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The EFF Letter: Sony's subpoenas "impact the free speech interests of myriad third parties"

By Pamela Jones et al.

Wired's David Kravetz has published the EFF letter [PDF] it sent to the judge in SCEA v. Hotz, and I have it for you as text.

George Hotz's lawyers agreed to the subpoenas issuing, so long as the information gleaned is kept attorneys' eyes only, according to the letter [PDF] Sony sent the Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero, and the judge merely signed off on it. I don't see Hotz's lawyer signing the letter too, which I'd normally expect. Why he'd agree to such a broad reach is disturbing. EFF noticed, telling the judge that the subpoenas implicate free speech interests of third parties not involved in the litigation, but nobody else seems to care. EFF is most concerned about the subpoena to YouTube, but the one I find overbroad is the subpoena to the company that hosts his web site, as I'll show you. No one else is looking out for the third parties in this picture, so if I were one of the third parties and I knew it, I'd be on the phone to my lawyer or EFF super pronto, asking him if I could block.

Full post as published by Groklaw on March 06, 2011 (boomark / email).