Court significantly reins in what data anti-Trump website must give to feds

Chief Judge Robert Morin of the District of Columbia Superior Court ruled largely in favor of DreamHost, saying that the Department of Justice overstepped when it initially sought 1.3 million IP addresses that were logged at a website that helped organize nationwide protests against President Donald Trump on his inauguration day.

Federal authorities had initially obtained a warrant against DreamHost, the host of the disruptj20.org site, as part of its investigation into rioting and other violence on January 20, 2017. The ruling comes less than two months after government lawyers told the court it didn’t mean to seek so many IP addresses after all. Under new guidelines, DreamHost will not have to provide IP addresses or any other identifying information unless the government can show that a particular person was involved in alleged criminal behavior. Judge Morin ruled that while the DOJ could execute its warrant, "it does not have the right to rummage through the information contained on DreamHost's website and discover the identity of, or access communications by, individuals not participating in alleged criminal activity, particularly those who were engaging in protected First Amendment activities."