THE BLOGGING JOURNALIST

TSA Withdraws Subpoenas Served on Bloggers

“Shortly before 7:00pm this evening [December 31, 2009] I received a phone call that would end this year and allow me to have a Happy New Year,”writes Steven Frischling,  who was served with a civil subpoena on December 27, 2009, by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)  as part of its investigation into how Frischling came into possession of security directive that he published on his blog, Flying with Fish, on Dec. 27, 2009. See “SD-1544-09-06 : This Comes To An End.”

The directive was issued December 25, 2009, following Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab alleged attempt “to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 as it approached Detroit [Michigan, USA] from Amsterdam on December 25 with almost 300 people on board.” The Federal Attorney in Detroit has charged the failed bomber with trying to blow up the plane. He is being held in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan,” according to Reuters.

“My call this evening came from John Drennan, the Transportation Security Administration’s Deputy Chief Counsel for Enforcement informing me that the TSA would no longer be pursing me for information regarding the identity of the person who sent me Security Directive SD-1544-09-06,” Frischling added.

If you want to read the directive that lead to the led to the issuance of the subpoena, see TSA Security Directive SD-1544-09-06 : The Fallout From NW253. Also see Frischling’s December 31, 2009, post headlined “The Fallout From SD-1544-0906 : The Feds Take My Computer” and “The Fallout From SD-1544-09-06 : The Feds At My Door” for more background.

According to blogger Chris Elliott, who was also served with a TSA subpoena, “The Department of Homeland Security has withdrawn a subpoena that would have required me to furnish it with all documents related to the Dec. 25 TSA Security Directive published on this Web site.

“The move came after I was granted an extension on the government’s request earlier today. I also signaled my intent to challenge the subpoena in federal court next week.”

If you want to read more about Elliott’s ordeal, see his December 31, 2009, post headlined “Department of Homeland Security: Your subpoena “is no longer necessary.”  Also see his January 1, 2010, post headlined “To the team of friends, allies and advisers who helped make the subpoena go away.”

Technorati Tags: TSA Subpoenas,Steven Frischling,Flying With Fish,Chris Elliott,SD-1544-09-06,TSA's John Drennan,Robert Enright

TSA Serves Travel Writer With a Subpoena: Why?

Christopher Elliott, National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate,  reported December 29, 2009, that he was served with a subpoena by the Transportation Security Administration for “[a]ll documents, emails, and/or faxsimile transmissions (sic) in your control possession or control concerning your receipt of TSA Security Directive 1544-09-06 dated December 25, 2009.” See “Full text of my subpoena from the Department of Homeland Security.”

“We had just put the kids in the bathtub when Special Agent Robert Flaherty knocked on my front door with a subpoena,” Elliot wrote . “He was very polite, and used “sir” a lot, and he said he just wanted a name: Who sent me the security directive?”

There is no indication that Elliott gave him a name. In fact, he intends to consult his attorney about the subpoena.

By the way, Elliott writes Travel Troubleshooter, a syndicated column that “appears in more than 50 U.S. newspapers and Web sites.”

Technorati Tags: Christopher Elliott,National Geographic Traveler,Transportation Security Administration,TSA,Christopher Elliott Subpoenaed,Department of Homeland Security,Special Agent Robert Flaherty

Why Was Harold Turner Acquitted?

“You can never predict what a jury will do” is a common saying in the profession of which I have been a part of since 1990. Yet, I’d guess that Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan – one of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s boys --probably never though he see the jury deadlock 9-3 in favor of acquittal after two days of deliberations in the case of blogger and conservative radio host Harold "Hal" Turner.  See “Mistrial in Case of Blogger Accused of Threatening Judges.”

Turner, reportedly a government informant, was on trial for advocating the murders of Judges William Bauer, Richard Posner and Frank Easterbrook of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Illinois, Wisconsin and Illinois.

According to the AP, “The only juror to speak to reporters afterward, truck driver Richard Gardiner, said the jury voted 9 to 3 in favor of acquittal, with the majority seeing the government's case as weak. He said he held out for a conviction because he ‘"did think it was a threat."’

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Walter, a visiting senior judge from Shreveport, Louisiana, set a new trial for March 1, 2010.

Technorati Tags: Harold "Hal" Turner,Turner Acquitteed,Judge Donald Walters,Threats Against Judges

Is Iranian Blogger Hossein Derakhshan a Spy?

On December 3, 2009, Newsweek online published what it called a “Web Exclusive” headlined “The Blogfather and the Spy.” Written by Christopher Dickey, Newsweek’s “Paris Bureau Chief and Middle East Regional Editor,” the post is about “Hossein Derakhshan, the liberal former Iranian blogger and progenitor of Iran's online community.” He “is thought to be aiding the [Iranian] government's crackdown” on Iranian political reformers,” according to Newsweek.

As Global Voices noted on November 2, 2009, “November 1, 2009 was the one-year anniversary” Derakhshan’s arrest. See “Iran: Free Hossein Derakhshan.”

Technorati Tags: Hossein Derakhshan,Iranian Political Trials,The Blogfather and theSpy,Christopher Dickey,Newsweek

The Online Media Legal Network Aims to Help Bloggers, Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) published a post on December 3, 2009, headlined “New lawyer network serves bloggers and online journalists.” It’s about the Online Media Legal Network.

“By the beginning of this month,” the CPJ reported, “the network had 25 law firms representing some 6,000 lawyers who could potentially be called upon for help ranging from advising a journalist on the paperwork needed to establish an online news site to litigating in a libel suit.”,

Technorati Tags: Online Media Network