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DOJ illegally obtained the identities of donors to Barrett Brown's defense fund (medium.com/ageis)
64 points by gasull on Aug 31, 2017 | hide | past | favorite | 9 comments



reminds about how Russian FSB ~5 years ago forced Yandex (who has its own version of PayPal) to quietly disclose donors supporting opposition:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-13274443

Another note: looks like its ok for US government to have database of people inclined to protest in opposition while it isn't ok to have database of gun owners. That poses interesting question : what if a gun owner intends to use it for a protest in opposition - would such a case fall under the former or the later?


> Another note: looks like its ok for US government to have database of people inclined to protest in opposition while it isn't ok to have database of gun owners. That poses interesting question : what if a gun owner intends to use it for a protest in opposition - would such a case fall under the former or the later?

More "legal" than "ok", I'd say.

But for your question, I don't think it's particularly interesting. It's a gun registry if the information recorded is "XXX has a gun", and it's a dissident registry if the information recorded is "XXX is up to no good".


> More "legal" than "ok", I'd say.

Yeah - there has been legislation passed specifically to prohibit the creation of an electronic firearms registration scheme.

For the record, it hasn't done much good. The ATF can still usually trace a gun from manufacturer to the current owner in a matter of hours at most.


Sounds undemocratic.


> On 17 July, the DoJ served a website-hosting company, DreamHost, with a search warrant for every piece of information it possessed that was related to a website that was used to coordinate protests during Donald Trump’s inauguration.

And by coordinating protests they mean coordinating riots because I remember broken glass (including like say from bus stops, because Trump will be waiting for the bus to go to work in the morning, so it makes sense to break those), fires, including destroying a limo of an immigrant business owner, fireworks etc.

It would have helped they had checked DC laws as the District has pretty strict laws against either rioting or inciting / organizing one. And if property damages are above $5000 the charges get very steep - felonies, up to 10 year imprisonment, etc.

https://beta.code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/sections/22-1...


There were protests, and there were riots. The majority of people were protesting peacefully, not rioting. And the website was coordinating protests, not riots. So, unless there's any evidence that riots were pre-planned by the organizers...


> And the website was coordinating protests, not riots. So, unless there's any evidence that riots were pre-planned by the organizers...

Well, the alleged spokesperson from DisruptJ20 (the site in question) seems to be condoning and supporting it as quoted in WaPo :

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/protester...

---

He said that what appeared chaotic was purposeful in its symbolism and that vandalism at a Starbucks shop and a Bank of America branch were executed as attacks on capitalism and corporate greed.

“That’s what we’re making a strong stand against. I think that all of Washington, D.C., feels that way, even if they wouldn’t express it in something that results in a limo getting burned,” said Lacy MacAuley of the District. MacAuley is the spokeswoman for DisruptJ20,...

---

Not sure how trustworthy WaPo is as it part of the mainstream media but I doubt they completely fabricated that quote. And from the videos I've seen, there weren't a lot of peaceful protestors pulling these rioters away or trying to stop them in any way.


What's that have to do with the price of tea in China?


> What's that have to do with the price of tea in China?

Heh. Sorry, don't follow the reference / joke. Mind giving a hint?




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