A Glimmer Of Hope For Our Constitutional Rights

Federal prosecutors have withdrawn a subpoena seeking the identities of thousands of people who bought used books through online retailer Amazon.com, newly unsealed court records show.

The withdrawal came after a judge ruled the customers have a First Amendment right to keep their reading habits from the government. "The (subpoena's) chilling effect on expressive e-commerce would frost keyboards across America," U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker wrote in a June ruling.

Seattle-based Amazon said in court documents it hopes Crocker's decision will make it more difficult for prosecutors to obtain records involving book purchases. Judge Crocker unsealed the documents against federal prosecutors' wishes.

Federal prosecutors issued the subpoena last year as part of a grand jury investigation into a former Madison official who was a prolific seller of used books on Amazon.com. They were looking for buyers who could be witnesses in the case. The initial subpoena sought records of 24,000 transactions dating back to 1999. The company refused to identify the book buyers, citing their First Amendment right to keep their reading choices private. Prosecutors later narrowed the subpoena, asking the company to identify a sample of 120 customers, which Amazon also refused to do. Judge Crocker then brokered a compromise in which the company would send a letter to the 24,000 customers describing the investigation and asking them to voluntarily contact prosecutors if they were interested in testifying.

It was only then that federal prosecutors said they could obtain the customer information they needed from one of the suspect's computers. Prosecutors had initially claimed that their computer analysts had been unable to recover the information.

The judge gave a strong rebuke to the U.S. Attorney in his ruling. "If the government had been more diligent in looking for workarounds instead of baring its teeth when Amazon balked, it's probable that this entire First Amendment showdown could have been avoided," he wrote.