US amends info request related to Inauguration Day protest
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department clarified but also defended a request for information about an anti-Trump website that prosecutors allege was behind destructive Inauguration Day protests, attempting to address concerns that the records demand is sweeping and unconstitutional.
Prosecutors in a court filing Tuesday said a warrant they obtained for information about the site was lawful and said it was part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the "premeditated riot" that accompanied the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump as president. They rejected allegations that they were trampling on free speech protections.
"The government values and respects the First Amendment right of all Americans to participate in peaceful political protests and to read protected political expression online," the court filing states. "This warrant has nothing to do with that right. The warrant is focused on evidence of the planning, coordination and participation in a criminal act- that is, a premeditated riot."
Still, the Justice Department agreed to rewrite parts of their information request to more clearly spell out what they were seeking and to address constitutional concerns from the Internet company and from other privacy advocates.
At issue is disruptj20.org, a website prosecutors say was used for the planning and development of disruptive protests. More than 200 people were charged after protesters broke windows and set fire to a limousine on President Donald Trump's Inauguration Day. Prosecutors obtained a search warrant in July ordering the company that hosted the website, DreamHost, to turn over information.
The company has challenged the warrant as unconstitutionally broad, saying the government was seeking information about 1.3 million visitors to the site. The California-based company said in a blog post that 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."
The Justice Department said in its court filing that it has "no interest in records relating to the 1.3 million IP addresses that are mentioned in DreamHost's numerous press releases and opposition brief."
But prosecutors presented a modified request that they hoped would quell the company's concerns.
The new request, they say, more clearly spells out the type of information they are looking to to seize during the investigation and also makes clear that the government will place under seal with the court any evidence that it does not take possession of.
"Such modifications should amply address the First Amendment/Fourth Amendment reasonableness concerns raised by DreamHost," prosecutors wrote in their court filing.
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