This seems like a convenient time to remind folks that it is incredibly important to stand up against this kind of government action not only when it is conducted against your political allies, but <i>especially</i> when it is conducted against your political enemies. Even if this were a pro-Trump website being subpoenaed, this should sicken you nonetheless. Short-sighted political gain might be had by allowing the government to stomp all over political dissidents you don't agree with, but in a few short years you might find yourself on the receiving end of the same treatment you endorsed. My hope is that those in the alt-right will realize that supporting this kind of action may hurt themselves just as much as it hurts the anti-Trump folks.
Free speech is not just a constitutional amendment, it's a cultural value. It happens when DreamHost protects a website that is organizing legal protests, spending more per hour on legal fees than the website will pay over its lifetime.<p>It happens when Cloudflare refuses to cancel service to some of the most disgusting sites on the internet, even though they're on the free plan and Cloudflare has no legal obligation to continue to host them.<p>It happens when reddit fights tooth and nail, at great expense and with no reward forthcoming, to maintain some of the most toxic communities on the internet, only agreeing to close them when there is truly no other choice.<p>It happens when computer scientists invent technologies like tor, freenet, and bitcoin, allowing unpopular groups to get their message out and collect donations, even if the majority would prefer that they be banished.<p>And yes, it even happens when a small ISP steps up to host The Daily Stormer, secure in their knowledge that the best way to contend with such filth is to let the sunlight disinfect it, rather than trying to bottle it up and hoping that bottle never breaks.<p>America is exceptional in its embrace of the cultural value of free speech. However bad we are about it sometimes, the rest of the world (including Western Europe) is much worse. This makes me proud to be an American citizen.
TL;DR: DreamHost was issued a warrant to produce any and all content+logs+metadata about a customer-hosted website that presumably may have been related to violent protests/riots in Washington DC circa Jan 20th (Trump inauguration day). They pushed back on the overly broad nature of the warrant, the DOJ pushed the courts to then "compel" DH to comply.
This seems like a convenient time to remind folks that it is incredibly important to stand up against this kind of government action not only when it is conducted against your political allies, but especially when it is conducted against your political enemies. Even if this were a pro-Trump website being subpoenaed, this should sicken you nonetheless. Short-sighted political gain might be had by allowing the government to stomp all over political dissidents you don't agree with, but in a few short years you might find yourself on the receiving end of the same treatment you endorsed. My hope is that those in the alt-right will realize that supporting this kind of action may hurt themselves just as much as it hurts the anti-Trump folks.
Would they have done the same for a right-wing website? Just as importantly, would HN be just as pro free speech if they had?<p>Free speech as a value and ideal must be content-neutral.
I've never (to my knowledge) had any issues re: legal requests about my site, but I can say that I've been a happy customer of Dreamhost for many years now. Support is quick, friendly, and knowledgeable, and the pricepoint for the product (shared server, web-hosting and domain renewal, unlimited bandwidth and storage) is a no-brainer for me. I'm not surprised to see that the host advocates for its users when it can.
It would be interesting to hear from Google whether the government has issued a search warrant for the Google Analytics data generated by the site's visitors, which would include IP address.
I'm glad that Dreamhost is opposing the order. I'm glad to give them my business. To me, it would be no more different if it was an alt-right site.
It's great to see DreamHost stand up for their users in this instance but they're not always like that.<p>I had a bogus DMCA takedown filed against a WP blog I have on a DH shared hosting account. DH went into my DB and took the post offline before they even notified me.<p>Had they bothered to notify me first or spend 5 min reading the blog they would have found it to be clearly fair use.
We already know about neo-nazi racists and gov already investigates them. However, Antifa and these Marxist Resistance groups are radicalized and dangerous groups that regularly entertain violence against Trump and his supporters. They deserve to be investigated as it effects the stability of our country.
Makes me happy to have been using Dreamhost for over 10 years now. I got in on the my domain crazy insane package, and have mostly gotten along with them. I am still super-angry they took away my squirellmail and forced the webmail into a non-FOSS webmail though.
When you give up your rights to authorities, you are done. Nono this regime is better! They just want to keep us safe! Go read a book and preferably of history. If you consider total control keeping you safe, then go on and do it. People seem to forget the government is supposed to work for you in a democracy. Not the other way around
I am sure that every single person who always stands on absolutist free-speech principles against the chilling effect of, say, calling for someone to be fired when it turns out they believe women are biologically inferior, will of course turn up to immediately oppose this on principle, and not adopt some sort of "let's wait and see, there may be nuances to this" approach.
Especially in light of various american fascist groups interpreting the sitting president's half hearted comments regarding the Charlottesville murder as intentional endorsement of their philosophies.
Antifa and the nazis should all be thrown in prison.<p>We dont need political violence and any more escalation.<p>Dont believe me.
How about the atlantic?
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/534192/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/534192/</a>
How about cnn ?
<a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/08/14/us/what-is-antifa-trnd/index.html" rel="nofollow">https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/08/14/us/what-is-antifa-trnd/in...</a>
Upvote for the TRON reference: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcgosLwPDE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcgosLwPDE</a>
It doesn't say which website exactly. If there's an FBI investigation (which seems possible, even likely, considering how extreme antifa and other "resistance" groups can be), it seems pretty par for the course to request information in order to help locate particular parties.