EDITORIAL Digital dragnet
The U.S. Justice Department’s attempt to identify 1.3 million Americans who visited a website about protests surrounding President Trump’s inauguration represents a serious threat to privacy and free speech.
To its credit, the company that hosts the website — DreamHost — is resisting the government’s demand to turn over data that would disclose the computer address of each visitor and show what he or she viewed or uploaded.
“What we have is a sweeping request for every single file we have” in relation to DisruptJ20.org, said Chris Ghazarian, DreamHost general counsel, according to the Washington Post. “The search warrant is not only dealing with everything in relation to the website, but also tons of data about people who visited it.”
That data could include emails between the site’s organizers and would-be protesters, subscriber names and addresses and unpublished photos and blog posts.
This privacy intrusion would be a constitutional concern no matter who occupied the White House. That it comes under the administration led by a president who has shown such open contempt for dissent — starting with the campaign, and highlighted in his unnerving performance Tuesday when challenged about his tepid response to white supremacists in Charlottesville — makes this move all the more disturbing.
In court papers, a U.S. attorney’s office argued that the request was justified because the website was used in the “development, planning, advertisement and organization of a violent riot that occurred in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017.”
It is true that a small group of anarchists broke windows, set a limousine on fire, trashed bus shelters and threw rocks at police in riot gear. More than 200 people were indicted on felony rioting charges as a result.
It is certainly legitimate for law enforcement to seek information about those who are suspected of criminal conduct. But the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was designed to prevent government fishing expeditions of this sort.
A hearing on the conflict is scheduled for Friday before Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz in Washington, D.C.
The overwhelming majority of those who protested Trump’s inauguration did so peacefully. Also, it’s important to note that many of the people who visited the website did not even go to Washington. The government has no right to track the online activities of Americans in either category.
The courts should put a halt to this government overreach.