Memphis PD vs The First Amendment and Liberty

It seems the new thing among corrupt police chiefs is to try and find out the names behind the bloggers criticizing them so as to intimidate them:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...ogger-critica/

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Police director sues for critical bloggers' names
Site popular with citizens, officers

By Amos Maki (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and the city of Memphis have filed a lawsuit to learn who operates a blog harshly critical of Godwin and his department.

The lawsuit asks AOL to produce all information related to the identity of an e-mail address linked to MPD Enforcer 2.0, a blog popular with police officers that has been extremely critical of police leadership at 201 Poplar.

"In what could be a landmark case of privacy and the 1st Amendment," the anonymous bloggers write on the site, "Godwin has illegally used his position and the City of Memphis as a ram to ruin the Constitution of the United States.

"Some members of the Enforcer 2.0 have contacted their attorneys and we are in the process of filing a lawsuit against Larry and the City of Memphis. What's wrong Larry? The truth hurt?"

It wasn't clear if the lawsuit is aimed at shutting down the site or if it's part of an effort to stop leaks that might affect investigations.

Many of the documents in the case, filed in Chancery Court on July 10, have been sealed by Chancellor Kenny Armstrong. Police officials would not discuss the action, citing pending litigation.

Whatever the reason, Internet and free-speech advocates said they had serious problems with the city's actions.

"You can complain about the government, and you should be able to do that without fear of retaliation or threatening actions on the part of the people in these positions," said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based watchdog group. "I guess they've kind of annoyed them at some level, but you really don't want to see law enforcement or government resources spent in this way."

AOL has been ordered to turn over similar records in the past.

In 2001, Japanese company Nam Tai filed a complaint in California state court against unknown Web posters claiming they committed libel and violated the state's unfair business practices statute.

Nam Tai was able to obtain the e-mail address of one of the posters and then obtained a subpoena from a Virginia state court to AOL seeking the name behind the e-mail address.

AOL filed a motion to have the order quashed, but lost that bid in trial court and the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee said they will be watching the case closely and that anonymous speech is essential to the free flow of ideas in a democracy.

"We are quite interested in preserving the anonymity of the bloggers," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee. "Anonymous speech has long been protected speech under the First Amendment."

The bloggers, who operate under the name of Dirk Diggler -- the name of the porn star in "Boogie Nights" -- say their site provides an important service to officers and citizens.

"This is another attempt at disrupting an outlet for officers to gather and complain about the administration," they said on the site.

"Further, this allows us unrestricted communication with the citizens of Memphis. The citizens should be made aware of the scandals that rock the administration and shudder the rocky foundation in which they operate today."

The bloggers also said city attorneys earlier this year wrote a threatening letter on city letterhead to a company that produced T-shirts for the bloggers.

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The website itself:
http://mpdenforcer20.blogspot.com/

Here's hoping for a smack in the political jaw to the police chief in the name of freedom!

CR

I'll guess 4 more posts until the puns start.

As a resident, I can confirm that the city government is completely corrupt at all levels... not to mention the racial demension. If you're not black, they've got nothing for you. :shrug:

To be fair, I don't think anonymity is covered in the First Amendment. If they find out the names of the bloggers and attempt to intimidate them, then it becomes a 1A issue.

Still, I'd like to know why they're after those records. 'Cuz we said so' isn't good enough either. :no:

The next post must contain a pun...

This is dispicable.

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Originally Posted by CountArach

The next post must contain a pun...

This is dispicable.

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The chief should take away "Tuesday Morning Doughnut Breakfast" till the suspects come forward...
Sorry, that pun sucked.:shame:

Just for Woad&Fangs to mke him right .

Is this Godwins law then ?

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Originally Posted by Tribesman

Just for Woad&Fangs to mke him right .

Is this Godwins law then ?

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Brilliant. :laugh4:

Tribes nailed it :bullseye: in the ten ring.

Every law enforcement, security, military department I'm familiar with has similar departmental rules & restrictions about badmouthing the brass/management/department and how it's run, by the ranks in public. You may be within your civil free speech rights, but they'll hang you on departmental rules & regs every time. On occasion this can even be justified for reasons of security, but for the most part Police Commissioners,Generals,Governors, etc don't like being shown up in public for the incompetent horse's patooties some of them can be.

I'm surprised Chief Wiggam hasn't tried the "HomeLand Security" end run yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tribesman

Just for Woad&Fangs to mke him right .

Is this Godwins law then ?

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Oh man, that was good. :bow: