US Government now issuing warrants for websites that are anti-Trump

[Dean Winchestere]

USA government wanting ALL IP addresses accessing certain websites.

This is why VPN's are extremely important guys even when just browsing if you want privacy from the government.

DO NOT VISIT THE Actual WEBSITES WITHOUT A VPN. (CNN is fine)

We Fight for the Users


Blog » We Fight for the Users

August 14, 2017

Written by DreamHost

For the past several months, DreamHost has been working with the Department of Justice to comply with legal process, including a Search Warrant (PDF) seeking information about one of our customers’ websites.

At the center of the requests is disruptj20.org, a website that organized participants of political protests against the current United States administration. While we have no insight into the affidavit for the search warrant (those records are sealed), the DOJ has recently asked DreamHost to provide allinformation available to us about this website, its owner, and, more importantly, its visitors.

Records Requests
DreamHost, like many online service providers, is approached by law enforcement regularly to provide information about customers who may be the subject of criminal investigations. These types of requests are not uncommon; our legal department reviews and scrutinizes each request and, when necessary, rejects and challenges vague or faulty orders.

You would be shocked to see just how many of these challenges we’re obligatedto mount every year!

Chris Ghazarian, our General Counsel, has taken issue with this particular search warrant for being a highly untargeted demand that chills free association and the right of free speech afforded by the Constitution.

Demand for Information
The request from the DOJ demands that DreamHost hand over 1.3 millionvisitor IP addresses — in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of thousands of people — in an effort to determine who simply visitedthe website. (Our customer has also been notified of the pending warrant on the account.)

That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone’s mind.

This is, in our opinion, a strong example of investigatory overreach and a clear abuse of government authority.

As we do in all such cases where the improper collection of data is concerned, we challenged the Department of Justice on its warrant and attempted to quash its demands for this information through reason, logic, and legal process.

Instead of responding to our inquiries regarding the overbreadth of the warrant, the DOJ filed a motion (PDF) in the Washington, D.C. Superior Court, asking for an order to compel DreamHost to produce the records.

Our Opposition
Last Friday Mr. Ghazarian, with the help of his legal team and outside counsel, filed legal arguments in opposition (PDF) of the DOJ’s request for access to this trove of personally identifiable information.

This motion is our latest salvo in what has become a months-long battle to protect the identities of thousands of unwitting internet users. Mr. Ghazarian will attend a court hearing on the matter on August 18 in Washington, D.C.

We’ve been working closely with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and their counsel throughout this process. They’ve been nothing but supportive and helpful throughout, and we’re honored to have them in our corner. While the EFF is not representing us in this case, they understand our arguments and have been lending professional support.

Why Bother?
The internet was founded — and continues to survive, in the main — on its democratizing ability to facilitate a free exchange of ideas. Internet users have a reasonable expectation that they will not get swept up in criminal investigations simply by exercising their right to political speech against the government.

We intend to take whatever steps are necessary to support and shield these users from what is, in our view, a very unfocused search and an unlawful request for their personal information.

Post Updated 8/14/17 9:00PM PST to clarify the EFF’s involvement.

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

I always use a VPN surfing internet. It is not because I want to hide myself behind a VPN but I don't like my ip logged.

 

[jasonX]

Wow....if you don't join 'em your the enemy!

 

[TairikuOkami]

Those criminals will never use VPN, I doubt they have ever even heard about security, so justice will be served.

 

[Dean Winchestere]

Without opening the political debate, from a security standpoint, my concern is that I believe there is something bigger going on here, and the ALT-right / ALt-left is just a thing being aggravated by the media/govt to advance the agenda of control, (that doesn't downsize the problem itself) censorship etc being accepted as okay. This is the illusion I have been really afraid of for awhile. This is how the government will slowly use reverse psychology and the issues presented media to get the mainstream to be okay with censorship, all in the name of political correctness. We are in some dear trouble as a country.

 

[antreas]

That one reason i use VPN always 24/7

 

[oneeye]

Previous US administration's have been caught red handed spying on their citizens, as other nations have. But censorship, of one group, will lead to others afterwards. If you think only one side will pay a price, think again. It will inevitably lead to a police state.

 

[Fritz]

censorship, of one group, will lead to others afterwards. If you think only one side will pay a price, think again.

I couldn't agree more @oneeye!

Just the other night I watched Bryan Lunduke on YouTube and he was going on about the recent Daily Stormer issue. You might have heard about it, it's a neo-nazi site that had its services cancelled by different providers one after another. Now, I'm not a fan of that ideology at all and neither is Bryan (he is Jewish actually), but basically we have a web site being shut down for voicing the wrong/undesired opinion. The Cloudfront CEO actually cancelled their service because he was in a bad mood and felt like it. Google and Facebook followed suit. They simply decided who may be heard and who may not, because they had the power to do so.

