FBI Serves Incredibly Broad Warrant To 8chan, Demanding Info On All Users Who Responded To A Shooter's Post

from the not-how-probable-cause-works dept

Internet hellhole 8chan has been hit with a federal search warrant. The site, created to serve those who felt 4chan's nearly-nonexistent moderation was too restrictive, has been front and center recently due to its hosting of manifestos by mass shooters who apparently frequented the site.

In this case, an investigation into a shooting at a California mosque has led the FBI to the pages of 8chan. Postings at the site -- along with some at Facebook -- have linked the shooter to the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand. According to the affidavit [PDF], the FBI believes the California mosque shooter was "inspired and/or educated" by the New Zealand's shooters manifesto and actions.

The Poway shooter is already in custody, so the value of the information sought here is questionable. While the info may have some value in establishing the shooter's state of mind, as well as his connection to other crimes, the warrant does bear some resemblance to a fishing expedition.

From the affidavit, it appears the feds have no shortage of evidence to use against the shooter:

Using various search methods, Whitney Buckingham an SDSD system data miner, found a manifesto on Pastebin.com written by a person identifying himself as John Earnest. In the manifesto, which he named "An Open Letter", Earnest made many anti-Semitic and anti-muslim statements. One such statement which is a direct quote is, "As an individual, I can only kill so many Jews." He states he is not a terrorist but that he hates anyone who he sees as a threat to his country. Earnest took credit for a fire that had been set at mosque in Escondido a few weeks earlier. His exact statement was "I scorched a mosque in Escondido with gasoline a week after Brenton Tarrant's sacrifice and they never found shit on me. Additionally, he wrote "I spray-painted on the parking lot. I wrote 'For Brenton Tarrant -t./pol/."

Tarrant is the New Zealand shooter Earnest apparently tried to emulate. Obviously, the threat of copycat killers is always a concern following mass shootings, but what the government is demanding here has the potential to sweep up dozens of users who did nothing but reply to threads involving the arrested shooter.

Agents seek IP address and metadata information about Earnest's original posting and the postings of all of the individuals who responded to the subject posting and/or commented about it. Additionally, agents seek information about any other posting coming from the IP address used by Earnest to post the subject posting.

This seems like a lot of people to be investigating for just being in the wrongest place on the internet at the wrong time. The justification for this is speculation that others who viewed the post will either become shooters themselves or somehow conspired with the shooter to carry out this horrible crime in which Earnest was the only shooter.

As discussed above, Earnest made a posting in which he thought to draw attention to his forthcoming attack on the Chabad of Poway, share his views through his open letter, and offer people the opportunity to observe the attack itself. Several people responded, both individuals who were taken aback about the posting as well as people who were sympathizers. As a result, some of the individuals may be potential witnesses, co-conspirators and/ or individuals who are inspired by the subject posting. Based on agents' training and experience, following attacks such as those conducted by Earnest, other individuals are inspired by the attacks and may act of their own accord.

By its own admission, the FBI is seeking information about posters "taken aback" by Earnest's post -- users unlikely to be "inspired" by the shooting or his co-conspirators. Apparently, the FBI doesn't trust 8chan to make that assessment, so it's asking for everything so it can sort through it and draw its own conclusions, engage in its own "non-custodial" interviews, subpoena a number of other service providers for more info, etc.

In fact, the FBI would prefer Ch.net -- the host for 8chan -- just hand over everything demanded by the warrant without getting involved at all.

In order to accomplish the objective of the search warrant with a minimum of interference with the business activities of Ch.net, to protect the rights of the subject of the investigation and to effectively pursue this investigation, authority is sought to allow Ch.net to make a digital copy of the entire contents of the accounts subject to seizure.

However you may feel about 8chan and its denizens (and I hope those feelings are mostly negative), this is not a justifiable demand for information. The FBI wants everything on everyone in that thread, even as it states some of the users it's targeting were appalled by what they were seeing. This makes everyone in the thread a suspect and treats anonymous users of this site as inherently suspicious, no matter what their posts actually say.

Filed Under: brenton tarrant, christchurch, fbi, fishing expedition, john earnest, mass shootings, poway, warrant
Companies: 8chan, ch.net

Louisiana Police Appear To Be Using A Hoax Antifa List Created By 8Chan To Open Criminal Investigations

from the cause-is-supposed-to-be-probable,-not-theoretically-possible dept

A public records request sent to the Louisiana State Police has uncovered something disturbing. Although the LSP continues to refuse to release the document in question, it appears this law enforcement agency has been using a bogus list of supposed Antifa members compiled by 8chan users to keep tabs on Americans opposed to Trump.

