Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists
(AP / CBS)
The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.
Kristina Clair, a 34-year old Linux administrator living in Philadelphia who provides free server space for Indymedia.us, said she was shocked to receive the Justice Department's subpoena. (The Independent Media Center is a left-of-center amalgamation of journalists and advocates that – according to their principles of unity and mission statement – work toward "promoting social and economic justice" and "social change.")
The subpoena (PDF) from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.
"I didn't think anything we were doing was worthy of any (federal) attention," Clair said in a telephone interview with CBSNews.com on Monday. After talking to other Indymedia volunteers, Clair ended up calling the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which represented her at no cost.
Under long-standing Justice Department guidelines, subpoenas to members of the news media are supposed to receive special treatment. One portion of the guidelines, for instance, says that "no subpoena may be issued to any member of the news media" without "the express authorization of the attorney general" – that would be current attorney general Eric Holder – and subpoenas should be "directed at material information regarding a limited subject matter."
Still unclear is what criminal investigation U.S. Attorney Morrison was pursuing. Last Friday, a spokeswoman initially promised a response, but Morrison sent e-mail on Monday evening saying: "We have no comment." The Justice Department in Washington, D.C. also declined to respond.
Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, replied to the Justice Department on behalf of his client in a February 2009 letter (PDF) outlining what he described as a series of problems with the subpoena, including that it was not personally served, that a judge-issued court order would be required for the full logs, and that Indymedia did not store logs in the first place.
Morrison replied in a one-sentence letter saying the subpoena had been withdrawn. Around the same time, according to the EFF, the group had a series of discussions with assistant U.S. attorneys in Morrison's office who threatened 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."
Lucy Dalglish, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of The Press, said a gag order to a news organization wouldn't stand up in court: "If you get a subpoena and you're a journalist, they can't gag you."
Dalglish said that a subpoena being issued and withdrawn is not unprecedented. "I have seen any number of these things withdrawn when counsel for someone who is claiming a reporter's privilege says, 'Can you tell me the date you got approval from the attorney general's office'... I'm willing to chalk this up to bad lawyering on the part of the DOJ, or just not thinking."
Making this investigation more mysterious is that Indymedia.us is an aggregation site, meaning articles that appear on it were published somewhere else first, and there's no hint about what sparked the criminal probe. Clair, the system administrator, says that no IP (Internet Protocol) addresses are recorded for Indymedia.us, and non-IP address logs are kept for a few weeks and then discarded.
EFF's Bankston wrote a second letter to the government saying that, if it needed to muzzle Indymedia, it should apply for a gag order under the section of federal law that clearly permits such an order to be issued. Bankston's plan: To challenge that law on First Amendment grounds.
But the Justice Department never replied. "This is the first time we've seen them try to get the IP address of everyone who visited a particular site," Bankston said. "That it was a news organization was an additional troubling fact that implicates First Amendment rights."
This is not, however, the first time that the Feds have focused on Indymedia -- a Web site whose authors sometimes blur the line between journalism, advocacy, and on-the-streets activism. In 2004, the Justice Department sent a grand jury subpoena asking for information about who posted lists of Republican delegates while urging they be given an unwelcome reception at the party's convention in New York City that year. A Indymedia hosting service in Texas once received a subpoena asking for server logs in relation to an investigation of an attempted murder in Italy.
Bankston has written a longer description of the exchange of letters with the Justice Department, which he hopes will raise awareness of how others should respond to similar legal demands for Web logs, customer records, and compulsory silence. "Our fear is that this kind of bogus gag order is much more common than one would hope, considering they're legally baseless," Bankston says. "We're telling this story in hopes that more providers will press back and go public when the government demands their silence."
Update 1:59pm E.T.: A Justice Department official familiar with this subpoena just told me that the attorney general's office never saw it and that it had not been submitted to the department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. for review. If that's correct, it suggests that U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison and Assistant U.S. Attorney Doris Pryor did not follow department regulations requiring the "express authorization of the attorney general" for media subpoenas -- and it means that neither Attorney General Eric Holder nor Acting Attorney General Mark Filip were involved. I wouldn't be surprised to see an internal investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility; my source would not confirm or deny that.
Declan McCullagh is a correspondent for CBSNews.com. He can be reached at declan@cbsnews.com and can be followed on Twitter as declanm. You can bookmark Declan's Taking Liberties site here, or subscribe to the RSS feed.
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Dear sir,
SUBJECT: Patrick Meehan: Another one of G.W.Bush Stooge runs for election!!
Former United States Attorney, Patrick Meehan, announced his candidacy of the Congressional seat in the 7th district of Pennsylvania. In his announcement speech, he vowed to 'begin to restore this country.'
This height of hypocrisy comes from a person who thoroughly abused his position as a United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. For a man who claims to 'restore integrity to our nation's capital' and having a set of 'guiding principles: faith integrity ... and accountability,' he has made unauthorized appointments to his interloper friends as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys (SAUSA's).
