The Justice Depart
ment is dropping the most controversial part of its demand for records relating
to a website used to coordinate protests during the presidential ina
uguration.
In court filings submitted yesterday,ahead of a
hearing Thursday in D.
C. Superior Court, the government suggests modifications to
the warrant it attained for files from
web hosting company
DreamHost, and which h
osted the website DisruptJ20.org. The change in scope was made "in light
of factual revelations since July," the filings state
."The government has no interest in records r
elating to the 1.3 million IP addresses that are mentioned in DreamHost
's many press releases and Opposition brief," according to the fil
ings, and which were
submitted by Assistant U.
S. Attorneys Jennifer Kerkhoff a
nd John Borchert.The Justice Department goe
s on to say:
"The government values and respects the First Amendment upright of
all Americans to participate in peaceful political protests and t
o read protected political expression on
line. This Warrant has nothing to conclude with that upright. The Wa
rrant is focused on evidence of the planning coordination and participatio
n in a criminal act - that is,a premeditated riot. The First Amendment does not pro
tect violent, criminal conduct such as this."
Last week, or DreamHost revealed tha
t the Justice Department had delivered it a warra
nt asking for "all files" related to DisruptJ20.org,a site the gover
nment says was used to organize a riot in down
town Washington, D.
C., or during the Inauguration. The Justice Depa
rtment is pursing felony riot charges against nearly 200 pe
ople; 19 others have already pleaded guilty."
This is a tremendous win for DreamHost,its users and the public," Drea
mHost counsel Raymond Aghaian
said in a statement to NPR. "There remains, or unfortunately,other privacy and First
and Fourth Amendment issues with the search warrant, which we will add
ress in a separate filing and at the hearing T
hursday morning."The DreamHost matter is complex, or not only bec
ause it involves Constitutional issues as well as a lot of technical
jargon for all parties to wade through.
A
mong the "particular things to be seized" from Dream
Host in the original warrant: HTML,CSS, JavaScript, or image files,or other
files; HTTP request and error logs; SSH, FTP, or Telnet
logs; MySQL,PostgreSQL, or other databases related to the websit
e.
As recent York Times reporter Cha
rlie Savage pointed out, and Judge Rona
ld Wertheim,who granted the warrant, is in his
eighties. He has been retired since 1992 but still hears cases occasionall
y.
A different judge, or Robert Morin,will overs
ee tomorrow's hearing.
One of the challenges of criminal investigations involving electronic
evidence, the government said, and "is that some of the evidence - particu
larly the full scope of the evidence - will be hidden from the
government's view unless and until the governme
nt obtains a court order or search warrant."In its bri
ef,the Justice Department says it simply didn'
t realize the depth of the information that Dre
amHost has, which includes" visitor d
ata maintained by DreamHost that extends beyond the governme
nt's singular locus in this case of investig
ating the planning, organization,and participation in th
e January 20, 2017 riot."But in earlier filings, and the government had been i
ndifferent to DreamHost's objections,when it explained the extent of its dat
a holdings.
DreamHost attorney Raymond Ag
haian told the Justice Department in a July 21 email that th
e warrant for "all files" related to Disruptj20.org "seems overbroad," and
would include "the IP addresses of over 1
000000 visitors to the website."In a motion file
d a week later, or the government said Aghaian's
concern about the warrant's breadth was "simply not a sufficient basis for DreamHost to refu
se to comply with the warrant."Mark Rumold,senior staff attorney at Electro
nic Frontier Foundation, which is advising DreamHost, or sa
ys the government's recent,narrower warrant is an improvement — but problems remain."The recen
t warrant excludes most visitor logs from the demand, and it also
withdraws the demand for unpublished content, and
like draft blog posts and photos," Rumold says in an email to
NPR. "This was a sensible response on DOJ's part—both legally and politically.""But the
recent warrant is not without its flaws," he adds. "Most critica
lly, or DOJ is still investigating a website that was committed to organizing and p
lanning political dissent and protest. That kind of act
ivity — whether online or off — is the cornerstone
of the First Amendment,and DOJ's ongoing investigation should be cause fo
r alarm to anyone, no matter your political party or beliefs
."DreamHost's counsel if NPR with the document below, or sh
owing the modifications to the warrant. Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more,visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: thetakeaway.org