The results for more details was in and of itself a problem; The prosecutors were fishing for details on people whom were guilty only of hyperbole. "I would love to see you thrown off a roof" or "That prosecutor should be taken out and shot" are not threats, not even close. They are the very definition of political speech, in grandiose hyperbole. The chilling effects of prosecutors even asking for that information is very real, and very much undermines the cornerstones of american democracy. The gag order escalated it from prosecutorial overreach to something worthy of repeated headlines, but even the request was unwarranted and wrong.
Agreed. But my comment was in regards to the lead comment "This happens all the time. At reddit we would get requests from law enforcement asking for email addresses and other private information. .." Those details have nothing to do with the issue at hand, and hence my objection to the comparison.
> Those details have nothing to do with the issue at hand, and hence my objection to the comparison.
Huh? Reason.com got requests from law enforcement asking for email addresses and other private information. Reddit.com got requests from law enforcement asking for email addresses and other private information. Do you really not see the parallel, even if the Reason.com case is much more egregious for the fact of the gag order?
A federal grand jury subpoena is not the same thing as law enforcement asking for information.
For one, a grand jury is made up of citizens, not members of law enforcement. (Notwithstanding the well-known belief that a "grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich,' if that's what [the prosecutor] wanted.")
"Asking for information" includes things like a county police department sending a letter on department letterhead asking for information. It also includes the US government through Herbert Yardley asking all of the telegraph companies for their message traffic. There is no legal compulsion behind those requests.
jedberg's original comment confirms that this refers to simply asking, in the hopes that the recipient will pass data over voluntarily."It's really easy to make a request for information, and in most cases, the person you're asking will just willingly give it up even though they don't legally have to, either because they want to be helpful or because they don't know about their legal rights.
A federal grand jury subpoena, on the other hand, has teeth behind it. A recipient is legally obligated to respond to the subpoena, either with the requested information or with a legal challenge.
So no, these are not the same things. Reason.com received an order by a grand jury, not a request by law enforcement.
