Delete your server logs

By Michael Fraase

Sunday, 21 October 2007 12:40PM CST

Section: Censorship

NewspaperIn August, Phoenix New Times received a subpoena for its web server logs. The overly-broad grand jury subpoena demanded access to the complete server logs, explicitly including all information about every user of the site since January 2004.

Special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik used the grand jury to subpoena “all documents related to articles and other content published by Phoenix New Times newspaper in print and on the Phoenix New Times website, regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio from January 1, 2004 to the present.” Wilenchik also attempted to set up a meeting with the judge overseeing the grand jury, but excluding Phoenix New Times lawyers. A move the judge called “absolutely inappropriate” in an October 11 hearing.

Apparently two things set off Arpaio’s witch hunt through Wilenchik: the publication of the sheriff’s home address at the bottom of an opinion column on the website and investigations into “commercial property investments the sheriff hid from public view.”

The subpoena is especially chilling for internet users:

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