In WikiLeaks Probe, Feds Used a Secret Search Warrant to Get Volunteer’s Gmail

A sealed warrant is not a &quot;secret warrant.&quot; It&#x27;s to avoid tipping off the subject of an active investigation: &quot;The warrant also ordered Google not to disclose the search to anyone.&quot;<p>Nothing in the 4th amendment says that warrants must be publicly broadcast. The purpose is to insert a judge as a check on the search power of the police. This warrant was validly issued by a U.S. District Court.<p>A sealed warrant may, however, run afoul of the 6th amendment right to confront your accusers if they are sealed to protect confidential informants. In that circumstance, they can be challenged by defense counsel in a prosecution in which the evidence is used. There are also time limits. See: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vaed.uscourts.gov&#x2F;courtdocs&#x2F;LocalRulesEDVA.html#crim49" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vaed.uscourts.gov&#x2F;courtdocs&#x2F;LocalRulesEDVA.html#c...</a> (Criminal Rule 49(b)(3)).

This is exactly the reason the fourth amendment was written. Not to learn the secret recipe behind your grandma&#x27;s cookies. But because it&#x27;s extremely tempting for those in power to want to abuse their power to avoid being accountable to the public for their actions. After all, they&#x27;re human, and in cases of stress, like potential embarassment some folks would be facing under Wikileak&#x27;s releases, it&#x27;s easy to justify bending the rules in your favor.

This is less objectionable on a procedural basis than many of our current problems. WikiLeaks received classified information, which means someone in the US committed a crime. They went to a judge and got a search warrant based on a an affidavit establishing probable cause of being related to a crime they are investigating. The secret warrant is a little iffy, but far better than secret courts or wholesale collection of &quot;metadata&quot; on everyone.

Jacob Applebaum (@ioerror) on Twitter just minutes ago --<p>I&#x27;ve long heard rumors that there has been a sealed search warrant for my Gmail account that&#x27;s probably like this.

This is ridiculous. This kind of abuse of anyone and everyone whom the government finds inconvenient has got to stop!

None of this is surprising anymore. Neither is powering your house with all the writers of the constitution spinning in their graves.

All the more reason to run and use anonymous remailers.

Gmail - Because stupidity will always be punished.