Feds Subpoena Identity of Paper's Online Commenters

By Jeralyn, Section Law Related
Posted on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:21:48 PM EST
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A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena to the Las Vegas Review Journal seeking the identity of anonymous online commenters:

The subpoena seeks the identities and personal information about people who posted comments on the story. The newspaper said prosecutors told the judge in the case that some comments hinted at acts of violence and the subpoena was issued out of concern for jurors' safety.

The grand jury is investigating possible tax offenses against business owner Robert Kahre. The paper said it will fight the subpoena. [More...]

How bad were the comments? You decide.

One commentator said: "The sad thing is there are 12 dummies on the jury who will convict him. They should be hung along with the feds." Another called Damm a "socialist, fascist Mormon" and a "Nazi moron."

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Feds Subpoena Identity of Paper's Online Commenters | 9 comments (9 topical)

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Update (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by CoralGables on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:54:25 PM EST

The Las Vegas U.S. attorney's office appears to have relented in its demand for the identities of all of the people who wrote comments on the Review-Journal Web site about a criminal tax trial in progress. Now it is asking for information pertaining to only two comments that might be construed as threatening to jurors or prosecutors.

One commenter said the jurors should be hung.

The other wanted to bet that one of the federal prosecutors would not reach his next birthday.

I have to question the spending of resources chasing the identities of what Kdog most eloquently described this morning as "knuckleheads". Then again, if we kept a closer eye on online rants like those of James von Brunn it might not be all bad. It's a tough call.

Van Brunn had been posting anti-semitic, white (none / 0) (#5)
by jawbone on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 08:51:36 PM EST

supremacy rants for years. No comparison!

What about calling for the proverbial "torches and pitchforks"? Where is the line drawn?


: von Brunn was arrested and (none / 0) (#6)
by inclusiveheart on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 10:47:05 PM EST

served time for what he called a citizen's arrest and what really amounted to kidnapping back in the 80's.
He was more than talk.

But for every von Brunn.... (none / 0) (#7)
by kdog on Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 08:52:47 AM EST

there are thousands upon thousands of people just being knuckleheads, with no intent to harm anybody.

"They should be shot/hung" has become a figure of speech, not to be taken literally.

I don't think it is that tough a call CG...I'd chalk it up to knuckleheads being knuckleheads and leave it at that. The solution, if one is needed at all, is for the paper to monitor the comments on their website...if Jeralyn can do it while working her arse off for justice, the paper surely can assign an intern to the task...or shut down the comments if the knuckleheads can't behave.


I'm pretty sure (none / 0) (#8)
by CoralGables on Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 09:24:10 AM EST

I'm in complete agreement with you. And it appears the instigator behind the e-mails may have been none other than the knucklehead brother of one the defense attorneys.

Your way to solve it is far more productive than the can of worms they are opening.


: and of course (none / 0) (#9)
by CoralGables on Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 10:12:35 AM EST

I meant comments not emails. My brain and typing skills work (or don't work) independently of each other in the morning.

I really have no idea why (4.50 / 2) (#1)
by reslez on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:44:29 PM EST

the comments on local newspaper sites are so vile. At least for my local paper you see some of the most bigoted, ignorant, racist, vituperative slime you can imagine. The worthwhile comments are barely worth the slog.

The law on threats (none / 0) (#2)
by Peter G on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:48:45 PM EST

directed against individuals is not sympathetic to the free speech argument. That's not to say that the newspaper may not have some free-press rights here to keep secret the identities of their anonymous commenters. But to say, "the 12 members of the jury should be shot" would be treated as a threat, not just a critical opinion, under a lot of case law. On the other hand, to say "they should be hung" (rather than "hanged") could just be a sexual insult -- or an offer to place their pictures in a museum.

: From my perspective (none / 0) (#4)
by Steve M on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 08:02:06 PM EST

Online hyperbole of that type is so common that I can't envision devoting investigatory resources to checking every single "they should be shot" comment. Even if the case law permits it, a poor application of discretion IMO.