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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Ind. Courts - Two stories in one: Linda Pence and Timothy Morrison

"Southern Indiana U.S. Attorney Candidate Bows Out" is the headline to this entry by Andrew Ramonas in the Main Justice blog, "covers insider news about the U.S. Department of Justice. We are an independent news organization and not part of the government."

It quotes from this entry by Terry Burns in the Indianapolis Times blog re the Pence withdrawal.

But then it continues with this unexpected news:

The Southern District hasn’t had a presidentially appointed U.S. Attorney since Susan W. Brooks resigned in October 2007. Interim U.S. Attorney Timothy Morrison has led the office since her departure. Morrison has recently come under fire in the blogosphere for subpoenaing Philadelphia-based news Web site Indymedia.us for its visitor information.
The first link in the quote above leads to an entry in the CBS News blog, Taking Liberties, by Declan McCullagh. Some quotes from the long entry:
In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization. * * *

The subpoena (PDF) from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information," including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on. * * *

Still unclear is what criminal investigation U.S. Attorney Morrison was pursuing. Last Friday, a spokeswoman initially promised a response, but Morrison sent e-mail on Monday evening saying: "We have no comment." The Justice Department in Washington, D.C. also declined to respond.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 11, 2009 03:51 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts