D.C. police demand Facebook hand over data on Trump protesters

D.C. police demand Facebook hand over data on Trump protesters. The D.C. police department subpoenaed Facebook for information regarding several protesters arrested while demonstrating against the inauguration of President Donald Trump on Jan. 20. A document obtained on Monday by CityLab shows the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia issued a subpoena to Facebook on Jan. 27, which was signed by an officer at the police department. The document appears to show D.C. police are looking for the social data of several protesters. D.C. police said no one at the department could comment on the subpoena given the lawsuit. "A valid subpoena issued in connection with an official criminal investigation is required to compel the disclosure of basic subscriber records," the guideline reads. Those records "may include: name, length of service, credit card information, email address(es), and a recent login/logout IP address(es), if available." Issuing a subpoena is a more direct way for police to try to get the social data of people they have their eye on, but law enforcement departments are often trying to obtain social data from protesters in one way or another. This time, though, police swept up protesters in mass arrests and kept their phones. What they can't get with a phone in their hand, they'll try to get from Facebook.