

Armed agents seize records of reporter - suprgeek
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/25/armed-agents-seize-records-reporter-washington-tim/?page=all

======
panarky
Every journalist covering sensitive topics like national security should have
well-practiced digital security habits.

Edward Snowden specifically sought out Laura Poitras because she had a clue
about information security.

Peter Maass, who covers national security topics and interviewed Snowden,
Poitras and Greenwald [0], explains that very few journalists take appropriate
precautions to protect their sources [1].

Anything less than routine use of encryption, Tor, VPNs and secure voice
communication should be considered journalistic malpractice given what we now
know.

[0] [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-
sno...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-
snowden.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all)

[1] [http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/221003/peter-
ma...](http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/221003/peter-maass-
everyone-needs-to-use-encryption-a-lot-more/)

~~~
marze
That sounds nice and all, but the real solution is to have the government
respect the constitutionally protected free press.

~~~
INTPenis
In a perfect world, yes. But I think this is yet another signal to the people
that we're not living in any utopia and it's time to protect oneself against
the intrusions of the government.

Free speach is now a right that the people must enforce.

A hackerspace in Malmö Sweden are suggesting workshops for the public to teach
them the use of open tools, encryption and secure communications.

It would be nice if other hackerspaces around the world joined in on this
idea.

------
fiatmoney
The bizarre thing is the actual warrant - searching for firearms-related items
& documents in their house, because her husband had a 1980s-vintage resisting
arrest conviction which precludes him from owning firearms. I don't have PACER
access, but I would love for someone to dig up that warrant application when
it becomes available and see how bald-facedly pretextual it is.

------
siculars
The continuous erosion of our protections is alarming. How can it be stopped
and reversed? Is it even possible? IMANAL, but hasn't there been a SCOTUS case
or two on this very thing?

~~~
ateeqs
It will take decades to reverse the trend. Everyone is scared these days. A
lot of what we see are a consequence of being scared-- the government being
scared of the populace, and the populace being scared of the government.

------
Nerdfest
The US has gone well beyond the "if this continues" point. It is now well
across the line.

~~~
a3n
Indeed. It's a thug-ocracy.

------
benologist
Original link: [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/25/armed-
agents...](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/25/armed-agents-seize-
records-reporter-washington-tim/?page=all#pagebreak)

------
robertfw
I am doing my best to spread these stories beyond our community...the lack of
awareness about what is going in is terrifying. can anyone point me to a well
sourced, succinct but complete clearinghouse that I can point people to? I am
going to need to start creating one if there is nothing out there

~~~
pasbesoin
It gets criticized by some (rightly or wrongly) for being "biased" \--
whatever that may mean, these days -- but techdirt.com is a fairly thorough
and vary active catch-all summation site for these types of stories.

------
sedev
Even if there's an innocuous explanation for this, the government has totally
blown through the trust of communities like this one, the critical journalism
community, and more.

------
raintrees
"This violates the very premise of a free press..."

I am thinking it would be far wiser for the Press to assume that there is no
such thing...

Just like we caution our clients to treat email the same as postcards...

------
codex
The warrant covers "any communications that that might be found in Mrs. Hudson
and Mrs. Flanagan’s home related to “the acquisition of firearms or
accessories.”

Likely the term "communications" includes written communications, in which
case they would have had to seize all written records in the home, unless they
wanted search though all of them on-site. I doubt agents are experts in
filtering documents during a raid.

Furthermore, if the police find something not related to the search warrant
but criminal in nature (like a dead body or possibly stolen records) they can
seize them, too.

~~~
a3n
Except, at least according to Hudson's story, they were very specific and
limited in the papers they took. They knew what they were looking for, it
wasn't about guns, and they found it.

