Outrage After FBI Subpoenas IP Addresses Of All Individuals Who Accessed USA Today Child Porn Article

In the latest surreal and brazen example of federal government overreach, the FBI is demanding that USA Today turn over the IP addresses of all individuals who accessed a public online article during a specific time period.

The subpoena was issued in April but is only in recent days being made public after the newspaper's parent company Gannett sought to fight it in court. It's being widely condemned as an outrageous instance of abuse not only of press freedom, but of the public's right to access information and media as well as breach of both the 1st and 4th Amendments. Underscoring this, WikiLeaks was among the first to highlight the case which seeks to sweep up info on all individuals who accessed the article in question during a 35-minute window on February 2nd, 2021.

A statement given from USA Today to The Verge said, "We were surprised to receive this subpoena particularly in light of President Biden’s recent statements in support of press freedom. The subpoena is also contrary to the Justice Department’s own guidelines concerning the narrow circumstances in which subpoenas can be issued to the news media."

USA Today's legal team is further seeking to fight the subpoena in order to "protect the important relationship and trust between USA TODAY’s readers and our journalists."

According to the details known about what the FBI is asking and who it could impact, The Verge report details that "The article in question was one published on February 2nd, 2021, about a shootout that occurred when FBI agents tried to execute a search warrant in a child pornography case, resulting in the deaths of two FBI agents and the suspect."

But strangely the suspect written about in the article was already literally dead (reportedly by self-inflicted gunshot wound) significantly before the USA Today article was published.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/outrage-after-fbi-subpoenaed-all-ip-addresses-individuals-who-accessed-public-article

Energy secretary says enemies are capable of shutting down US power grid

Adversaries to the US are capable of shutting down the nation’s electrical grid, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm admitted Sunday, saying that such cybersecurity attacks are “happening all the time.”

Granholm warned of the system’s vulnerabilities — amid an uptick of ransomware sieges — on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“Yeah, they do,” Granholm told host Jake Tapper when asked if foreign actors have the ability to make the power grid go dark.

“There are very malign actors who are trying, even as we speak,” she explained. “There are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally.”

Granholm added, “It’s happening all the time. This is why the private sector and the public sector have to work together.”

Granholm, the former Michigan governor, touted the Biden administration’s efforts to combat cyberattacks.

She said “working with other countries, working with the private sector, working inside of our own government — the president has been issuing these executive orders, to make sure our own house is in order — [and] making sure that citizens are able to protect themselves” is all necessary to prevent cyberattacks.

“The bottom line is we have all got to up our games, with respect to our cyber defenses,” said Granholm.

“Whether you’re private sector, public sector, whatever, you shouldn’t be paying ransomeware attacks, because it only encourages the bad guys.”

And military action is on the table as an option to fight back against cybercrime, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Sunday.

Raimondo was asked on ABC’s “This Week” if the US should take a more aggressive approach to ransomware attacks that appear to largely be originating in Russia.

“We won’t stand for a nation supporting or turning a blind eye to a criminal enterprise,” Raimondo told host George Stephanopoulos.

“And as the president has said, we are considering all of our options and we’re not taking anything off the table as we think about possible repercussions, consequences or retaliation.”

Stephanopoulos then asked, “Should we be contemplating military action even if these are private, not government, entities?”

“As I said all options are on the table,” Raimondo replied.

“This is a top priority and all of us in the Cabinet and National Security Council are focused on it and considering all possible consequences.”

https://nypost.com/2021/06/06/energy-secretary-enemies-are-capable-of-shutting-down-power-grid/