FBI Raids Queens Home in G20 Protest Twitter Crackdown

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

That's right, a Twitter crackdown. A lawyer for Jackson Heights social worker Elliot Madison, 41, says that the feds searched his client's house for 16 hours on Thursday after Madison was arrested on September 24th at a Pittsburgh hotel room with another man. What were they up to? Sitting at laptops sending Twitter messages advising G20 demonstrators about riot police activity in the streets. And yet real Twitter threats like Lindsay Lohan and Courtney Love remain at large.

Madison, a self-described anarchist, was in Pittsburgh volunteering for the Tin Can Comms Collective, a group that uses Twitter to send mass text messages during protests describing events observed on the streets or over police scanners; stuff like "SWAT teams rolling down 5th Ave." Tin Can was active during the St. Paul RNC protests, and the authorities are now on to them. Madison was charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a communication facility and possession of instruments of crime; he's currently out on bail.

The search warrant for Madison's home authorized agents to seize evidence that could be used to violate "federal rioting laws." As helicopters hovered overhead, the feds seized electronic equipment, newspapers, books and gas masks. Oh, and a damning picture of Vladimir Lenin. The Post also reports that they seized a pound of liquid mercury, metal triangles used to puncture tires and two boxes of ammunition. But agents left some machetes, samurai swords and daggers at the house, because they fell outside the scope of the warrant.

On Friday, Madison's lawyer argued that the search is illegal and convinced a Brooklyn federal judge to issue a temporary order of protection stopping the feds from going through the material. Madison says his arrest and the raid were intended to "stifle dissent" and tells the Times, "They arrested me for doing the same thing everybody else was doing, which was perfectly legal. It was crucial for people to have the information we were sending."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on October 5, 2009 12:00 PM

Comments [rss]

potsmoker

i love this case...

mercury is just freaking fun to play with.

whats left out in the gothamist story is the "books about poisons"

freedom to own books like Anarchist Cookbook are a first amendment right.

a serious NUT memorizes how to make bombs, silencers and poisons.

dopes with books and notes, im not worried about.

get your GO BAG ready!

http://www.ki4u.com/guide.htm

there would also be no need to ask the court for a temporary order of protection if he just used ENCRYPTION.

if anybody has questions about how to defeat ncase forensics, secure their privacy and prevent snooping by the feds, feel free to ask.

if you feel the need to report me as some kind of miscreant, go right ahead, my services are legal.

NannyState

If you really want to protest the G20, Twitter Rev. Billy.

longacre

He made the mistake of not changing his Twitter location to "Tehran" to confuse the authorities. They never would have found him!

Wza

In a show of solidarity with the Pittsburgh folks, I say we change all our avatar colors to yellow.

junkrabbit

You can twitter in Iran but not in Pittsburgh..

timThompson

What could he have done with a pound of liquid mercury?

hunter.blatherer

He might have made thermometers, and told everyone classified information about the weather.

tsk_tsk_tsk

The ironic is thick enough that I'm about to smear mustard on it, put it between a couple slices of bread, and eat it for lunch. This is the exact same type of criminalization of dissent that we condemn the Iranian regime for, and rightly so. The State Department was happy to provide TOR bridges and proxies and satellite technology for Iranian dissidents to avoid the crackdowns on them, and allowed them to use Twitter in to express their views.

But here in the US? Nope, you're a criminal if you tell people where riot police are marching. Unless this guy is guilty of something beyond what's reported here, this is a travesty. With all the well-documented examples of provocation, wrongful arrest, and police brutality the people need information on what the police are doing. Lawful protesters must be allowed to voice their dissent, or we become no better than the current and historical regimes to which America was meant to be counterpoint.

I'm curious for more information on this.

tsk_tsk_tsk

I meant "Irony." Oops.

nicemarmot

On the one hand I find this outrageous. On the other hand I wonder what the ultra-security conservatives have to say about this?

longacre

I think it depends what his followers were actually doing in Pittsburgh.

If they were committing acts of destruction and violence, and using this guy's Twitter updates to avoid law enforcement and detection, then this guy should be prosecuted along with them.

If they were simply walking around with signs and demonstrating peacefully, then yes, this is complete b.s.

Polite New Yorker

From the looks of it, this is another disgraceful abuse of government power. Do any leftists out there still think the police and military should be the only ones with guns?

hunter.blatherer

Freedom of speech? And assembly? Oh, never mind, sorry to be so trite.

But thank god they're fighting twitter with helicopters now. What?

hotstepper

don't forget the 4th amendment too.

when does it take 16 hours for feds to search your home? it's when they can't find jackshit to prosecute you.