#NYC #Judge #Mocks #OccupyWallStreet with #Hashtag-strewn #Decision

There were some significant legal precedents set in Manhattan today. New York City criminal court judge Matthew Sciarrino, Jr. ruled that Occupy Wall Street protester Malcolm Harris – one of hundreds arrested during a direct action on the Brooklyn Bridge last October – has no standing to stop authorities from subpoenaing his Twitter account. Basically, Sciarrino cited a 1976 Supreme Court case in which it was determined that individuals have no right to block access to their bank records, since – according to the Supremes – it's the financial institution that owns the documents and not you.

In other words: you don't own your tweets. Twitter does.

We've seen the Twitter subpoena grab here in Boston. But while that stunt left Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley looking foolish, this seems to be a trend with no end. In New York, Harris and his lawyer called bullshit, and tried to block the effort. For the time-being they've failed, and, reading the decision, it's no wonder why. Unless we're missing something, it seems that the judge thinks this is funny, and even inserted cute additions to his ruling for a joke – peppering his first paragraph with hashtags. A significant precedent indeed. #Hilarious.

As always - BuzzFeed is all over this shit...