Thoughts 20 Oct 2007 07:41 am
Phoenix: Sheriff’s Fight With Paper Flares Up Again
Sheriff’s Fight With Paper Flares Up Again
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: October 20, 2007
The two principal owners of The Phoenix New Times were arrested Thursday, but were then released and charges of disclosing information about a grand jury dropped.
In 2004, The New Times reported on the real-estate holdings of Sheriff Arpaio. The paper said he had concealed his ownership of some properties and questioned how he could have afforded them on his salary. One article included, in print and online, Sheriff Arpaio’s home address.
A state law makes it a felony to disclose the home address of a law enforcement figure on the Internet — though not in print. Allies of the sheriff said the publication had endangered him because he has been the subject of death threats.
The New Times said the address was available through multiple public sources, including government Web sites.
On Thursday, the paper published an article by Mr. Lacey and Mr. Larkin reporting the existence of Mr. Wilenchik’s grand jury investigation and of the subpoena he had obtained for the paper’s records.
The subpoena, reproduced on The New Times Web site, sought the names and Internet addresses of all people who have viewed the site since Jan. 1, 2004, whether or not they had read about the sheriff’s real-estate holdings.
The subpoena also demanded information on readers’ “cookies,” which would show what other Web sites they had visited.
I think we have a new definition for the term “overbroad.”
Is it just me, or does our judicial system get scarier every day?