The public records lawsuit [PDF] filed by Harvard lecturer (and former staff attorney for Orleans Public Defenders) Thomas Frampton on behalf of records requester William Most, alleges law enforcement's refusal to hand over the "antifa.docx" file referenced in obtained emails is an indication the state police actually believe this bogus "Antifa" list -- compiled from a list of signatories to an anti-Trump petition -- is credible enough to be used in ongoing investigations and litigation.

Here's Frampton's summation of the situation, as gleaned from the state police's responses to Most's repeated requests for a copy of the Antifa doc.

On August 27, 2018, while searching through the first batch of 64 emails, Mr. Most noticed several high-ranking LSP officers sharing a document entitled “full list of antifa.docx” in August 2017. The dossier was also shared with non-LSP law enforcement, including an official from the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The LSP “Antifa” emails were sent just days after the conspiracy theory website “8Chan” published a fake dossier of what purported to be a full list of “Antifa.” The hoax was promoted on Neo-Nazi websites like Stormfront. The purported “Antifa” roster contains the names of thousands of ordinary, law-abiding citizens who signed an online petition against President Trump.

LSP has refused to disclose the “full list of antifa.docx” records. The Agency claims that releasing the document could “compromise” an ongoing criminal investigation in which LSP anticipates arrests, and reveal the identity of its “Confidential Informant.”

This suggests two things, neither of which make the LSP look any better. Either it truly believes the hoax doc is real, rather than just names take from an online petition, or it's trying to avoid having to admit it was duped by a confidential informant, even if only temporarily.

The ever-present resistance to transparency by the state police is detailed in the filed motion as well. It's not just the appearance of an undelivered "antifa.docx" file in an email string, but the agency's refusal to meet court-ordered timelines or even begin work on fulfillment when its public records team says it will.

Defendant has completely withheld access to hundreds of records responsive to the Plaintiff's initial and modified request, but this lawsuit deals only with the inspection of five (5) specific records, the attachments to the five emails identified in [Paragraph]l19 of this Petition. Defendant has withheld these records after months of arbitrary and capricious stalling and delay; first negligently, apparently, then intentionally; despite multiple offers by Mr. Most to accept redacted portions of the record; and notwithstanding good-faith pre-litigation efforts by Mr. Most to explain to Louisiana State Police why the records are not exempt from disclosure.

But it's the Antifa doc that's making headlines. Alone it could mean nothing more than something passed around by law enforcement officers and officials before being discarded. Coupled with the LSP's insistence that release of the document would compromise both an investigation and its confidential informant, the refusal to release the docx file suggests the agency has opened investigations predicated on a hoax. However strongly one may feel about the criminality of Antifa's actions, there's nothing in this document justifying investigations and surveillance of people who did nothing more than sign an online petition. If the LSP fell for a hoax and opened investigations based on protected speech (the signing of online petitions), it's going to be facing a lot more litigation in the future.

Filed Under: antifa, hoax, investigation, louisian, louisiana state police, public records, transparency, trolls
Companies: 8chan

Marc Randazza Emasculates Pick-Up Artist, Legal Counsel In Hilariously Brutal Response To A Bogus Takedown Demand

from the careless-butthurt-salve-application-results-in-further-burns dept

Another person has mistaken the First Amendment for umbrella coverage against criticism. Julien Blanc -- a self-described "international leader in dating advice -- one of several like-minded individuals employed by Real Social Dynamics (the “World’s top dating coaching, self-actualization & social dynamics company”), a company Blanc co-founded, had footage of one of his seminars go viral thanks to writer Jenn Li, who posted the "horrifying" footage at UK news outlet, The Independent.

Here's her brief description of the objectionable content contained in Blanc's/RSD's video:

When talking about how to “seduce” a Japanese woman, he is quoted as saying: “Just grab her… To take the pressure off, yell Pikachu or Pokemon or Tamagotchi or something”. He is obsessed with degrading Japanese women, and abusing his white male privilege. “At least in Tokyo, if you're a white male,” he says “you can do what you want. I'm just romping through the streets, just grabbing girls' heads, just like, head, pfft on the dick. Head, on the dick, yelling, 'pikachu'.”

In case anyone feels that this might be a misrepresentation of Blanc's views and actions, here's the video itself.


TL;DW: If you're a white male, you can pretty much do whatever you want to Japanese women, provided (a) you have one functioning arm and (b) you shout some half-assed Japanese term as a "disclaimer" or something. See also: included footage of Julien Blanc performing these actions on actual Japanese women while in Japan.

The backlash has been incredible. In addition to tons of internet commentary and further exposure of Blanc's misogyny, governments of foreign countries are now considering taking legal action to prevent Blanc from giving his seminars on their soil. Australia has already revoked his visa ahead of scheduled appearance, thanks to pressure from a Change.org petition. The UK and Canada are considering similar actions.

