[IMC-bristol] Legal Stuff

[Always Shariff]

Hi Chris, 

Thanks for the info. 

First of all, you should separate in your mind the question of whether you
would actually be legally required to turn over identifying information from
the question of whether the system you are proposing would effectively protect
privacy. 

If an IMC had logs with identifying information that were subject to a
subpoena, we would try to recruit volunteer attorneys from the area to argue
that the information is constitutionally protected and should not be disclosed.
 However, in the current climate, it is unclear how successful such an argument
would be.  If that argument failed, the IMC could be forced to turn over the
logs (or face contempt charges). 

Moving on to the second question -- the problem with your proposed system is
that the government can move very quickly when they want information.  So, for
example, when the Seattle IMC was served with a subpoena, it was about 
36 hours after the post in question appeared on the site.  If you were served
with a subpoena requesting identifying information before your randomizer
recycled, you would be legally required to preserve any information that you
had in your possession.  [Of course, we would fight them tooth and nail and say
that we are not constitutionally required to provide ANY identifying
information, but if that fight failed, we would have to turn it over.] 

And, keep in mind that the government is likely to monitor this and other email
lists (despite our attempts to keep it private).  So, you should assume that
the government KNOWS that your logs recycle every 24 hours.  In such a case,
they would be sure to serve you a subpoena before the logs recycled. 

Thus, in my humble opinion, I would come up with a different system.  While it
is perhaps unlikely that someone's information could be discovered, it is
definitely a possibility. 

Whatever you decide, I would encourage you to publicize your decision (to the
general public and to this list), so that posters are aware of any risks of
posting. 

I hope this helps. 

In solidarity, 

Devin 



Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 11:31:45 -0600 To: imc-legal@indymedia.org From:
christopher mitchell <chrismi@frontiernet.net> Cc: josh@phillyimc.org Subject:
[Imc-legal] Anonymizing Logs 

Hello Legal Folks! 

I have a question regarding server logs for indymedia sites.  Currently, I
believe many sites do not log IPs of any visitors.  Some of the sites (my local
one included) wish to log IPs in order to keep some statistics regarding hit
counts, page views, missing page requests and such.  But we wish to do so while
preserving the anonymity of our visitors and contributors. 

To this extent, we have devised a system whereby the logs are written in such a
way that the IP is changed to something else - so the result is a unique
identifier per IP for a set time period that cannot be reverse engineered to
divulge the original IP. 

I don't know if this is useful or not - but here is how we do it. every 24
hours we randomly generate a string that we concat to the IP before using a
strong hashing algorithm on it.  We do not record the randomly generated
strings so effectively, once that string has been replaced (after 24 hours) it
is impossible to discover the original IP. 

We were discussing this online and someone mentioned we should run it by you to
see if there are legal ramifications to doing this.  What if there is a court
order to divulge logs - that sort of thing.  Also, someone had said we should
have a written policy as to what our policy is in terms of keeping logs. 

Any advice or suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated.  If
applicable, the states involved in wanting this thus far are Minnesota,
Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. 

Thank you much! --christopher, twincities IMC volunteer 


http://www.shadoweyes.com PGPid: 0x0DFE6FF0 on keyserver.net 
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"Freedom begins between the ears." - Edward Abbey "You can't study the darkness
by flooding it with light." - Edward Abbey 



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