Judge moves to conceal identities of users behind anti-Trump website

Source: Politico




Feds probing Inauguration Day violence will get DisruptJ20 data, but stripped of details on individuals.

By STEVEN OVERLY and JOSH GERSTEIN 10/10/2017 05:05 PM EDT

A D.C judge has ordered web hosting company DreamHost to turn over information about an anti-Trump website, but moved to conceal the identities of users who feared government retaliation for engaging in innocent political speech.

"We’re happy to see all of these changes to the original search warrant that are going to protect the constitutional rights of innocent internet users, which is what we have been fighting for from the beginning," said DreamHost General Counsel Christopher Ghazarian.

The order Chief Judge Robert Morin issued Tuesday still compels DreamHost to give government lawyers files, messages, and other information from DisruptJ20.org, a website used to convene and coordinate protesters ahead of President Donald Trump's inauguration. But the company can now redact the identities of individual users from the data that will be handed over to the government, the judge ruled.

In order to obtain that information, the Justice Department must demonstrate to the court that their activity on the site is directly related to the agency's ongoing criminal investigation of alleged rioting on Inauguration Day, according to the order.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/10/anti-trump-website-judge-identities-243642