by Chris Black
So I’m reading about the case of Adam Bies, the Pennsylvania man who was arrested by the FBI for “threatening federal officials.”
Here are two important takeaways:
1) Bies’ offending post is in a First Amendment gray area and not an imminent threat. You can read it highlighted here (www.mediaite.com/politics/pennsylvania-man-arrested-for-posting-threats-on-social-media-to-kill-fbi-agents-if-you-work-for-the-fbi-then-you-deserve-to-die/).
2) According to the complaint document, GAB gave up his personal identifying information to the feds after receiving an “Emergency Disclosure Request” (EDR).
EDRs are not subpoenas, are often spoofed by hackers to harvest data, and are regularly abused by the FBI to bypass judicial oversight when harassing online critics.
If a judge doesn’t sign off on a DOJ or FBI request, it should go straight to the trash.
There’s no charitable way to say this: Andrew Torba (GAB owner) voluntarily helped the feds snatch up one of his users when he could’ve just said no. The evidence for charging this man is weak.
The case is being manufactured so that the NY Times can report that Merrick Garland and FBI agents are the real victims.
It’s not my business how Gab wants to run itself, but customers should demand Torba vigorously defend the civil liberties of users, even if it means doubling subscription costs just to pay for counsel.
There are cases where a tech company gets a subpoena and they have no choice but to comply. EDRs like this one should be ignored.
When you cooperate with these people you are perpetuating their tyranny.
— 🌊 Peter Taylor 💙🤓❄️🌎 (@br00t4c) August 15, 2022