The website-hosting company DreamHost is contesting a D.C. Superior Court search warrant for the identities of those who posted or visited the website direuptj20.org before the Inauguration Day protests. The Justice Department is investigating events surrounding the arrests of hundreds some of whom committed acts of violence during the inauguration. DreamHost claims the warrant is overbroad and designed to identify political opponents of the current administration. (Courthouse News Service, August 15, 2017, by Tim Ryan)
The warrant goes to the extreme in asking for everything about all visitors including all information pertaining to an account; all information identifying subscribers’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, business information, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers; all records of communications between DreamHost and any person regarding the account. In challenging the warrant, DreamHost cites the Fourth Amendment that requires probable cause of a crime and a warrant narrowly tailored to seek the evidence supporting a criminal charge. It also cites the First Amendment protecting the rights of peaceful protestors. (techdirt, August 15, 2017, by Mike Masnick)