Did libertarian news site Reason.com just hand the government the personal data for a handful of its readers?
The question is open after the Department of Justice subpoenaed the site in an investigation of six online commenters who made violent posts about a case involving a New York federal judge.
A leaked copy of the subpoena gave the magazine a deadline of 10 a.m. EST this past Tuesday to turn over the data to a grand jury.
The comments were made under an article about a life sentence that was handed down by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in the trial of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the black market site Silk Road.
They were detailed in the subpoena that was leaked to Ken White at the legal blog Popehat.
“It’s judges like these that should be taken out back and shot,” wrote one commentor who went by the name Agammamon.
“It’s judges like these that will be taken out back and shot,” wrote another user, Alan.
Soon, another named Cloudbuster jumped in: “Why do it out back? Shoot them out front, on the steps of the courthouse.”
The back and forth was now the subject of a grand jury investigation that could result in 10 years in prison for those threatening the life of a judge, which is a felony, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Justice Department is asking Reason for the users’ “IP addresses, account information, phone numbers, email addresses, billing information, and devices associated with them,” according to Wired.
“We command you that all and singular business and excuses being laid aside, you appear and attend before the grand jury of the people of the United States,” the subpoena read.
“We have no comment on advice of counsel,” Reason’s communications specialist Kristen Kelley wrote in an email to TPM on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal detailed how the sentencing of Ulbricht became a hot button issue for those that frequent sites like Reason:
The prosecution of Mr. Ulbrich has turned him into a cause celebre among a community whose members believe the government should have no dominion online. Judge Forrest had been a focus of anger, even before she sentenced Mr. Ulbricht last month.
Last fall, Judge Forrest’s personal information was discovered on a website in the dark web, shorthand for swaths of the Internet that provide greater privacy and require special settings, permissions or software to access them.
