Drudge Report - The Justice Department is demanding records on a liberal Internet site that lists delegates to the Republican National Convention and urges protesters to give them an unwelcome reception, the NY TIMES is planning to splash on Monday, newsroom sources tell DRUDGE.
Federal prosecutors said in a subpoena that the information was needed as part of a criminal investigation into possible voter intimidation.
But civil rights advocates argue that the Internet postings amount to political dissent, not threats or intimidation.
NYT repporter Eric Lichtblau set to detail how: "The grand jury investigation comes at a time when federal officials have mounted an aggressive effort to identify what they say could be violence by political demonstrators in New York and at other major political events."
I should point out that the report doesn't specifically name Indymedia, but as far as I know they're the only left-leaning organization that fits the one described above.
What possible kind of dissent could the publication of names and addresses of your political opponents be other than the violent kind? By putting that information on the internet Indymedia pretty much gave their foaming-at-the-mouth hordes a hit list of people to harass and maybe even harm.
Forget the civil rights advocates, where are the privacy advocates on this one?
These kind of tactics are dangerous. I'd expect the justice department to go after any sort of group for doing this regardless of their political orientation.