US court drops request for newspaper site's audience info

This article was migrated from an old version of our website in 2025. As a result, it might have some low-quality images or non-functioning links - if there's any issues you'd like to see fixed, get in touch with us at info@journalism.co.uk.

A legal request for a US newspaper to reveal information about visitors to its website has been dropped.

All charges against weekly newspaper the Phoenix New Times relating to its coverage of a local sheriff were dismissed by an Arizona court on Friday - a day after its co-founders were arrested for publishing details online of subpoenas issued against the paper .

In what the New Times described as an unprecedented action, the court orders asked for information about users who had accessed content online relating to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio since January, 2004 - the year when the sheriff's home address was published in an online column, potentially violating Arizona state law.

According to reports from the New Times, the court demanded specific details about online visitors who viewed four articles relating to the sheriff. These included which pages these users had accessed and the IP address and domain name of the visitors.

In addition the subpoenas asked for the website addresses of sites visited by users prior to coming to the Phoenix New Times and information obtained about users from site cookies.

The paper was also requested to reveal what browsers were used to access the site and the total number of visitors to the site.

According to Editor and Publisher , special prosecutor in the case Dennis Wilenchik, who has now been fired from his position, said the information about the website's visitors would help determine whether the Arpaio was under threat as a result of the articles disclosing information about him.

However, critics of the court's action argued that the orders were too far-reaching and against US constitutional rights to free speech.

An investigation has now been launched by the Maricopa County Court into the handling of the case, which also requested print documents and any notes and recordings made reporters during their coverage of the sheriff.