The administrator of Kiwi Farms today revealed in a forum thread that New Zealand police has contacted him and demanded identifying information on all forum posters who have discussed friday’s New Zealand terror attack. The information sought includes email and IP addresses, and breaking news of a 22-year-old New Zealander being arrested for sharing the livestream from the attack gives you a pretty good idea of the sort of things they’re planning to do with it.

Here’s the initial email from a John Michael, Detective Senior Sergeant of NZ police:

Good afternoon I am hoping that you can help us with an investigation the New Zealand Police are working on. On 15 March 2019 there was a shooting in New Zealand with multiple fatalities at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. The alleged offender in this matter is a Brenton TARRANT. At around the time of the shooting there were a number of posts and links posted on kiwifarms.net relating to the shooting and TARRANT We would like to preserve any posts and technical data including IP addresses, email addresses etc linked to these posts pending a formal legal request . Could you please advise what legal process you require for this request and also confirm preservation of the data requested pending legal process. Kind regards John John Michael_ _Detective Senior Sergeant* *E-mail: [email protected] =============================================================== WARNING The information contained in this email message is intended for the addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this message or any of its contents. Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

Independent journalist Nick Monroe confirmed on Twitter that he was forwarded a copy of the email, and vouches for its authenticity.

https://twitter.com/nickmon1112/status/1107141581323358209

Kiwi Farms was not impressed by the SICK and DISGUSTING troll seeking to intimidate and bully the internet under color of law. Read their response:

Is this a joke? I'm not turning over information about my users. The person responsible for posting the video and manifesto PDF is myself. I feel real bad for you guys, you've got a quiet nation and now this attack is going to be the first thing people think of for the next 10 years when they hear the name New Zealand, but you can't do this. Tell your superiors they're going to make the entire country and its government look like clowns by trying to censor the Internet. You're a small, irrelevant island nation barely more recognizable than any other nameless pacific sovereignty. You do not have the clout to eradicate a video from the Internet and you do not have the legal reach to imprison everyone whose posted it. If anyone turns over to you the information they're asking for they're not only cowards, but they're fucking idiots. My name is Joshua Moon, I'm a US Citizen living overseas. My company is contained within a Florida company. If you need an address to send physical documents to this works. Lolcow LLC 913 Beal Pkwy NW Suite A-1017 Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547 If you're wondering, no. Kiwi Farms has nothing to do with New Zealand. Our name is a pointed jab at some of the mushmouthed autistic people we make fun of. Absolutely nothing about our community is NZ oriented. And I don't give a single solitary fuck what section 50 of your faggot law say about sharing your email. Fuck you and fuck your shithole country. - Josh

The powerful CLAP BACK immediately sent VILE police thug John ‘Oppressing The Net Aint No Sweat For An Irrelevant Island Nation Cadet’ Michael packing. The pathetic cyberbully from a puny little country without nukes or freedom even thanked the good administrator:

Hi Josh Appreciate your quick response. Will definitely consider what you have said. Regards John John Michael Detective Senior Sergeant E-mail: [email protected]

If only the story ended there. A poster on r/legaladvice (archive) says that his (unnamed) forum based in Tennessee has received a similar request from New Zealand police. “Earlier this morning someone from NZ police messaged me to hand over the IP addresses of anyone ‘conversing about or sharing of the mosque video’,” writes u/ForumPolice, before asking the subreddit if he should comply.

If true, it would seem that New Zealand police is blanketing the planet with these demands, and many site owners will likely be intimidated into handing over all records on users talking about the Christchurch shooting and/or the perp. If you are from New Zealand and wish to debate politics or anything remotely controversial, consider getting a VPN or at the very least using free internet instead of your own ISP.

https://twitter.com/TweetWivMe/status/1107160200530796544

In a related bit of Kiwi Farms news, yesterday the forum revealed that various US law enforcement officials have contacted it to obtain copies of the Christchurch terrorist attack video. Internet censorship of the video is now so strong that even officials who want it for training purposes are affected.

Kiwi Farms is a discussion forum for a diverse cast of playful and free-spirited activists seeking to educate the public about autism through research and development in the edutainment space.

UPDATE: news.com.au is now covering the story — with a headline suggesting that the data Kiwi Farms refused to surrender was on the shooter himself, who has never had anything to do with the site. The story even claims the site is about “incelism.” This is multiple levels of fake news. Sad!

UPDATE: The Age repeats and embellishes on News.com.au’s fake news.

P.S. Are you using Brave yet? Delay the skynet by using the browser that automatically strips all tracking and ads. Brendan Eich (of JavaScript fame) is its CEO.