DoJ Targets DreamHost, Activists Call for Push Back

A Raging Granny shocked by the broad search warrant sought by the Justice Department targeting DreamHost, an internet hosting company based in Los Angeles, called on activists to push back against the DoJ. Granny Trudy Reagan seized an open mic opportunity to speak out at a Mountain View, CA rally yesterday. Mountain View Voices for Peace and other social justice organizations organized the rally in response to the planned appearance of a right wing "March on Google" in that city. (That march was ultimately postponed due to right wing organizer Jack Posobiec's stated fears of "alt-left terrorism".)

DreamHost hosts disruptj20.org, a website that helped organize anti-Trump protests on Inauguration Day. The Justice Department has demanded that DreamHost turn over “all records or other information” relating to the site and personal information including I.P. addresses. Federal prosecutors are also seeking all emails, photos and other content sent to and from the site.

Granny Trudy spelled out the risk to free speech that this creates. She said that information, were it to be collected, could be used to identify any individuals who used the website to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment and that people just like demonstrators at the Mountain View rally were targets. Her speech was a call to Action. So far DreamHost is refusing to hand over the IP addresses of 1.3 million of its users who visited the site. DreamHost says that when it was first approached by the DoJ, it asked why the request was so broad. Rather than explain to DreamHost, the Justice Department filed a motion in court seeking to compel the organization to hand over the data.