could be subject to if they got on DA Morrison or some other Justice Department official’s bad side. I’d like to see some kind of explanation from Morrison’s office now that this story has come out, but from these facts, it doesn’t bode well for them.

Tags: free speech, privacy issues