Don't Click On This Link Unless You Don't Mind A Grand Jury Knowing What You Read

from the privacy?-schmivacy dept

Fri, Oct 19th 2007 5:10pm — Mike Masnick

Apparently two executives from Village Voice Media (publishers of The Village Voice and other independent newspapers) were arrested yesterday for revealing grand jury information that was supposed to be private. Specifically, they had published an article in one of its publications, the Phoenix New Times, accusing a grand jury of unconstitutional behavior in issuing a subpoena for all sorts of information about the Phoenix New Times and its readership. Now, before you click on the link to the article, it's worth noting that the subpoena in question demands that the newspaper hand over incredibly detailed log information on every visitor to that website since January 2004. This is because someone is upset about four articles dealing with a local sheriff. Yet, though the supposed problem is with the four articles, the subpoena demands information on every visitor to the site, including such things as their IP address, which articles they read, any information obtained by cookies, the referral links that got them to the website, their type of browser and their type of operating system. In other words, all the info typically found in a log file -- but it's unclear why this information could possibly be necessary in a complaint about 4 specific articles. Update: As pointed out in the comments, just as we were writing up this story, the original lawsuit was dropped and the special prosecutor was fired.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: grand jury, subpoena
Companies: phoenix new times, village voice

14 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 19 Oct 2007 @ 5:35pm

Seems as though somebody suddenly grew a brain.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1019new-times1019-ON-CR.html
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 19 Oct 2007 @ 6:22pm

Brains have nothing to do with it. The County Attorney has political aspirations, and because this story was hitting the mainstream media, he felt his political prospects were being threatened and made the special prosecutor a scapegoat. The prosecutor was a tool in all senses of the word.

Over the past few years, County Attorney Andrew Thomas has funneled millions of state funds to his 'special prosecutor' Dennis Wilenchik. He and Arpaio was absolutely knew what was going on since this whole thing was a blatant state-funded attack against his critics in the press.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
James, 19 Oct 2007 @ 7:27pm

minor detail...
Even if the suit was eventually dropped, two people were arrested for just saying what apparently made sense to someone.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dusty668, 19 Oct 2007 @ 8:26pm

Awwww, and I wanted to meet the Grand Jury and tell them how I found the paper looking at Llama pron too...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Max Powers at http://ConsumerFight.com, 19 Oct 2007 @ 9:19pm

Same thing happens everywhere
This type of crap happens everywhere, we just don't hear about it unless somebody gets the word out. We as citizens have to keep a watch on these politicians who routinely abuse their power.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2007 @ 8:08am
  
  Re: Same thing happens everywhere
  "these politicians who routinely abuse their power"
  
  That means all of them.
  
  When did we get the idea that we can elect or hire somebody, and then ignore their actions?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Amethyst, 20 Oct 2007 @ 8:37am

Wow...
I'm sure glad I don't live in Pheonix. I read the really long New Times article that was linked. That Sheriff sounds like a total jerk, with paranoia to boot.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Javarod, 20 Oct 2007 @ 10:35am

Oh you should look through he web archives of the paper for all the fun things Sherriff Joe has done. In fact, this matter is far from over: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2007/10/in_your_face_furious_public_ba.php

I'm quite glad to see that Techdirt followed up on this, I sent a link in hope that publicity would have the same effect here that light has on cockroaches.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Joe Smith, 20 Oct 2007 @ 3:58pm
  
  Re: under the furniture
  in hope that publicity would have the same effect here that light has on cockroaches.
  Of course, what cockroaches do is go run and hide under the nearest furniture until someone turns off the lights again. One would hope for more clear and permanent consequences - say, imprisonment and disbarment for the complainant and prosecutor - the cockroach equivalent of a size 11 boot.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
I looked at your articles, 21 Oct 2007 @ 5:46am

Catch me if you can!
The Sheriff always seemed a bit of a slime ball, this just brings him out in the light.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Steve, 21 Oct 2007 @ 5:38pm

I tried not to...
I went three days without clicking this link because I am so afraid of the grand jury!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 22 Oct 2007 @ 4:57pm

But Still...
Update: As pointed out in the comments, just as we were writing up this story, the original lawsuit was dropped and the special prosecutor was fired.
Unfortunately, it appears that they still intend to fully prosecute the newspaper executives who blew the whistle. Hell knows no fury like public officials embarrassed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 22 Oct 2007 @ 5:09pm
  
  Re: But Still...
  Unfortunately, it appears that they still intend to fully prosecute the newspaper executives who blew the whistle.
  That's not correct. See Charges Against Seattle Weekly's Owners Dropped.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Magoo, 15 May 2009 @ 11:49am

Butt
Very informative. I forwarded this to my friends.

Joe
Visit me at registry cleaners
[ link to this | view in chronology ]