US government ‘not interested’ in IP addresses of visitors to anti-Trump protest website
Following news that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had requested a hosting company (DreamHost) to provide the IP addresses of visitors to a website used to organise anti-Trump inauguration protests, the DoJ has modified and narrowed down its initial request for information from the company. In a reply to the court, the DoJ explains that, at the time of the initial request, it was not aware of several details regarding the website and extent of visitor data maintained by DreamHost, and that it ‘has no interest in records related to the 1.3 million IP addresses that are mentioned in DreamHost’s numerous press releases and opposition brief’. In the light of this new information, the DoJ modified its request to state, among others, that: ‘DreamHost should not disclose records that constitute HTTP request and error logs’. In reaction, the hosting company said that, now, ‘visitors’ IP addresses are largely safe’, but that it goes ahead with its filling against the request, as ‘there are still a few issues we consider to be problematic’.