NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] FYI (Amicus brief re forced IP address disclosures)
A group of us filed an amicus brief in the matter of the right of the government to seek IP address data recorded by companies like Twitter about their users yesterday. There is a Wired article about the brief http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/03/Bellovin-Amicus-in-Twitter-WikiLeaks-Case.pdfonline. The key point is that IP addresses are NOT analogous to phone numbers, and have much more serious tracking capabilities over a period of time, especially in conjunction with Twitter or other real-time, mobile services. Hence, one would hope that one needed a warrant - warrantless search of IP records is potentially much more severe than getting access to one's unlisted phone number. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/amicus-wikileaks-twitter-case/ http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/03/Bellovin-Amicus-in-Twitter-WikiLeaks-Case.pdf