Iconoclasm: Grand jury secrecy, and your privacy

Have you read an article on the Village Voice web site since 1/1/2004?  Then the Feds may be investigating you.  Two executives of Village Voice Media have been arrested for violating grand jury confidentiality, for publishing details of a subpoena on an article they wrote in three years ago investing government corruption.  They NYTimes reports:

The subpoena asks for information not only about the newspaper’s reporting, but also the information on readers who may have seen material deemed confidential published on the newspaper’s website, including the internet domain names and browsers used, and any other information about online readers of the publication since Jan. 1, 2004

This is another in a continuing series of harassment of journalists and news organizations in this country who don't walk lockstep with the administration.

Now, the grand jury system was set up for a lot of good reasons, and is confidential for good reason at times -- but the investigation of the investigation of government corruption may not be appropriate use of this secret court, and targeting journalists just tastes bad to me.

But in publishing the secret subpoena, these journalists are clearly engaging (and state that they are) in civil disobedience of what seems to me a courageous and legitimate purpose. 

As troubling as the harassment of investigative journalism is, I find it even more generally disturbing that the Justice Department feels a need to know the private records of every person who's browsed the Village Voice for three years. 

I confess, my lesser self would kind of love to have the identity of all the famous people browsing through the sex classifieds -- for entertainment and curiosity purposes, only, of course! :)

As all these records are handed over to the Justice Department, who have fallen somewhat short of accountable for their use of various forms of information in these past years, journalists and citizens alike will rest a little more and more uneasy with Big Brother looking over our electronic shoulder.

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Shava Nerad, News and Opinion Correspondent:

Shava’s column, Iconoclasm, published about once a week to Gather Essentials: News, is an examination of the provocative ideas emerging in media and world culture behind the news.

Shava Nerad has been working on the Internet for twenty-five years, at the boundaries of Internet and social issues.  She is CEO of Indigenis, a consulting group working at the intersection of virtual worlds, social networking, and gaming communities, and development director of The Tor Project. 

She lives in Somerville, MA with her teenage son, her fiance (a professional magician and fundraising coach), and a corgi/dachshund mutt named George.

Opinions here have nothing to do with Tor or Indigenis. 

You can find all of Shava's Iconoclasm columns at http://Iconoclasm.gather.com

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