warrant canary
WHEREAS, freedom of speech is a crucially important right, as evidenced
by its affirmation appearing early in the US Bill of Rights; and
WHEREAS, speech about government actions is one of the most important
types of expression to protect; and
WHEREAS, the US government has placed gag orders on
communications providers, forbidding publication of
detailed information on demands for aid in surveillance; and
WHEREAS, the US government struck a deal in 2014 with Facebook, Google,
LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Yahoo! allowing the publishing of vague
statistics in bins of 250 or 1000 (e.g. "0‑999"),
implicitly forbidding so-called
warrant canaries:
statements that exactly zero demands have been received; and
WHEREAS, TOMMYJOURNAL stands in solidarity
with those who publish warrant canaries anyway,
and with all who resist excessive interference with free speech; and
WHEREAS, canaries are named after the Canary Islands, not the other way
around; and the Canary Islands are in turn named after dogs, and Tommy
likes dogs;
THEREFORE, be it known that TOMMYJOURNAL
has received ZERO (0) demands or inquiries of any kind from
any government or law enforcement agencies.
HOWEVER, this warrant canary is merely symbolic because:
- any such demands would probably go
not to Tommy but rather to the company maintaining the
web server
TOMMYJOURNAL is hosted on; and
- Tommy would not be privy to any such demands; and
- TOMMYJOURNAL is
a trifle of a blog and has no information worth subpoenaing anyway.
But better a symbolic statement than none at all.
Lone Pine, California
October 7, 2014