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Gab cries foul as Pennsylvania attorney general subpoenas DNS provider
Pennsylvania attorney general Josh Shapiro is probing Gab's relationship with its new domain name provider, Epik. A subpoena sent to Epik, dated Wednesday, seeks "any and all documents which are related in any way to Gab." In a statement to Ars, Gab described the investigation as a "baseless, political, and emotionally-driven witch hunt."
[...] Eric Goldman, a legal scholar at Santa Clara University, told us that the law is clear that Gab would not be liable for hosting content from the Pittsburgh shooter. Not only are the posts likely protected by the First Amendment, but a law called Section 230 gives service providers like Gab—not to mention upstream service providers like GoDaddy and Epik—an extra layer of protection against liability for user-submitted content.
So then what is Pennsylvania's attorney general investigating? Shapiro's office hasn't returned emails and a phone call asking about that. But two legal scholars I talked to for this story couldn't think of a legitimate reason for seeking these kinds of documents. "I struggle to see a legit basis for this," said Ken White, a First Amendment attorney and the proprietor of the popular Popehat blog. Seeking information about Gab's DNS provider "doesn't make any sense at all," legal scholar Eric Goldman told us. In another now-deleted tweet, Gab described the subpoena as a form of harassment. Could this be an attempt to punish Epik for doing business with Gab? Goldman described this as plausible and said that this kind of tactic could raise First Amendment issues. [...] Goldman doubted that an attorney general sending out subpoenas would be enough, on its own, to violate the First Amendment. But if it were part of a broader campaign to discourage providers from doing business with Gab, that could raise significant free speech concerns.
Previously: Social Media and the Pittsburgh Shooter: Gab.com Going Down
Gab's Plan To Use Blockchain To Make Itself Indestructible
Gab is Back
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @01:19AM (7 children)
Now I have to stick up for that rat-infested shithole of a site.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Friday November 09 2018, @01:30AM
I didn't expect that we would see another story on Gab so soon, but then this attorney general had to strut his stuff.
A domain name provider in Washington state choosing to do business with Gab is no business of the Pennsylvania attorney general.
I'd compare this to the multiple state attorney generals severely overreaching to try to tie up Defense Distributed in the courts. The Ars article also brings up Backpage:
Finally, I looked at Epik's site. Free WHOIS privacy for all customers, what looks like standard prices for domain names, and an option for paying once and holding a domain "forever". I might go with them the next time I need a domain.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @02:01AM (3 children)
Aww, the rats are downvoting.
Know why I called you rats and never gave you name despite your many tell-tale traits? Because to me you're just rats! You're only special to other rats.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday November 09 2018, @02:47AM (2 children)
Click on your comment #, and you'll see that exactly one "rat" downmodded you. Not plural.
I wouldn't extrapolate based on a single mod point.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @04:50AM
Where did you hide my "+/-Disinformative" mod?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @06:27PM
Behind every downmod is a festering nest of rat nazis.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @02:32AM
This story is not about Huffpo, friend.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09 2018, @09:56AM
Maybe it's a clever marketing campaign for a right wing containment board.