It is for the public to decide that these appointment(s) were an attempt by Meehan to curb nation's growing unemployment problem or another Blagojevich bazaar for government positions.** Meehan and his subordinates also fully abused the provisions of USA PATRIOT ACT to gather information in all kinds of normal, non-terrorist investigations. When requested to disclose the copies of these subpoenas, the prosecutors rightfully claimed the 'state secret' privileges. (Documentary proof will
be mailed if you send your name and mailing address to perfectinjustice.bansal@gmail.com).
Meehan's rhetoric also includes talks about 'fighting the big spending ways' and 'unchecked spending' by the Federal Government. While, as a U.S. Attorney, he was providing first class airfares to his Assistant U.S. Attorneys and federal agents to travel around the world; a practice forbidden by the Department of Justice policies. Let's not forget that this former law enforcement officer was also involved in gathering his campaign money through a personal fund raising event with the aid of Acting
United States Attorney, Ms. Laurie Magid, and dozens of federal prosecutors; in violation of the Federal Hatch Act. Ms. Magid was investigated by the Office of Inspector General and promptly removed from the office. Meehan also has an on-going love affair with the pharmaceutical companies. The FEC records would show that majority of Meehan's campaign finance is funded by them. Meehan has proved his loyalty
to them by commencing sham prosecutions against any businesses which the pharmaceutical companies deem as adverse to their interests.
The public should be informed the truth about this self-righteous, masquerading maverick, who is nothing but a Team Bush old puppet with new strings.
Dr. Akhil Bansal
Email - perfectinjustice.bansal@gmail.com
Blog- http://drakhilbansal.blogspot.com/
** Blagojevich at least had the valid requisite authority to make a senate appointment.
Subject: Patrick Meehan needs to come forward and admit his wrong doings.
Mr. Patrick Meehan seems to be busy in his fund raising for the 7th district congressional election. But before he goes to ask for votes from the public, he needs to admit his wrong doings and previous misconduct in office as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of pennsylvania.
Recently, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Office of Professional responsibility (OPR) of the Department of Justice have publically released three reports after conducting a joint investigation of politicized hiring and improper personnel actions by the Team Bush loyals in the executive Department. See www.usdoj.gov/oig/special. These reports are a proof of the republican government reeked with influence peddling and power brokering. Meehan belongs to the same party which is swollen by endless false promises, swollen by taking of tasks for which it has no competence or authority, and swollen by its own arrogance and eternal meddling.
Mr. Patrick Meehan himself was involved in the hiring of his political lap dogs. Without any authority, he illegally appointed Mr. James Pavlock as Special AUSA for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Pavlock, who had no previous litigation experience, and with resume that has more embroidery than substance and a style that has more bluff than experience, claimed himself to be 'Senior Trial Attorney' in the court filings. Unauthorized prosecutors like Pavlock are a cesspool of greed, a disgusting pattern of moral corruption, and a pathetic, disgusting example of greed run amok.
Pavlock was a leader in the snarling pack chasing unauthorized prosecutions. Pavlock abused his position by executing sham subpoenas, illegal wiretaps and suborning perjury in the court proceedings. In doing so, he pushed the governing authority beyond the law and the constitution. Pavlock was a wonderful manipulator, with illogical, inconsistent and contradictory arguments, often equivalent to cow flatulence. But, Mr. Meehan ensured that before he resigned from the office, James Pavlock is given a permanent AUSA position.
Mr. Meehan did not stop his hiring of AUSA's. He ensured that his long time friend, and former prosecutor, Paul S. Diamond is appointed as a Federal District Judge. Paul Diamond, who has a gift for straightforward deviousness, is a right-wing zealot on the bench posing a danger of using the imprimatur of the law to exorcise his devils. Paul Diamond's judging is now motivated by opportunism, careerism and a need to please those in power. For this very reason, Mr. Meehan pushed his buddy's name to be promoted as a Third Circuit Judge, despite dozens of senior and more qualified Judges in the District Court. Mr. Meehan also ensured that the entire administration of the federal courts- clerks, deputies and case managers - are gerrymendered so that the courts can become a backyard for his political philosophy.
But Mr. Meehan promises that he will 'change' the ways of the government. How convenient...! How hypocritical...!!
Dr. AKHIL BANSAL
Email:- perfectinjustice.bansal@gmail.com
Blog- http://drakhilbansal.blogspot.com/
P.S.: Meehan's FEC records also reveal that he is circumventing the Federal Election Laws by receiving multiple donations of $2400 from same persons or groups.
November 21, 2009
I write this to seek a congressional investigation for the illegal hiring of Special AUSA Mr. James Pavlock and others by Mr. Patrick Meehan during his term of office as a United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 2001-2008. Mr. Meehan is now running for the 7th district congressional seat in Pennsylvania.
The Executive Office of United States Attorneys (EOUSA) and the Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management Office(OARM) of the Department of Justice have confirmed to me after a long series of communications that Mr. Patrick Meehan had no authority to appoint Mr. James Pavlock as a Special AUSA for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It is evident that Mr. Meehan appointed Mr. Pavlock based on political and ideological affiliations and to further his quest for witch hunts and Machiavellian prosecutions. Mr. James Pavlock, who had no previous litigation experience claimed himself to be 'senior trial attorney' and issued hundreds of illegal and punumbral subpoenas in normal investigations using the provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT. When asked to disclose the subpoenas, he repeatedly denied the disclosure.
