Police raided a Kansas newspaper and its publisher’s home on August 11. In addition to personal cell phones and laptops, police confiscated the publisher’s mother’s Alexa device that she used to call for help while living with dementia. She died the following day at 98 years old. Her name was Joan Meyer.
Here’s the background behind this illegal search and seizure. The Marion County Record received an anonymous tip that a restaurant owner with a DUI was illegally driving, and it smelled like an intentional smear campaign tied to the restaurant owner’s divorce proceedings. A reporter for the Marion County Record used a public records site, the Department of Revenue, to verify the restaurant owner’s driving record.
The paper decided not to publish the information, but brought the information to the police as the owner was seeking a liquor license at the next city council meeting. The police responded with a search warrant, seizing personal cell phones, computers and reporting materials from the newsroom, the publisher’s home and whatever reporters had in their possession.
That judge has not disclosed the reason for approving the warrant, which is sus. Affidavits allege reporters and the paper committed identity theft and unlawful use of computers while searching for the public record.
It’s actually impossible to commit that crime while verifying a public record on a public records site where everything is public record and open to the public.
Public records are like the government’s open mic night, except you can access them at all times. When the government gets mad about you accessing a public record, it’s like someone at open mic night getting mad at you for filming them in public, which also is legal but can be embarrassing. Except the government can put you in jail or sue you when officials don’t understand how public records work, and a person at open mic night might just try to sue you and fail. By the way, none of this is legal advice.
This is not the first time in the Midwest that a state has been confused about public records, or public information, or how to use computers. You might recall Gov. Mike Parson’s meltdown about a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter discovering that a state website had a sensitive cybersecurity issue: Public school teachers’ social security numbers were easily found by reviewing the code that holds up a public state website. The Post-Dispatch held the story and informed the state government in advance, because this is a major security issue for teachers who are already dealing with enough as it is. The state did nothing. So the Post-Dispatch published the information.
Advised by then-General Counsel Andrew Bailey (now Missouri’s attorney general), the governor sued the Post-Dispatch and the reporter for hacking the state government website. I know being in the military and in law school doesn’t actually teach you how computers work, but I would expect Bailey to know how computers work. I really am eager to know his thought process on that one. It’s incredibly embarrassing. Bailey, I just wanna know.
Anyway, the reporter is like … Dude. All I did was right-click and hit “Inspect” to review the HTML. Anyone could do it, even without coding knowledge.
FR, you can try it on this webpage. I did it while writing this newsletter. Don’t hack me, though. Thanks.
The lawsuit was dropped, and the reporter won an award. Good for him. State governments will keep doing this, reporters will keep getting accosted, and they will keep getting awards for having to deal with idiots who don’t understand how the internet works.
Unfortunately in the publisher’s case, his mom died in the process. That sucks. How about police chiefs and governors learn internet basics instead of wasting everyone’s time and turning people into collateral damage? What a thought.
On that note of poor state government cybersecurity — it’s really bad and newsrooms really need to review recent state audits on that, but no one is paying me to do that right now — did you hear about the anonymous LGBTQ+ furry hacking group that has started hacking state governments passing anti-trans laws?
I’m serious. They’ve hit five states and counting. Not Missouri — yet. Don’t sue me, guys, but if you literally look at the audits that are public record and freely available to everyone, the audits lay it all out how bad the data security is at various state agencies. I’m linking them and everything.
There’s actually been an investigation about if the state has been hit by a cyber hack this summer. Also apparently Missouri is ground zero for power grid attacks and water and wastewater hacks.
I should pitch this as a freelancer. In the meantime, you should hire me and pay me money. Or tip me $10. I accept Venmo and PayPal. I should set up a Patreon like I’ve been planning, because why am I just pitching my thoughts in your inbox twice a week? And then you trash it to get to inbox zero.
Just a reminder that if you’re offended by anything, it’s probably the satire part of my satire Substack and I’m joking. But you better click on my artfully selected links.
Are you Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey? Don’t leave a comment. Just call me and tell me why you did what you did. I know Andrew Bailey doesn’t think about me at all, and I would prefer he didn’t think about me at all. But he is in the news all the time for whacko state-level lawsuits and unfortunately I am forced to wonder what his deal is.
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Chloe, I love reading your articles. You are a hoot.