14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that federal agents have come up with a way to get their hands on some alleged drug dealers who have disclosed important information in conversation threads on Reddit.
Wired reported that federal agents have been able to detect the existence of some forums on Reddit which are supposedly conducted by members of the drug scene.
It would seem that some drug dealers and members of criminal organizations have decided that the online environment, and even more specifically a place as visited as Reddit, would be the perfect way to let people know about their work.
Since the feds have somehow been alerted of this issue, not that it hadn't been obvious for everyone following the thread on Reddit, they have decided to put a stop to any such kind of illicit behavior.
So, in order to investigate the issue and maybe get their hands on the criminals, they have agreed to take the easiest way there was: ask Reddit to provide them all the personal information they have of the users. This includes IP addresses, names and any other type of information that the website might possess.
Should Reddit provide the information to the feds?
Now Reddit is in a rather difficult situation, because they cannot just give away the information regarding their users, as they would go against their privacy policy, which clearly states that “Our goal in developing our privacy practices is to allow your participation to remain as anonymous as you choose, and we don’t sell or profit from the information you share with us.”
But, on the other side, the issue could be very serious, as it has been reported that the five targets which the feds are after might be able to provide information about Evolution, the black market website which mysteriously disappeared a while back.
Wired also revealed that Reddit has received a subpoena asking for the confidential information regarding the users who had apparently confirmed their involvement in the Evolution’s disappearance online.
For now, there is no way to know for sure whether the users have been in fact speaking the truth about the whole issue, or if Reddit will go against its rules and actually provide the information to the law enforcement department.