USA Today fights FBI subpoena asking them to hand over readers' info

[Nevilledog]

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Kim Zetter
@KimZetter
Never seen request like this before. FBI wants USA Today to hand over list of every IP address/mobile phone number that accessed an article published in Feb about a child porn bust. FBI wants only info about clicks that occurred during a 35-minute window.

USA Today fights FBI subpoena asking them to hand over readers' info
On February 2, FBI agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were killed at and three others were wounded when 55-year-old David Huber started shooting.
dailymail.co.uk
2:54 PM · Jun 4, 2021

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9653491/USA-Today-fights-FBI-subpoena-asking-hand-readers-information.html

The FBI has asked USA Today for the IP addresses and phone numbers of everyone who read one of its articles during a 35-minute period in February as part of an ongoing child porn probe, in what the publisher is calling a violation of the First Amendment.

On February 2, FBI agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were killed and three others were wounded when 55-year-old David Huber started shooting as they approached his apartment in Fort Lauderdale shortly after 6am.

He was suspected of possessing child porn, but the FBI has never revealed why. After killing the agents, he took his own life.

Huber had no criminal record.

USA Today was among the many news outfits that covered the story on February 2. It published the story at 9.29 that morning - three-and-a-half hours after it happened.

*snip*


🤔

[drray23]

1. unbelievable. if that's not a fishing expedition I don't know what is.

Are they thinking maybe child porn abusers logged in and read the article to see if one of their buddy was caught ? that's a bit far of a stretch.

[blm]

5. A fishing expedition would need a larger time window

35minutes seems pretty narrow and, actually, pretty precise to me.

[marble falls]

2. The FBI is wrong on this.

[ecstatic]

3. Maybe someone from the pedophile ring sent or posted a link to the article

on an encrypted message service or child porn chat site (before getting busted/searched).

[TheBlackAdder]

4. With such a narrow time window, it's more than just a fishing expedition. They have a reason.

.

You might be onto something, especially if there is little activity, something is posed on the dark web, and then a brief flurry of activity or bots go out to grab the story for others. It could be one pedo ring notifying dozens of others across the globe.

.

[gratuitous]

6. That's what it sounds like to me

They're asking for a highly targeted time window.

[Hestia]

7. +1

[Mr.Bill]

8. Look at it this way.

How big would the time window have to be for it to be unacceptable to you?

This is a dangerous precedent. I hope USA Today tells them to pound sand and wins.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. USA Today's TOS & Privacy Terms allow for Lawful Requests, so now that dance commences.

.

https://cm.usatoday.com/privacy/#12
3. How We Use Personal Information

A. Use and Purpose of Processing Your Personal Information

We use and process your Personal Information for the following types of purposes (the examples provided are illustrative and not intended to be exhaustive).

To comply with any applicable laws and regulations and respond to lawful requests; and/or

They're pretty much, no. If you want it, sue us. Which then absolves them of any privacy breach claims.

.

[dalton99a]

9. This is probably the reason:

Last edited Fri Jun 4, 2021, 08:22 PM - Edit history (1)

The FBI agent who signed the subpoena to Gannett has worked for years on child exploitation cases and has testified in several criminal cases related to child pornography offenses, newspaper accounts and other public records show.

The subpoena — first reported by Politico — says the information is needed as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Federal officials would not provide additional details about the investigation.

During a 2007 investigation, an FBI agent impersonated an Associated Press journalist while investigating bomb threats at a high school in Washington state. The agent portrayed himself as an AP journalist when he communicated with the suspect online and then sent a link to a fabricated AP news article that, when clicked, allowed the FBI to pinpoint the suspect’s location.

The ruse was made public in 2014 and two years later the FBI imposed restrictions on the ability of agents to masquerade as reporters — but it stopped short of ruling out the practice.

https://apnews.com/article/subpoenas-business-arts-and-entertainment-government-and-politics-0a0c9a2a5e379937e630121db2a37c66