By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
A federal judge drastically scaled back a Justice Department warrant seeking digital data about visitors to an anti-Trump website that helped organize protests against the president.
Superior Court Chief Judge Robert E. Morin ruled that the Los Angeles web host may redact information that identifies site visitors because of constitutional rights to privacy, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Justice Department cannot force the disclosure of identifying information unless there is evidence of criminal activity.
“While the government has the right to execute its warrant, it does not have the right to rummage through the information contained on DreamHost’s website and discover the identity of, or access communications by, individuals not participating in alleged criminal activity, particularly those persons who were engaging in protected 1st Amendment activities,” Morin wrote.
In July, the Justice Department filed a search warrant for information on the 1.3 million visits to the website, disruptj20.org.
