Independent Media Collective Defeats 'Unconstitutional Antics' Of San Francisco Police

San Francisco police unlawfully tried to force Indybay to reveal the author of an article and gagged the organization from talking about it

An independent media collective stopped the San Francisco Police Department from forcing the online news outlet to reveal data associated with an article published by an anonymous author.

On January 24, Judge Linda Colfax of the Superior Court of San Francisco County approved a search warrant sought against the SF Bay Area Independent Media Center. She also granted police a 90-day gag order to prevent Indybay from writing or speaking about the warrant. 

The San Francisco Police Department informed Indybay on January 31 that they would no longer execute the search warrant. But police maintained the unconstitutional gag order.

With legal support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Indybay urged the judge to lift the gag order and revoke the search warrant that the court had approved because it violated California’s reporter shield law, the federal Privacy Protection Act, and the First Amendment.

Read the full article at The Dissenter.