Comments on: Boston PD's bizarre Occupy subpoena to Twitter

By: Eski Morris

Eski Morris — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:31:00 +0000

if i received this i’d have to report Ip address’s like 192.168.100.1 etc. just to see how long they investigate their own local network. Imagine the ignorant cops horror as he realizes his home pc has an ip similar to that. lulz

By: donovan acree

donovan acree — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:52:00 +0000

I’d love to see them comply using 12 point, double spaced, single sided, hard copy.

By: Thebes42

Thebes42 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:12:00 +0000

That works for some individuals.
I prefer to speak my mind and if I need the AK I keep next to the bed one night at 3am… well that’s just that, hope I die well.

But most people fear the implied threat of imprisonment at the hands of men who would gladly hurt or kill them for making unwelcome noise.
This request for information patently violates to any sane reading of the very charters Granting them and Boston’s various governing bodies Power.
Its our duty to stop the usurpation of power, for if we do not then goon-squads might very well round-up Americans for speaking their minds.

By: Charles Bivona

Charles Bivona — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:39:00 +0000

–a misinformed step in the wrong direction.

By: bwcbwc

bwcbwc — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:10:00 +0000

The only solution is to not let them chill you.

By: bwcbwc

bwcbwc — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:08:00 +0000

I wonder how often they use #BostonPD at @Boston_police.

By: bwcbwc

bwcbwc — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:05:00 +0000

Wait, they still have 6 O’clock reports in Boston?

By: bwcbwc

bwcbwc — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:03:00 +0000

I hope Twitter complies…then they can waste their time searching for (probably nonexistent) needles in the haystack. Here’s hoping 1000′s of twitter users just start using these tags and IDs at random in their tweets.

By: Fnordius

Fnordius — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:41:00 +0000

I sometimes suspect that the low-level guys that are told to make these sorts of requests are screwing them up on purpose.

In other words, we might be seeing a real-life example of a Wally fulfilling a PHB’s request.

By: DIY

DIY — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:32:00 +0000

Can anyone comment on the law cited in the warrant: TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 121 > § 2703 ? it's on Cornell's web site. It seems this demand exposes the law which nullifies itself: iIuc, 2703 is the law that mandates a warrant in order for disclosure, no? Meaning a judge has to look at it? Where is the warrant? btw ianal, and if i'm wrong dtisc. Emphasis mine: A governmental entity may require the disclosure by a provider of electronic communication service of the contents of a wire or electronic communication, that is in electronic storage in an electronic communications system for one hundred and eighty days or less, only pursuant to a warrant issued using the procedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (or, in the case of a State court, issued using State warrant procedures) by a court of competent jurisdiction

By: Dimmer

Dimmer — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:24:00 +0000

Of course, nothing in the request states that the information must be in paper form — if anything, taking that route would be the choice of the information provider trying to be as unwillingly cooperative as possible.

By: Thebes42

Thebes42 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:14:00 +0000

Can you say “Chilling effect upon Free Speech?”
I knew you could…

Its time from the protesters to start (non-violently) targeting the Police and their infrastructure. Our “Public Safety” departments are clearly acting outside of the bounds of the Powers we have Granted to them, and they are destructive to the interests of the People. It is our responsibility to change this system and end its abuses.

By: Peter Yumi

Peter Yumi — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:25:00 +0000

I live in Denver and for some reason the boston PD is following me on twitter.. I tweeted them and told them to suck it ..

By: anon2012

anon2012 — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:17:00 +0000

I wonder if they realize that nobody who matters is going to take them seriously when their response appears to have been written by a 10 year old.

“this subpoena is illegal do to the fact that”

Done reading, and it’s only the second sentence.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:08:00 +0000

Technically, they’re asking for all subscriber information ASSOCIATED with it.

Which, depending on your definition, could also include any person who had the hash tag tweeted on their friends list.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 11:53:00 +0000

I was unsure if you were talking about the Anon response or the subpoena when it came to misspellings.

By: Eric Rucker

Eric Rucker — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:50:00 +0000

We’re talking about Anon here. Due to how that movement works, every “press release” put out by anyone that calls themselves an anon is as official as one can be, including one that says “DISREGARD THAT LAST PRESS RELEASE, I SUCK COCKS” or similar.

By: Eric Rucker

Eric Rucker — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:46:00 +0000

FWIW, here’s a primer on that.

Trending means that the topic or hashtag is being very widely discussed, at a growing rate. (The “growing rate” part is to keep topics that are being very widely discussed at a constant rate from filling up the trending topics – otherwise, Justin Beiber would permanently be the #1 trending topic.)

Hashtags are used to tag a tweet as discussing a certain topic – so, because this article is discussing Boston PD, someone tweeting about it may use #BostonPD in a tweet about this article.

So, what the Boston PD is asking for is all subscriber information that Twitter has for any user that tweeted using the #BostonPD or #d0xcak3 hashtags between December 8 and December 13.

By: Carlos Sismeiro

Carlos Sismeiro — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:53:00 +0000

Yes. This kind of as if in one those police procedure tv shows the detective didn’t care about how the victim was killed, or considered everyone the victim ever met since childhood as a suspect.

By: Carlos Sismeiro

Carlos Sismeiro — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:46:00 +0000

Their request is so unspecific that I thought the same thing.

They must have no idea whatsoever how anything in this day and age related to information works.
It would be fun to see pics of the delivery trucks arriving at the DA’s office, surrounded with additional signs with “x trees died to fulfill this subpoena”.

By: Carlos Sismeiro

Carlos Sismeiro — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:35:00 +0000

At this time I am pretty sure they think everyone named Guido or Fawkes or using any variation of these are only one and the same person.

By: BBNinja

BBNinja — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:55:00 +0000

Regardless of the point that it’s hard to classify what does and doesn’t count as an official announcement by Anon…given it’s poorly written nature and misspellings I would hesitate referring to this as an “official” announcement.

It makes one or two good points but for the most part it rambles.

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:12:00 +0000

All very well, but what was Twitter’s response?

By: Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Anonymous has published a response to the subpoena.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:44:00 +0000

Darn right. It fell out of my brain to make room for the difference between leekspinners and nyan cat.

By: Noctilucent Studios

Noctilucent Studios — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:25:00 +0000

While we are on the subject of twitter noobs, can anyone recommend a useful twitter tutorial? I have dipped my digital digits in very cautiously into the twitterverse, and I am frankly stumped. Maybe I just haven’t spent enough time with it, but if anyone could point me in the right direction I would be most appreciative.

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:29:00 +0000

Officer Noob: “HASH tags huh? Better let drug enforcement know about this…”

By: nickMATT

nickMATT — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:41:00 +0000

The at sign is not an ampersand (&), so apparently you don’t know something either.

By: Rezeya Montecore

Rezeya Montecore — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Cory, I’m a die-hard fan, but I think you’re goin’ off half-cocked again. The subpeona is definitely awkwardly phrased — and it’s not like the BPD doesn’t have a history of COUGHCOUGHMOONINITES humiliating themselves this way. But I think the, um, vampire narwhal has raised a good point. “Give us all information *pertaining* to these hashtags” is probably what they’re asking for, and while that’s naive and unnecessary in its own ways, it’s not quite the Keystone Kops behavior I was hoping for in this story. :)

By: MrEricSir

MrEricSir — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:10:00 +0000

Adding irony to the situation is the fact that the Boston PD have their own Twitter account. You'd think they could ask the person who updates it how Twitter works. Guess that didn't occur to them.