Amid controversy, Justice Dept. says it won’t seek to compel journalists to give up source information Matt Zapotosky The Justice Department on Saturday announced that it will no longer use subpoenas or other legal methods to obtain information from journalists about their sources a major policy shift that came just a day after the New York Times revealed that the department had prohibited the newspaper’s lawyers and executives from disclosing an effort to seize email records of four reporters. “Going forward, consistent with the President’s direction, this Department of Justice in a change to its long-standing practice will not seek compulsory legal process in leak investigations to obtain source information from members of the news media doing their jobs,” Anthony Coley, the department’s top spokesman, said in a statement.
USA Today pushes back against FBI demands for reader IP addresses Photo via Screengrab.
USA Today is pushing back against the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) as it attempts to uncover the IP addresses of readers who read a certain article during a specific time frame. According to Slate magazine, the demand is part of an ongoing investigation for which the FBI has issued a subpoena.
The publication reports that the law enforcement agency s request is very specific as the demand breaks all the way down to a certain time of day when the article was released on Feb. 2. That article offered details about the series of events that unfolded when agents in Sunrise, Fla. attempted to serve a warrant at a local apartment complex. The situation reportedly escalated into a shooting that claimed the lives of two agents, identified as Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, and left three other individuals wounded.
The announcement came a day after the New York Times revealed the department had prohibited the newspaper’s lawyers and executives from disclosing an effort to seize email records of four reporters.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has withdrawn a subpoena demanding data about readers of online publication USA TODAY as part of a federal criminal investigation.
FBI subpoenas info on readers of news story on agents slain in Florida tampabay.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tampabay.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.