Sheriff Joe, County Attorney Open Huge Can of Worms

By on October 19th, 2007 In Media

Lacey and LarkinThe news of yetserday’s arrests of New Times owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin is only the tip of the iceberg of what will surely become a national story. This is not a simple freedom of the press story — this one is about you.

Just take a look at what Sheriff Joe and County Attorney Andrew Thomas have asked for in their subpoena:

• Documents, notes, e-mails and any other material related to a series of articles written by several New Times reporters.

• An accounting of the number of people who viewed each article online.

• A list of every page on the New Times site that users have visited since Jan. 1, 2004. That would include the names of every person who read any story, ad or listing in the paper.

• Any information obtained from “cookies” on the New Times site. Cookies are used to identify and track an individual’s computer use. Think of it as an online fingerprint of what you have touched on a specific Internet site.

• The computer domain name of anyone accessing the paper’s Web site, phxnewtimes.com. A domain name identifies a computer or computer network used to access the Web.

• All Web sites that readers visited prior to opening the New Times site. That would include any site – bank, social networking, news, information, pornographic – that a reader visited before logging onto New Times.

• The dates and times of all visits to the New Times site.

• The browser used by each New Times reader, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.

• The type of operating system software used by each New Times reader.

Holy crap. When was the last time you visited the New Times site and where did you click over from? Did you look at the “Men Seeking Women” ads, or the “Women Seeking Women” ads? Did you read the “Ask A Mexican” column and send a link to a friend? Did you read the text of the subpeona (because that might be a crime and you might be liable)? Freedom of the press is one thing, but this is over the top.

I’m no huge fan of the New Times, but I respect their right to publish whatever they want and I certainly respect their right to maintain the anonymity of their sources. Police control of the media is without question a key component of fascism…and so is big brother knowing what citizens read. Many of us thought the Patriot Act could lead to the government requesting our library records — and while that may seem far-fetched, the Patriot Act may well be legal cover for Sheriff Joe and Andrew Thomas in this heinous act.

Read the New Times Subpoena

Be afraid…be very afraid.

Comments

Amanda Blum Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 9:57 am

I’ll take this a step further. I believe that the Arpaio issue affects us not just as citizens and Phoenicians, but specifically as PR flack.

If we’re rep’ing any company or client here, we are rep’ing Phoenix. It is nothing short of embarrassing that as we try to sell Phoenix as a progressive city coming into its own we are locked in a cartoon vision of the old west where the Sheriff runs the town.

Frankly, this is not going to change until we all become just a bit more active as voices in this community. We need to be clear that the sort of tyrannical freedom Arpaio has enjoyed in the past will no longer be tolerated.

Be afraid? Why should we be? For the past few years, we’ve all been ruled by fear. Instead, if we just recognize that there are more of us than them, we’ll be ok. Frankly, fear is what allowed this to happen. Its time we STOP being afraid. The man is Sheriff, an elected position, not King.

Angelo Fernando Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pm

Media Post has a interesting commentary on this, here. http://blogs.mediapost.com/online_minute/?p=1589

Richard Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pm

Poor Barak Obama. Comes into Tempe for publicity and gets none because of Sheriff Joe. That’s how PR works.

Angelo Fernando Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 3:26 pm

Barak can get back on his soap box now. The case has just been dropped.

Richard Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 5:49 pm

Wait, Sheriff Joe is a Republican, but once supported some Democrat for office. Think he’s in Hilary’s camp?

Richard Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 5:58 pm

This just in – heard New Times is raising advertising rates after gaining favorable nationwide publicity. Did they pay Andrew Thomas for this? How much did they donate to his governor bid?

Quotes from the week - 10/19/07 « Hoi Polloi: marketing + social media + public relations Says:
October 20th, 2007 at 7:33 am

[...] Blum, commenting on a post in ValleyPRBlog, about the arrest of Phoenix New Times owners for publishing a story about a subpoena demanding [...]

Michael Says:
October 20th, 2007 at 2:59 pm

These are executors of our laws and the egregious acts conducted by Wilenchik aren’t befitting of someone in his position. Someone who wants to go Orwellian on one of our most basic and internationally distinct freedoms deserves a stampede vs. cattle type response. Like some readers of this site, I’m not the New Times biggest fan either. However, they’re at least in touch enough to progress with a turn of the calendar and, in this case, comforted me as a resident by standing up against archaic Wild West police tactics.

Things that made us go “huh?” in 2007 « Says:
December 27th, 2007 at 10:41 pm

[...] Joe Arpaio arrests the owners of a newspaper, The New Times, for refusing to submit information about the dates and times and other information [...]

Things that made us go "huh?" in 2007 PR events in 2007 | Valley PR Blog Says:
December 31st, 2007 at 12:47 pm

[...] Joe Arpaio arrests the owners of a newspaper, The New Times, for refusing to submit information about the dates and times and other information [...]

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