Add this private initiative to the state-sponsored persecution of ideas and I really worry where all this leads to. Again, I do not support this web site's particular agenda at all, but what idea will I have to adhere to in the future in order to be able to voice an opinion on the internet in the future?

 

[oneeye]

I couldn't agree more @oneeye!

Just the other night I watched Bryan Lunduke on YouTube and he was going on about the recent Daily Stormer issue. You might have heard about it, it's a neo-nazi site that had its services cancelled by different providers one after another. Now, I'm not a fan of that ideology at all and neither is Bryan (he is Jewish actually), but basically we have a web site being shut down for voicing the wrong/undesired opinion. The Cloudfront CEO actually cancelled their service because he was in a bad mood and felt like it. Google and Facebook followed suit. They simply decided who may be heard and who may not, because they had the power to do so.

Add this private initiative to the state-sponsored persecution of ideas and I really worry where all this leads to. Again, I do not support this web site's particular agenda at all, but what idea will I have to adhere to in the future in order to be able to voice an opinion on the internet in the future?

I agree with you too. Here is an article by an organization/ foundation actually, that is all about internet freedom. They are similar to other advocacy groups, with lots of lawyers. However, they wrote about how wrong these tech giants care on this matter. They are even located in San Francisco and likely hang out with the people from these companies. Here's the link:
Free Speech, EFF
Fighting Neo-Nazis and the Future of Free Expression

 

[Windows Defender Shill]

Crazy Idea:

I want the Government and Corporations to respect privacy and freedom of speech.

 

[ispx]

Those criminals will never use VPN, I doubt they have ever even heard about security, so justice will be served.

you are so naive.

 

[Windows Defender Shill]

I couldn't agree more @oneeye!

Just the other night I watched Bryan Lunduke on YouTube and he was going on about the recent Daily Stormer issue. You might have heard about it, it's a neo-nazi site that had its services cancelled by different providers one after another. Now, I'm not a fan of that ideology at all and neither is Bryan (he is Jewish actually), but basically we have a web site being shut down for voicing the wrong/undesired opinion. The Cloudfront CEO actually cancelled their service because he was in a bad mood and felt like it. Google and Facebook followed suit. They simply decided who may be heard and who may not, because they had the power to do so.

Add this private initiative to the state-sponsored persecution of ideas and I really worry where all this leads to. Again, I do not support this web site's particular agenda at all, but what idea will I have to adhere to in the future in order to be able to voice an opinion on the internet in the future?

The Daily Stormer is the Canary in the coal mine of free speech in 2017. No matter how repulsive their content is. The US government allows them to exist and operate. It is the corporations who do not!............This is a historical moment in the Internet, and no one cares.

 

[Fritz]

Yes, governments trying to limit free speech is nothing new, but private corporations surfing the wave of righteousness according to the Belief of the Month™—practically just trying to gain the attention of do-gooders for marketing reasons—that's a whole new ball game. I can only hope this is going to come around and bite them on the posterior.

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" — Evelyn Beatrice Hall, The Friends of Voltaire

 

[Arequire]

The Daily Stormer wasn't given the boot by GoDaddy because it's a neo-Nazi/white supremacist website (there's still plenty of those floating around that are easily accessible), it was done so because TDS was calling for its readers to physically attack those attending the funeral of Heather Heyer.
As GoDaddy's legal agreement states:

You will not use this Site or the Services in a manner (as determined by GoDaddy in its sole and absolute discretion) that:

• Promotes, encourages or engages in terrorism, violence against people, animals, or property

It's a slippery slope but people need to realise that if you're using a company's services you're bound by their legal agreement and whatever said company considers free speech.
If you don't agree with a position a company has taken you're free to discontinue using their services.

 

[Arequire]

VPN tunelization against the government im not like, because I like them to know about who I am, a good cybernautic behavior are good benefits because im not a delinquent.
If you hide much from the web analisys and ISP providers, much more paparazi morbid Will be your atractive fragrance for agences of federals intelligence.
But nevertheless the VPN tunelization for me serves only for watch restricted cinematographic material in stingy countries with websites as: "hulu, netflix, xfinity, Art tv channel, BBC londres, kwnoledge.ca".Also likes me to prevent thieves, terrorists bots groups, hackers on public hot spot routers, and much more. an adittional plus for security, absolutely.
is not a good idea to hidding permanently, because They are more advanced than any vpn encryption.

Unless you live in a country where VPN usage is illegal then keeping one permanently connected shouldn't make you or anyone else uneasy.
Sure, you could assume intelligence agencies take a closer look at VPN traffic but unless you're committing a serious crime while using one then you've got little to worry about. They've got better things to do than keep close tabs on someone trying to hide their pornhub visits from their ISP.