METRO
NYPD tried to subpoena NY Post reporter’s Twitter account citing anti-terror law
By Craig McCarthy

February 13, 2020 | 7:01pm


NYPD tried to subpoena NY Post reporter's Twitter account citing anti-terror law

In an apparent effort to tamp down on leaks, the NYPD subpoenaed a New York Post reporter’s Twitter data — oddly citing a post-9/11 anti-terrorism law to try to force the tech company to comply.

The legal papers, requesting electronic information associated with Post Police Bureau Chief Tina Moore’s Twitter account, dated Dec. 9, 2019 — less than two weeks after Commissioner Dermot Shea took the reins of the police department.

The NYPD withdrew the subpoena on Wednesday after Post lawyers contacted the department.

The legal maneuvering comes amid a push to stop the flow of sourced information to the press.

On Monday, the NYPD suspended a pair of cops who accessed and shared videos from Sunday’s dramatic shooting inside a Bronx police station, which eventually made their way to the media.


Days earlier, the department changed its patrol guide to crack down on videos and information being shared with the press, a leaked order shows. The new guidelines specifically note that cops can be disciplined if screenshots or videos of police footage leaks out — even unintentionally.

“We are conducting an investigation of a person who leaked crime scene photos,” a New York City Police Department official said when asked about the subpoena Thursday. “Tina Moore was never the focus of our investigation.”

Legal experts called the NYPD’s subpoena of a journalist’s Twitter data an “abuse of authority” and “George Orwell-level shocking.”

“There are absolutely no grounds for a police department to subpoena the social media records of a journalist,” said former Manhattan prosecutor Andrew Stengel.


The subpoena to turn over documents, provided to The Post by Twitter, directs the social media company to produce all device and contact information associated with the user handle @Tinamoorereport, as well as all the handle’s connection history between Oct. 9 and Oct. 14.

During that time, Moore obtained and tweeted a gory crime scene photos from a dice-game shooting in Brooklyn that left four dead and three injured. Those photos appear to be at the center of the NYPD subpoena.

Adam Scott Wandt, an assistant professor of public policy at John Jay College who specializes in digital forensics and cybersecurity, said the subpoena doesn’t appear to be focused on who communicated with Moore over Twitter — but rather “where she is and what equipment was used.”


The connection data requested by the NYPD could create a “network trail” of the reporter over the days requested, according to Wandt.

“By getting IP address history, they could geo-locate her,” he said.

The order could also reveal the reporter’s cellphone providers — which could point cops where to send additional subpoenas, Wandt said.

The order cites the city administrative code and, what lawyers called a strange move, The Patriot Act — a law passed by the US Congress in the wake of 9/11 to “deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes.”

Eric Sanders, a retired NYPD cop-turned-attorney, told The Post the subpoena “has absolutely nothing to do with the Patriot Act.


“What are you trying to ferret out terrorism at a newspaper? This isn’t what the patriot act was intended for.”

The legal papers also asked the company to not inform the reporter for 90 days, so as to not interfere with the investigation.

Twitter, which did not respond for comment, said in an email alerting Moore of the subpoena that their deadline to produce the records was Thursday.

Sanders scoffed at the subpoena, saying it was a witch hunt to scare Moore and officers who share info with the press.

“They are throwing a hissy fit because their employees are telling the press of newsworthy items,” Sanders said. “This is a fishing expedition.”

“They are trying to chill her, and they are trying to chill their employees for giving information. It’s a First Amendment issue.”


https://nypost.com/2020/02/13/...ting-anti-terror-law

So much for the myth that community based policing is all about transparency and working with the public in a "collaborative" manner. What a bunch of hogwash!!! It's no different from attempts to hide offenders' criminal records, recidivism rates, and abject failures social experiments like "No Bail" and "Restorative Justice" programs really are.