Finally there is some good news coming from the government about our First Amendment rights.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker has ruled that Amazon does not have to reveal the identities of thousands of people who purchased used books through Amazon Marketplace.
At Amazon’s request the court documents from Crocker’s June ruling have just been unsealed.
“The subpoena is troubling because it permits the government to peek into the reading habits of specific individuals without their knowledge or permission,” Crocker wrote. “It is an unsettling and un-American scenario to envision federal agents nosing through the reading lists of law-abiding citizens while hunting for evidence against somebody else.”
Crocker also notes that if the feds got their way “The chilling effect on expressive e-commerce would frost keyboards across America…Well-founded or not, rumors of an Orwellian federal criminal investigation into the reading habits of Amazon’s customers could frighten countless potential customers into canceling planned online book purchases.”
This guy deserves a promotion.
AP article at the Seattle PI