U.S. Government Sought Customer Book Purchasing Records from Amazon.com

Source: Natural News

U.S. Government Sought Customer Book Purchasing Records from Amazon.com

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(NaturalNews) Recently unsealed court records shed more light on the federal government's attempts to secure the online book purchase records of 24,000 Amazon.com customers.

In 2006, federal prosecutors investigating Robert D'Angelo, a Madison, WI official accused of fraud and tax evasion, subpoenaed online book retailer Amazon.com for transaction records on anyone who had purchased books from him through Amazon Marketplace since 1999. Prosecutors said they were hoping to find witnesses to testify against D'Angelo.

Amazon agreed to tell prosecutors what books D'Angelo had sold, but refused to turn over information on the buyers, citing its customers' First Amendment rights to privacy. The government came back with a request for only 120 customers, but Amazon still refused. The case went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker, who ruled in June to strike down the subpoena on First Amendment grounds.

"The subpoena is troubling because it permits the government to peek into the reading habits of specific individuals without their knowledge or permission," Crocker wrote in his ruling. "It is an unsettling and un-American scenario to envision federal agents nosing through the reading lists of law-abiding citizens while hunting for evidence against somebody else."

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Read more: http://www.naturalnews.com/023388.html

... you may be guilty of thoughtcrime.

The government thought police don't need no stinkin' subpoena to be doin' the "national security" and the "homeland security."

And in case you are thinkin', "Hey, there ain't no national security issue in this case." I remind you of the Bush Doctrine which states in part, "any and all things the president thinks involve national security, involve national security."

No you can't use the argument that the president does not "think" at all. Here in BushCoville the term is used loosely.

Seriously

This is disturbing, but not surprising
:scared::mad: :banghead:

PLease, let the election really mean that we don't have to be as afraid of our govt as I could be right now.

upon how far the new administration and the new Congress are willing to go to undo the abuses of power perpetrated by this administration.

Unfortunately, I'm not all that hopeful.

:(

I'm not, either

...the First Amendment rights of these customers never even showed up on these idiot's radar is what's really troubling. These prosecutors started out believing http://www.channel3000.com/news/14312947/detail.html">they had a case that would result in a sentence of as much as 30 years, but ended up having to settle for 1 year of prison and 2 years supervision. But it was all based upon speculation rather than facts, since they couldn't prove how much money he didn't report as income without the evidence.

- Evidence. The old-fashioned way of obtaining convictions in a democracy....

K&R

But I downloaded it from a P2P site because over here I'm not sure I could even find it in print.

you guessed it, I Buy Local.:)

together. Imagine if they found someone who was selling gay porn and could compile a list of 24,000 people who bought gay porn and could comb it for VIPs or people related to VIPs----they would be able to use that information to force those people to do whatever they wanted.

It's bad when events like this don't even surprise or shock me anymore. It's business as usual for the government. I hate Bush and his cronies so much.

saying, essentially, "WAY TO GO, AMAZON! Thanks." Since I'd be among the first to protest, reckoned I should also say "thanks," when the corporate types do something right....as in "correct." Ms Bigmack

:toast:

i prefer to take cash from the atm... and pay cash whereever possible...

--- you might think it is a "conspiracy theory" but what if it is more

Front page story about him in today's Madison newspaper (his hometown paper): http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/290311

With that in mind, I still think I'm "screwn". I live in a small town outside Madison. I can either waste gas and drive to Madison to buy the Cd's and books that I want...or I can order them on Amazon...go over $25 and get free shipping. I usually opt for the Amazon route. I have tried to buy nearly every anti-Bush book and music CD produced in the past four years. I guess I'm going to be in trouble now! :scared:

Yikes!

Good Lord ! It's Agent Mike knocking at your door!:)

Apparently the guy tried to "shoplift" books and CD's from Friends of the Library sales in Madison and Middleton!!!!! How low can you go? He was well-paid ($118,000 per year according to the article) and he had to "shoplift" books normally priced between $0.50 and $2.00!!!!! In the Middleton case, he switched a price tag from $10 to $2 to try to buy the book he wanted. How low can you go?

I hope this is just a lawyer "stall" tactic....but still it reeks!

21 posts and no one mentions that? Aren't they teaching civics anymore? What do they teach in journalism school? Gads. I must be getting old.

From Wikipedia:

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. On its face, it prohibits the United States Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" (the Establishment Clause) or that prohibit free exercise of religion (the Free Exercise Clause), laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


That being said...what do you make of our government recently allowing the telephone companies to spy on us? (This under the guise of "Homeland Security".)

I don't think a civics class is going to help when our government is totally out of control.

Amendment Four

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures , shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue , but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

bring it On!!!!!!!!!!!

will put a stop to this sort of thing immediately. :scared:

I think it was Kissinger who said that it isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you.

will put a stop to this sort of thing immediately. :scared:

I think it was Kissinger who said that it isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you.

You should see my reading list. 50 years of history that is mostly unkind to the United States. My mom would have a heart attack if she had a clue as to what most of what I studied *really* meant. I'm fucked if they're checking.

Oh well.:hide:

:dem:

clearly marks me as utterly harmless...

:-)

along with contact info if they want to testify against the guy? Doesn't that keep everybody happy?

Why would the governement even ask for the records?

I do market research, and when we need someone with a medical condition, we don't ask to see physician records (we didn't even ask that before HIPA). We ask the doctor to post something at the office, or let patients with the conditions know that we would like to pay to talk to them.

Glad they didn't release the names - good on them.