Real Social Dynamics has attempted to perform some damage control, but there are far too many fires to put out. So, it has begun doing the next best thing: issuing scattershot, baseless legal threats. One such legal threat went to the owner of InfiniteChan (aka 8chan), a message board modeled after the super-popular (and quite often, super-frightening) 4chan.

There are many mistakes made in this demand letter, written by Maurice Pilosof, "legal counsel" for Real Social Dynamic, but perhaps none is bigger than failing to realize that everything contained in the URL listed is user-generated. Far too many lawyers fail to understand the protections provided by Section 230. There are also far too many lawyers who simply don't care, throwing around their letterhead and officious tone in hopes of forcing swift capitulation.

Unfortunately for Maurice Pilosof and RSD, this ignorance (presumably willful, considering Pilosof presents himself as focused on "trademarks, copyrights, intellectual property transactions and music licensing") of Section 230 wasn't their biggest problem. Their biggest problem was the opposing force: the Randazza Legal Group. Marc Randazza and Michael Cernovich responded to RSD's stupid and baseless takedown demand with a blistering refusal loaded with colorful imagery and even more colorful language. [PDF link] Oh, and a full-page picture of Manzinga.

First, Randazza addresses the video itself, something not mentioned in the takedown demand but crucial to the understanding of what sort of person Pilosof is defending here.

Please correct me if I am wrong. This all started when your client posted a video in which Julien Blanc gives men advice on picking up Japanese women. (if you call it that)

Part of his advice is as follows: “at least in Tokyo, If you’re a white male, you can do what you want”...

[...]

I don’t know whether it is true that white men can do whatever they want in Tokyo. If that’s true, I’m moving there. I want to do whatever I want, without consequences. All I’ve been looking for my entire life is the ability to have a consequence-free existence. I thought that getting really rich was the secret to that. Imagine my delight when I learned that I don’t need to be a billionaire to do whatever the fuck I want. I’ve had the power to have a consequence free existence all along! I just had to look inside myself,and see my Caucasian DNA, look inside my pants and see my penis, and just seize it as my birthright (the power, not my penis).

After offering a bounty of $5,000 for anyone who videotapes themselves handing out a "royal ass kicking" to Blanc ("double" if it's one of the women Blanc attempts to assault), Randazza deals with Pilosof's/RSD's complaint that messages posted at InfiniteChan are "untrue, private and defamatory."

Lets go back to page one. Your client is the guy who seems to advocate sexual assault against random women, on the basis that he’s Caucasian, and they’re not. Neither Mike, nor I, are in any danger of winning the “Male Feminist of the Year Award.” But Jesus Hello Kitty Christ on a Rocket-Powered Toboggan, are you FREAKIN’ SERIOUS?

If you have the audacity to file a defamation claim on behalf of a guy who advocates sexual assault, and relies on racist bunk to justify it, then come at us, bro. Our client might just waive his CDA immunity and let the case stand on the merits of the defamation claim. I can not express how much joy I would find in watching you try and articulate how your client’s reputation has been harmed by anything other than his own asinine, racist, sexist, rapey-creep-scumbag statements.

Randazza closes by reminding RSD's lawyer that the First Amendment is double-edged. If his client wants to enjoy the privileges, he needs to learn how to deal with the downside.

Your client made some really objectionable statements. There is a price for that – it is called “criticism.” Your client acted like an ass, and people pointed at him and said “look at that asshole!” Rather than answer the criticism, your client sought to cower behind a wall of censorship. This really isn’t advisable for someone like your client, who will likely need to raise the shield of the First Amendment at some time in the near future.

Well said. The whole letter is worth a read (and a re-read). Too many people seem to feel the First Amendment guarantees a consequence-free platform for questionable and objectionable statements. That's where they're wrong. The government has no business trying to determine what can or can't be said, but the public is absolutely free to offer its opinion about the statements of others.

While some may point out that petitioning foreign governments in hopes of preventing Blanc from speaking is a violation of his rights, the fact is that Change.org petitions are also protected speech. Foreign governments are still free to ignore the more formalized hecklers' vetoes, but protecting a foreigner's domestic free speech rights isn't going to win them the adoration of the angered masses. Blanc may be forced to ply his wares in the US only -- a place where he enjoys greater speech protections, but also one where his "magical white guy powers" will be considerably more muted.

Filed Under: dmca, first amendment, free speech, julien blanc, liability, marc randazza, maurice pilosof, pick up artists, section 230, takedowns, threats
Companies: 8chan, infinitechan, real social dynamics