from the Love-to-hear-the-robin-go-tweet-tweet-tweet dept.
Ars Technica is reporting that Twitter has convinced a judge to issue a subpoena to Github, requiring them to provide all personal details in their possession of a user called "FreeSpeechEnthusiast".
Twitter has obtained a subpoena compelling GitHub to provide identifying information on a user who posted portions of Twitter's source code.
Twitter on Friday asked the US District Court for the Northern District of California to issue a subpoena to GitHub. A court clerk signed off on the subpoena [PDF] yesterday.
GitHub user "FreeSpeechEnthusiast" posted Twitter source code in early January, shortly after Elon Musk bought Twitter and laid off thousands of workers. Twitter reportedly suspects the code leaker is one of its many ex-employees.
GitHub removed the code repository on Friday shortly after Twitter filed a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice. Twitter's takedown notice also requested identifying information on FreeSpeechEnthusiast, but GitHub didn't provide those details to Twitter immediately.
With the subpoena now issued, GitHub has until April 3 to provide all identifying information, "including the name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), email address(es), social media profile data, and IP address(es), for the user(s) associated with" the FreeSpeechEnthusiast account. GitHub was also ordered to provide the same type of information on any "users who posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified the data" at the code repository posted by FreeSpeechEnthusiast.
[...] Getting a DMCA subpoena doesn't seem to be all that difficult if it pertains to someone who directly posted infringing content. The DMCA text [PDF] says that if a notification of infringement satisfies the provisions of the law, and if "the proposed subpoena is in proper form, and the accompanying declaration is properly executed, the clerk shall expeditiously issue and sign the proposed subpoena and return it to the requester for delivery to the service provider."
GitHub could theoretically still challenge the subpoena demands. "While DMCA subpoenas are meant to provide a legal fast lane to reveal the identity of an alleged infringer, platforms receiving a subpoena can challenge it in court, especially if they feel that it will implicate the free speech rights of the user," a Bloomberg article notes.
So what say you, Soylentils? Is "FreeSpeechEnthusiast" a criminal? A hero? Some disgruntled ex-employee? Some or all of the above?
Does information (Twitter source code included) want to be free? Should that matter in this particular (or others) case?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by darkfeline on Friday March 31, @04:03AM (7 children)
Does information want to be free? Yes. It's still illegal.
Should that matter in this particular (or others) case? No. It's illegal.
Basing such judgements on ambiguous standards like "ethics" or someone's feelings is no way to maintain a society (unless it's mine of course, since my feelings are objectively correct).
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Friday March 31, @05:00AM (4 children)
Is it legal to challenge the subpoena? Yes, absolutely, it is.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31, @09:17AM
Of course it is. But can you think of any plausible justification for it? Other than “Waa! My new boss doesn’t agree with censoring anyone who disagrees with me! Waa!”
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31, @11:30AM (2 children)
It's legal to challenge the sun coming up in the east every morning. Good luck with that.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday March 31, @02:27PM (1 child)
The sun DOESN'T come up in the east every morning: the Earth spins in the direction 'east' and the sun just stays where it is. ;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31, @04:51PM
You're probably at the center of your observable universe too.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 31, @03:41PM
Keep in mind that law is applied ethics. I won't claim it's well-applied though some law is surprisingly sensible.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Friday March 31, @05:36PM
It is not Data who wants to be free; it is his brother who wants to be free.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...