I request a prompt congressional investigation against Mr. Patrick Meehan and Mr. James Pavlock. It is the Congress, which carries the traditional power to expose malfeasance and malversation of public officials. Moreover, the public should be informed about licentious hirings of partisan votaries and interlopers by Mr. Meehan and the nefarious abuse of USA PATRIOT Act. Upon request, I will provide all the necessary documentary proof to the honorable members of the Congress.
Dr. AKHIL BANSAL
Email :- perfectinjustice.bansal@gmail.com
Blog :- http://drakhilbansal.blogspot.com/
Subject: TONYA WYCHE, The Evil Grinch who stole away the Justice from me...!!
To: Every citizen who is seeking justice from the courts.
The very essence of liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim protection of laws and seek redress from the courts. When the courts become corrupted, the road to tyranny becomes more accessible. There are many examples of cases in which the court clerks have demonstrated a pattern of proclivity and kowtowing towards the prosecutors.
In my case, the evil Grinch in the Third Circuit Court of appeals sits as a case manager by the name of Tonya Wyche. Ms. Wyche refuses to docket and file my pleadings and motions to my cases. I sent a motion for dismissal of the indictment based on an congressional amendment of the federal law, which proves that the conduct charged in my indictment was never considered as a crime by the congress. I sent repeated requests to her for her explanation as to why my motion is not filed, but my inquiries were never responded. I tried to call her on numerous occasions, but she refused to take my calls. When I tried to file my motion electronically, Ms. Wyche conveniently cancelled my registration as an Electronic Document filer to the courts. Ms. Wyche also refuses to issue an scheduling order in my criminal appeals despite the appellate case file in her office since past TWO YEARS!!.
Ms. Wyche has hermetically closed the court doors for me and is preventing me to seek justice from the Court of Appeals.
Her actions and conduct is not because of incompetence, but rather because malice aforethought. This curtailment of right to access the courts makes it more difficult to seek redress and easier to prolong oppressive incarceration of innocent persons. In so far as the court clerks violate the rights recognized by the founding fathers codified in the constitution, their conduct is illegitimate. May be that these clerks have their own customized version of the constitution. But, when court clerks scorn their oath to uphold the constitution, they transform themselves into predator class, and justice is lost leading to arcane, arbitrary and secretive procedures with flagrant erosion of justice.
These type of clerks scorn their own mandatory duty by deciding the case and showing actual bias against the defendants for personal careerist reasons - promotion, retirement, post-retirement opportunity. Their power have given them a hubris, arrogance, and sense of invulnerability that has eroded the effective administration of the judiciary system. Rouge clerks do not have horns or tails; if they did, they would be easier to identify. The complaint proceedings against these corrupt clerks are a farce as no action is taken against these dissolute and venal clerks.
I am not writing this with slightest expectations of ending this autocratic behavior. These clerks cannot be stopped because their behavior is simply a function of the way they are and how they think, their dispositions, and the way they deal with the criminal defendants. However, they can be understood, exposed, and watched, and there is a compelling reason to do so. While their misconduct may be considered harmless in the scheme of things, their larger undertaking is of great concern. These clerks, who carry out their vendetta against citizens almost never have to pay to either the government's or citizen's legal bills, and their only incentive is to stretch their power as far as possible.
Clerks like Ms. Tonya Wyche cannot be trusted to exercise the powers given to them. Examples of this nature, if not restrained by national control, would be multiplied and extended till they become serious sources of arbitrary and disparate treatment. To prevent future bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the judicial system, these clerks have to be de-fanged and their arbitrary powers be excised. And without governmental involvement - without active monitoring of the actions of the court clerks and without vigorous resistance to their misconduct - people will have few means to safeguard their lives and property.
'WOE UNTO YOU SCRIBES ... [YOU] TIE UP HEAVY BURDENS, HARD TO BEAR, AND LAY THEM ON THE SHOULDERS OF OTHERS; BUT [YOU] ARE UNWILLING TO LIFT A FINGER TO MOVE THEM ...
BLIND GUIDES ! YOU STRAIN OUT A GNAT BUT SWALLOW A CAMEL ... [YOU] HAVE NEGLECTED THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW AND JUSTICE....' JESUS (Matthew 23:4-24).
Submitted by,
Dr. AKHIL BANSAL
Email :- perfectinjustice.bansal@gamil.com
Blog- http://drakhilbansal.blogspot.com/
This is intimidation, pure and simple. They're acting like gangsters! Why hasn't there been more attention paid to this part of the incident? Who was in danger and why? These attorneys are federal employees that are apparently able to behave like this without any consequences. No, I'm not naive enough to be shocked or surprised, just trying to hang on to enough faith in the Constitution and our legal system to be outraged.
Right winged Fascists? Maybe you need to look at the definition of the word.
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/47141327.html